The Second City Unscripted: Revolution and Revelation at the World-Famous Comedy Theater

by Mike Thomas

In 1959, a group of like-minded Chicagoans joined forces to open a hip new venue dedicated to coffee, cigarettes, conversation, and comedy. The result, a nightly cabaret featuring a troupe of inventive young actors skewering everything from politics to popular culture in witty, rapid-fire, improvised scenes, not only made delighted audiences laugh–it made history.

Copping its iconic name from a New York journalist’s disparaging remark, Chicago’s Second City theater brashly defied the role of runner-up and single-handedly made the Windy City North America’s cradle of comedic brilliance from which generations of household names would spring. Now, in The Second City Unscripted, a Who’s Who of the celebrated comedy camp’s alumni–including Alan Arkin, David Steinberg, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, Amy Sedaris, and Stephen Colbert–tell it like it was in the house that hilarity built.

Here are candid tales of John Belushi’s raw ambition and chemical experimentation, Bill Murray’s heckler-pummeling and lady-killing, superstar Mel Gibson’s roof-raising appearance in Braveheart regalia, and legendary director Del Close’s shuttling between the comedic asylum he ruled over and the real one he rehabbed in.

In this unvarnished, unexpurgated, and unprecedented account, what happened onstage, backstage, and offstage at Second City isn’t staying there anymore. From the smash hits and near misses to the love affairs and the bitter feuds, from the showbiz politics and pitfalls to the inspired tomfoolery and heartbreaking tragedy, The Second City Unscripted is part memoir of a cherished era, part time capsule from a comedic renaissance, and part valentine to the exquisite art of being funny. It captures like never before the history of the men and women who caught lightning–and laughter–in a bottle.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, History, Comedy, Tv, Pop Culture, Biography

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mike Thomas served as an arts and entertainment writer at the Chicago Sun-Times for almost 15 years. He has written The Second City Unscripted: Revolution and Revelation at the World-Famous Comedy Theater and You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman. He completed Bill Zehme's Carson the Magnificent after Zehme's 2023 death.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know too much about Second City. I know loads of comics and actors came from it, but I didn't know much about the history. I read the SNL book a few years back, and this book was formatted like it, which I enjoyed a lot. So it wasn't like a straight up history book, more like a compilation of bits from other people all put together in some sort of format. This story was a little all over the place. In the middle of some chapters, it would like break into an event that effected the brand and then jump back out to the time of that chapter. I never realized what a Brand it was. They had clubs all over the mid west, north east. They expanded too much, lost the quality and closed up and became smaller. This seemed to happen a lot. My favorite tidbit in this book was written by Conan O'Brien. Have you ever read his stuff? So freakin' eloquent. He had nothing to do with the brand itself, he just wrote about the impact the comedy that came out of it effected him. Also, there was some small stuff about Stephen Colbert, which was interesting.

I didn't know most of the "characters" so part of it was kind of boring. They didn't go into drugs as much as books about SNL I have read did. It was interesting to read the format of the club. They put you on tour and after you have proved yourself, then they put you on the main stage of the clubs. Interesting. A must for comedy history buffs, but it kind of drags in parts if you don't care.

[John Tessitore · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of comedy's three great universities--the others are the Harvard Lampoon and Saturday Night Live--The Second City has been a bastion of all that is bright, showy, and silly-smart in improvisation for the past fifty years.

This oral history is the troupe's literary best-of. The institutional narrative is interesting, the anecdotes are fascinating, and Thomas spoke with almost everyone still alive to tell the tales. (I may be unusual in my disappointment that he didn't get more from Rick Moranis.)

And so my gripe may be unfair. I come away from the book wishing I knew more about choices: between comics (For example, why didn't Jeff Garland make it to mainstage?), between topics, between scenes. Or, more basically, between good and bad comedy. If I had access to everyone interviewed for this book, I'd have ended my conversations with a single question: "What's funny?"

There may be no answer to that question, and Thomas may have asked it, which is why my gripe may be unfair. But it's the only question of any substance that Second City can address, and not exploring it more deeply is a missed opportunity.

[Trace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish there was more from the new cast and how they formulated their acts.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always fun to have Chris Farley and John Belushi alive again. Great pictures too!

[Lukia · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an oral history, it is disorganized and a little meandering but serviceable. I don't know--at a certain point you have to go beyond saying someone is funny, someone has "good" comedic sensibilities and start charting what exactly funny is...and how it happens. There are only a few moments in this book that really extrapolate that.

The narrative focuses a lot on the administrative and personnel changes--at a certain point I didn't care. Also just a lot of sad stories about how disrespected the women were--let alone the people of color in the casts, who are relegated to the end of a ham-fisted final chapter. Misdeeds are presented without comment and never really resolved in the narrative. So many quotes end with things like "Yeah I was an asshole back then." Which it's like....okay. There are a few decent stories worth retelling.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

After attending an informational session with Second City, a friend bought me this book for Christmas. I liked how it was organized with actual words from interviews with cast, directors, owners, etc. That made it easy to start and stop reading, instead of having to finish a chapter. Of course I knew some of the big names that made their start at SC, but there were some that came as a surprise. I felt more could have been said about the current state of Second City, like how they offer classes and how improv can be used as a therapy or learning tool for other walks of life.

[Kate Woods Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining. Learned of a few cast members I hadn't known were cast members. No photos in the Kindle edition, even though the acknowledgements hint at photos in the hardcover.

[Harrison Rip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I highly recommend this if you intend to start a comedy theater. I don't recommend it to anyone else.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really needed a better editor - it took me almost two months to get through, and it’s only 250 pages.

[Bill Clarkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories of second Cory. Interesting way to write it

[Ralph N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Improv is not just about knowing the theory and the practice, and knowing the history and the shoulders of giants you stand on.

[Dan Bogosian · Rating 5 out of 5]

a clear, well organized oral history. My only knock is it stops when the book came out in 2009, and I think the past 16 years are probably also very interesting.

[Scott Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are interested in minutia and boring ramblings about Second City this is the book for you. From this book, aside from the famous names involved, I don't get an understanding why Second City was important, groundbreaking or funny. Lots of details of how much drugs were taken and how chauvinistic the male cast has been. Most interesting part is about the wonderful SCTV Canadian bunch.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would have been more entertaining. For some reason I never got into the format of this book, which was author making a blanket statement or a transition paragraph, then having the majority of the book as a collection of stories and quotes by the Second City cast past and present.

For those unfamiliar, Second City jump started the comedy careers of folks like Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, Martin Short, Chris Farley -- all who went on to Saturday Night Live and beyond. Others cast members include Robert Klein, Joan Rivers, Alan Arkin, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis and Stephen Colbert. Based in both Chicago and Toronto, Second City was a launching point for yound comedians learning the ropes and pushing the limits of improvisational comedy.

My first exposure to Second City came with the syndicated SCTV program broadcast Saturday nights in the late 70s and early 80s featuring, Candy, Levy, Ramis, Moranis, Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara -- often either before or after SNL. I enjoyed the escapades of "Count Floyd," "Johnny LaRue" and the antics of "Bob and Doug MacKenzie in the Great White North" (Take off, you hosers). Loved the show, so I was hoping would go into more detail on the troupe. It did, but it got more boring as I worked through the pages.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible array of famous and not so famous alums reflect on their Second City experiences. They tell stories, talk about learning and performing improvisational comedy, and impart the history of the Second City Theater one anecdote at a time. There's little narrative here; author Mike Thomas strings together material from interviews and creates three dimensional richness through the players' differing interpretations and revealing disagreements about great performances, big decisions, horrendous arguments and tragic self-destructions. The comedians, directors and creators interviewed don't spare themselves in their portrayals of the uglier side of Second City group dynamics, leaving me with the impression that they recalled their history honestly. This is a really good book about competitive performers working together.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are certainly flaws in this book, but it is by and large a very entertaining and informative history of the Second City. The most compelling part for me is the waves of innovation that took place over the years at the institution to keep it vibrant. Maybe this is the central feature of any highly creative institution, but I think the freedom to essentially do whatever you want allows you to break down rules and create something truly unique. It's certainly a rare opportunity in life to be able to do that. For comedy, it's integral. I don't think we recognize how ingrained certain comedy rules are until someone breaks those rules and develops a completely new way of thinking about comedy. Fascinating to read about the germ of many of those comedic developments.

[Sheela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of short stories/anecdotes from comedians, producers, and writers of the Second City theater was not interesting, but maybe I went into this thinking the book would include funny stories and juicy information. However, I felt like you had to be part of their community to understand all the stories. I also did not like the set-up of the book and the way they presented the little anecdotes. I did enjoy the pictures of a young Steve Carrell, Nia Vardalos, and many other comedians. I have a lot of respect for the theater group because it spawned so many of the comedians we see today.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes how a story is told can overshadow the story itself.

The Second City Unscripted is the perfect example. Witnessing the births (and sometimes tragic deaths) of comedy all-stars *should* lead to incredible storytelling. But in this format -- a paragraph or two of introduction and then mostly unedited quote passages from said stars and other Second City folks -- makes it incredibly hard to follow and often just boring.

With the depth and breadth of the research presented here, it's clear that journalist Mike Thomas did a hell of a lot of work. It's too bad he didn't use all that info to write his own book on the topic instead of letting sources write it for him.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you live anywhere other than Chicago or Toronto, and/or don't consider yourself to be a huge comedy nerd, then you're probably not going to like this book very much. Or maybe at all. Who knows? But if you're like me and just recently moved to Chicago and signed up to take classes at Second City, then you may also think that this is one of the GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN. (You may be a little biased, too, but I'll be willing to let that slide. Just as long as you promise me that you won't turn into the guy who wants to improvise a musical scene every time he gets on the train. Please, I beg you; Don't become that guy. NO ONE LIKES HIM.)

[J.C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. It was okay. As a history of Second City its interesting. As an oral biography its pretty good. The were some famous names who shared some stories of their experiences and that was pretty cool in a behind the scenes, fly on the wall type situation. There was just way too much he said, she said for my taste. A story would be told from one persons perspective as if that event was the most momentous event in history, then another person would relate the same story as if the whole thing was no big deal. In the end there was wasn't much to the book and I was a little disappointed in the end. That might be why it took me three weeks to read a 250 page book.

[Billy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book. Provides a nice, historical look at the company. Having spent some time in Chicago and familiar with the brand and its famous alumni, the book reveals its history and evolution, relevance and theoretical underpinnings, in such way that makes me want to review what I had seen and what I had thought about Second City.

Read in short clips from many of the important players, the book accomplishes its task in an oral retelling. While it contains gems of anecdotes about characters and characters of John Belushi to Chris Farley, Steve Carrell to Stephen Colbert, the book lacks as many of these as one would want or expect. And that keeps it from being a must-read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 50 pages were tough sledding for me as the author went through the history of SC's start and some early performers. But once they got into the 70s era and the names were more recognizable the read became easier. The peak for me was the discussion of Toronto opening and the SCTV off shoot from that. There are also some good sections about the 90s (Chris Farley,etc). Towards the end I began to lose interest again. It seemed to be jumping around at that point and almost became a this guy died then this guy died thing. Having said that, there was almost no mention of or reaction to John Candy's death. A solid three stars for the middle portions of the book.

[Ken Bronsil · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a very rich, storied history to tell about Second City, given the fresh new comedy style it promoted and the terrific group of performers who performed there through its fifty-year history. But Thomas doesn't do that. In fact, he tells us very little.

Most chapters contain a short introduction, one or two paragraphs, from him, followed by comments from various performers, not necessarily connected to each other.

Since these comments aren't edited or changed, they contain a lot of banal stuff ("I'm like 'woah'" or "She's like 'get outa here!'").

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's probably unfair to compare this book to Tom Shales' Live From New York, but given the similar styles and subject matter, it's inevitable. I enjoyed parts of Second City Unscripted, especially the areas detailing the creation of SC and the space given to the troupe's recent success in the late 1990's... but man oh man, this book is hurting for some key interviews.

Many big Second City stars are missing (Mike Myers, Bill Murray to a lesser extent) as are a lot of perspectives from the cast of SCTV. There's some good stuff in here, but the book can't help but feel incomplete.

[Katie H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not what I thought it would be. Instead of continuous prose, things were broken up into quotes taken from interviews. Although the flow was not really interrupted, it did take me a while to get used to reading 4 people's views on the same subject. The second half of the book was more interesting, but perhaps that's because I knew more of the people being discussed. Not the laugh-out-loud book I had hoped for, but interesting to learn some of the history of the place.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to read, and I especially liked learning more about the Toronto branch. I think Thomas' approach of interweaving various perspectives and stories into each other is as effective as he could be when an actual chronology isn't really possible. Nonetheless, I found the approach difficult to read through at times. Still a great book for anyone who loves improv, SNL, or general American comedy greats. Or wants a different cultural slice in Chicago, New York and Toronto's histories.

[Jillian Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm taking classes here and just getting into the improv scene. Also have a theater degree. The combination made this a great read and behind the scenes look at the history of the theater and its performers. The format for me was refreshing and interesting. Bottom line, if you are into improv and intend to be part of the scene and Chicago, this is a must. It's also a good who's who improv history bible.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like it, but it was difficult to get through at times. I learned a lot about Second City and it was nice to hear from so many different people that were involved over the years, but I feel like it could have been shorter and more focused; some of the same ground was covered over and over. A comprehensive history for those interested and a solid three, but it could have been much more.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Weird weird formatting made this totally hard to read. Consists entirely of quotes from people who worked and performed there, but in a random disjointed fashion. Loved the stuff about Farley and Tina Fey. Hidden bonus: makes me want to go to Chicago and/or Toronto to catch shows. It is mecca for comedy/SNL fans.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great companion to Dave Thomas' SCTV history. Mike Thomas collects interviews from Second City alumni from 50 years of casts and paints a great history of the theater, with plenty of exciting anecdotes about shows that were great and shows that were awful. Definitely recommended for fans of Second City.