[ ON STAGE ]
Second City: We are clever and will make you laugh!
Inviting laughter
for a living
Out of the current crop of Second City improvisational comedy members, who will be the next John Lutz?
Who's John Lutz, you ask? He's a former troupe member that toured Hawaii with Second City last year who was hired in February as a writer on "Saturday Night Live."
That's just one of the career paths that can start with a valued membership in America's premiere comedy troupe. The general public is more familiar with such notable tour group graduates as Bill Murray, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tim Meadows, Bonnie Hunt, George Wendt and the late Chris Farley.
The Second City Touring Comedy Troupe
Where: Blaisdell Concert HallWhen: 8 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $20, $25 and $30
Call: 591-2211
Once a year, Second City in its hometown of Chicago holds general auditions for about 300 to 500 people. Out of that number, only one or two are hired.
Lori McClain had auditioned for 11 years straight before finally making it into Second City. The former Toledo, Ohio, resident previously toured the country, right out of college, as a singer in a Top 40 cover band.
This weekend's shows in Hawaii (the troupe was on Maui yesterday), follow a brief mainland tour, with stops in California, Colorado, Wyoming and Florida, as well as a gig in Vienna, Austria.
Now, about a decade removed from her previous touring gigs, McClain says touring with a bunch of comic performers is quite different from any other group she's been with.
"When I was a singer, and later a member of the Child's Play theater troupe, we'd go touring in a van," she said by phone from Sweet Home Chicago a couple of weeks ago. "Nowadays with Second City, we fly a lot more. But, still, the experience is very similar -- you have to make this your family, definitely. I love this group -- but there's a lot more craziness with musicians!"
McClain describes herself a "more the straight person of the group -- the voice of reason -- but I do a lot of singing, and get a chance to improvise a song." The rest of her Second City cut-ups are Molly Erdman, Brian Gallivan, Nicky Margolis, Andy St. Clair and Craig Uhlir. ("Nicky is our 'character' character, as well as Craig.")
"The greatest joy of doing Second City is to make people laugh -- and I do love talking to the audience," she said.
Singer and "straight-woman" Lori McClain auditioned 11 times before making it into the troupe.
DURING THE TIME spent in her adopted home of Chicago, leading up to Second City, McClain "worked towards that one day where I would pass an audition. I even worked in the office of Second City. At times, I almost gave up thinking that I would ever make the cut, thinking that maybe I was too old. But leading up to that day of my last audition, I was so relaxed, and I knew that I felt really good and was in the right frame of mind."
McClain's confidence was rewarded with a phone call a couple hours after the audition while she was in the middle of an acting job.
The audition process includes, of course, first improvising on any type of suggested topic. From there, eight people are called back to do longer scenes, and the final audition using scripted archive scenes.
"A large part of the job is more than improvising -- there's acting involved as well," McClain said. "I studied acting years ago, and I've also been with ComedySportz," an interactive improv comedy competition that pits two teams like a sports competition, complete with point tallies, a referee and the playing of the national anthem before each match.
Her decision to relocate to Chicago from Toledo was pretty easy. "All the best people came from here, brilliant people who have done a lot in the entertainment and comedy fields, and I wanted to get the best training. You even go to a training center, and while not everybody is accepted immediately, I enjoyed the process. Many people, of course, want to go on to be famous, but the training and touring process is so important. While some go on to fame and fortune, others go on to writing jobs on the late night shows, Comedy Central and 'Mad TV.' " (Or "SNL," like Lutz.)
As part of her career path, McClain expects to move to Los Angeles after Second City, to follow her friends trying to break into the industry.
In the meantime, though, she's still enjoying touring in Second City. "It's fascinating how different things in our sketches get laughs in different cities and age groups. We learn to adjust with every situation, whether we're playing a college, to a group of seniors, or doing an outdoor venue. In Vienna, for instance, we did more physical comedy. We learn to use all of our skills."
And after the show proper tomorrow night, expect a fully improvised set in the proud tradition of Second City.
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