The Second City brings storied humor to OKC for benefit show
Jackie Southee relishes working in a company so storied that even the restroom is part of the name dropping.
“We still have moments where we get a script and we’re looking at it and it says it’s written by Amy and Stephen, and we realize they’re talking about Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris. It’s a really cool moment to kind of see what they were doing before we knew who they were,” said Southee, a Chicago-based performer with the influential improvisational comedy outfit The Second City.
“There’s a bathroom backstage, and every time you go in you have to sit down and stare at people who signed a wall, and it’s famous people. It’s all these names and you like, ‘Oh my gosh, Stephnie Weir (from the television show ‘MADtv’) sat on this
toilet and signed this wall.’ It’s just little moments like that happen all the time, and we never get jaded to it. It’s just so exciting.”
Since it first opened its doors in Chicago on a snowy night in December 1959, The Second City has provided a launchpad for some of the biggest names in comedy, including Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, John and Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Carell, John Candy, Joan Rivers and Gilda Radner. The premier comedy company now operates stages in Chicago, Toronto and Hollywood — Tulsa native Bill Hader mentioned taking classes at Second City in California when he accepted the outstanding lead actor in a comedy series at last month’s 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards — and also boasts three touring troupes taking the comedy around the country.
A member of the RedCo ensemble, Southee is headed for the first time to Oklahoma City,
where the troupe will perform “The Best of Second City” Thursday at the Tower Theatre.
“The whole show itself is just a series of scenes that can last anywhere from 30 seconds to eight minutes, so it’s a really fast-paced show because you just wind up seeing so many scenes. We all get to play a really wide range of characters. There’s a little bit of music, a little bit of improv, some scenes, so it’s a really good kind of variety show,” said Southee, who has been based in Chicago since 2009.
“Second City has 60 years of history, so these are scenes that have been on the resident stages, even a few that were on the resident stage in Canada. So, you’ll expect to see scenes that are really funny, and what you might not realize is they might be written by Tina Fey or Steve Carell or somebody that you’ve always idolized and this was what they did before they got famous.”
Local support
The show will be a fundraiser for Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre, a nonprofit awardwinning
regional theater in the midst of its 17th season. Business manager John Haque said this will be its first time to bring a show to the burgeoning Uptown 23rd District.
“This will be a new venue for us, and it’ll be a way to have a relaxing, entertaining evening,” Haque said.
He said CityRep is spreading around the laughs by looping in the local comedians of OKC Improv, who will be hosting a workshop with The Second City on Wednesday and then joining the famed troupe on stage during Thursday’s performance.
For Southee, performing with fellow improvisers in a city where there is an established improv scene makes for some of the most rewarding shows.
“We’re always gonna do that improvised third act where we can invite people up on stage if we want, and if we know there’s a local improv team, those are the most fun moments for us because then we can get a drink after and talk shop. It is always just so fun to be able to meet and play with people that do what we do and in their own town,” said the performer, who moved
to Chicago after graduating from James Madison University in Virginia, where she’s originally from.
Constant inspiration
The Second City’s touring companies typically include six comedians, and regularly performing 90-minute shows often leads to serious bonding.
“The cast that I am in right now, we are all best friends, we hang out. We’ll be on the road together for a week and then get dinner the next day. We never get sick of each other and I’m so lucky to have that. Our stage manager and our music director go with us, too, and we all hang out and it’s really fun. So, as fun as it is to watch the show, we are having that much fun in the stage, in the car, at the airport, at the hotel, it is a never-ending laugh fest,” said Southee, who is coming up on her two-year anniversary with The Second City.
“I do love getting to see just the country, like little places I would have never gone . ... We took a two-hour detour to go to Niagara Falls because we
were like, ‘Well, why not,’ and it was one of the best days our company had ever had because it was perfect weather and it was just this random thing we got to do.”
Becoming one of just 18 performers in The Second City’s touring companies is a big honor, and Southee said she hopes to eventually earn a spot on a resident stage and forge a long-term career with the storied organization. She said she admires the funny games of Second City alumni Sedaris, best known for the acclaimed TV show “Strangers with Candy,” and Chris Redd, who won an Emmy this year for his work on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I love writing and I love sitting down with an idea, but there’s something very freeing about stepping on stage and having no idea. It sounds scary when I say it like that, but knowing that you’re up there with some of the world’s best improvisers and knowing that no matter what you do it’s gonna be fun, it’s just a really kind of like a calm before the storm ... that I really enjoy,” she said. “It is truly the best job in the world.”