The Last Book I Read

When one traces the roots of contemporary American comedy, aside from Mad magazine I don't think there is any other institution that can match the Second City theater group launched in Chicago back around 1959 for significance. The number of now famous individuals who passed through that troupe is staggering (you'll possibly recognize some of the faces on the above cover shot), and many of them have contributed memories to the oral history compiled by Mike Thomas, The Second City Unscripted. This is a really fine book, encompassing the full range of why Second City is important. There is attention to the art of improvisation, which is central to the Theater's mission; there is attention to the process of creating shows, and the integration of elements like music, social commentary, collaboration, etc. in addition to the funny stuff; and there's a good number of stories focusing on the personalities of the players, their strengths and weaknesses both as performers and as people. I've read other stuff about Second City as I've researched political comedy for the past few years, and this is among the best, if only because of the breadth of material covered and the large number participants who share their reminisces. A couple days after finishing this book, I went to see a local improv company perform, and felt like I had a much keener grasp on what went into the performance, which significantly enhanced my enjoyment of the show. The reach of Second City is long, and Thomas' book goes a long way towards helping one understand how that came to be the case. Given how central comedy is to the way television processes the world around us, for us, it awfully worthwhile to understand where the near-dominant perspective reflected in Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, even the Tonight Show largely originated.