Sly Anxiety: In 'Grinning From Fear to Fear,' Second City e.t.c. Finds Fun in Discomfiture -- Chicago Comedy/Theater Review

Sketch Comedy Review

Grinning from Fear to Fear
The Second City e.t.c. 43rd Revue
Open Run
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Whether you are a Chicago area resident or a tourist to the Windy City, I genuinely recommend attending The Second City comedy club whenever opportunity allows.

2019 marks the 60th anniversary of its legendary local existence and, at North & Wells, Second City remains an iconic Chicago attraction, even if by population we've long been third.

This past Saturday night, I had the pleasure of attending the opening performance of the 43rd revue of The Second City e.t.c., which is distinct from the club's mainstage revue yet fundamentally similar.

Featuring six performers onstage, who also serve as the show's writers, the e.t.c. revue--like mainstage--is predominantly scripted, with occasional improv and/or audience participation bits.

With a friend alongside as part of an enthusiastic full house, with dinner, drinks and dessert kindly served, it was nothing less than an enjoyable evening.

And the six members of the current e.t.c. cast--Atra Abdou, E.J. Cameron, Mark Campbell, Andrew Knox, Laurel Krabacher and Chuck Norment--are nothing less than immensely talented.

Though I don't like to describe many of the sketches, as being surprised is much of the fun, one had Abdou and Campbell nicely playing a young couple interacting with the former's parents (Cameron and Krabacher) as the latter fidgets and worse.

As suggested by the revue's title, Grinning from Fear to Fear, a good deal of the material over nearly 2 hours focused on unease, whether personal, societal or both.

One of the most clever and topical skits featured all the castmates playing U.S. founding fathers as they proposed Bill of Rights amendments, certain that various wants and whims circa 1789 would only be temporary, and readily revised throughout history.

And well-demonstrating the great skills of the cast--with credit also due director Anneliese Toft and musical director Jacob Shuda, who accompanied many of the sketches--was a piece that had Asdou as a randy grandma watching rather smutty classic films alongside her grandson (Norment), which Knox and Krabacher would delectably enact.

So if you like a good laugh, clearly gifted comedians within a famed, comfortable venue with first-class service, you can't go wrong with The Second City e.t.c.'s 43rd review.

I again found it to be better than the mainstage revue--Algorithm Nation, or the Static Quo--though that still-running piece can also make for a nice visit.

Comedy is hard, and subjective, and not only do I admittedly not LOL at much, I readily stipulate that anyone on a Second City stage--or heck, in a class--is not only eons more talented than I'll ever be, but also much ballsier.

All this said, and meant--including about recommending Grinning from Fear to Fear for an enjoyable experience--I unfortunately didn't find it all that hilarious or insightful.

None of the sketches were duds, and more than the ones mentioned above were solid, stellar or superb. But very few, IMO, were brilliant.

Or, in this political climate, daring.

As I've surmised before, The Second City--which welcomes patrons from everywhere--understandably shouldn't shut out or brazenly piss off conservative clientele.

But I'd like to believe that great comedy should be able to, say, make fun of the current U.S. President and certain followers without overdoing the rancor...or the obvious targets.

Yet without ever even saying his name, the President was only referenced once or twice all night.

So it's like I was constrained to grinning from fear to, uh, let's not go there.

As I said to my friend upon leaving, I really would love to see--with the exact same cast & writers--the sketches that got cut, because they were too edgy or offensive or one-sided or whatever.

I've now seen enough Second City revues in recent years to understand that certain subject matter seems to be reigned in.

Again, I still enjoyed, valued and suggest others reprise my visit to this e.t.c. revue--their 43rd for the record--but last year's e.t.c. show was my favorite of recent vintage, so I can't deny hoping for something a bit sharper this go-round. 

Yes, there was plenty of fine wit to be found about family dynamics, our anxieties and how they often go hand-in-hand.

But something has much more so been stoking my fears, and once again the venerated Second City seems to be asking me to grin and forswear it.

A Fine Revue: Second City e.t.c.'s 'Gaslight District' Finds Laughter in Truth, and Vice-Versa -- Chicago Comedy/Theater Review

Sketch Comedy Review

Gaslight District

The Second City e.t.c. 42nd Revue

Open Run

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After it had been about 10 years since I had seen anything at The Second City, the new revue under their "e.t.c." moniker marked my third visit to Chicago's hallowed self-producing comedy venue in the past 6 months.

I had previously seen and reviewed the mainstage revue, Dream Freaks Fall From Space, and an all-woman sketch show, She the People, both of which are still running. (Hyperlinks are to my reviews.)

Both those shows were enjoyable, and the obvious effort quite estimable, even if neither blew me away.

So it is with no disrespect to those two shows, their casts, writers and crews, that I say I found The Second City e.t.c.'s Gaslight District the best of the three.

As best I could ascertain, the six performer/writers in Gaslight District--Emily Fightmaster, Sayjal Joshi, Katie Kershaw, Andrew Knox, Alan Linic, Jasbir Singh Vasquez--have been as thoroughly trained and practiced as those in the mainstage revue.

And except for a vague suggestion that e.t.c. tends to be a bit edgier than mainstage, I couldn't determine anything that particularly earmarks this troupe/show vs. others. 

Although there was a little bit more improv incorporated than I recall from Dream Freaks... or She the People, this too was mainly a scripted, sketch comedy show that ran through numerous short vignettes, including some musical ones.

Coincidentally, within the past month, I had watched for the first time the 1944 Ingrid Bergman film, Gaslight, which saw her character's husband manipulating her into believing she was delusional.

This had given rise to the term "gaslighting," which Wikipedia describes as:

"A form of psychological abuse in which the victim is gradually manipulated into doubting his or her own sanity."

Without knowing why else this Gaslight District revue was so titled--some cities have a so-dubbed district, but not Chicago to my awareness--I'm not suggesting there was any overt connection to Gaslight or gaslighting.

But with several references to a certain current president and (indirectly) his beguiling of a sizable portion of the masses, plus the frequent use of an imagined "truth zone" onstage, well, it kind of fits.

Even more so than with most theatrical reviews, I feel I should be circumspect about the material, as surprise is often part of the LOL pleasure.

Yes, there are a few gags about Trump--and they work well--but some of the best skits were not only non-political, they were weirdly (in a good way) not very topical.

I found a piece about how a certain country has overtaken another to become the world's most despised to be rather inspired, and a skit spoofing a men's hair salon chain takes a wonderful left turn, led by Fightmaster and Knox.

Terrific too is a piece about an adult chaperone messed with by his charge of high schoolers during a hotel stay, and a musical ode is sung to a surprising but quite relevant subject.

All six cast members are excellent, with Linic, Kershaw and Joshi clearly being talented pros.

For his musicality, sly facial expressions and multi-linguistic, I found Vasquez to be a particular standout, and would have liked to have seen him do even a bit more in Gaslight District.

A teacher named Kate from Wisconsin was brought onstage from the audience for some improv bits, and also acclimated rather well.

That a couple of skits--including one that has Vasquez playing a man volunteering to be deported by ICE, with Joshi the agency newbie handling his case--wind up more poignant, even maddening, than funny, only adds to the adroitness of Gaslight District.

I'm not sure if I'll ever become a regular at Second City, and it'll obviously take awhile for new shows to hit their boards.

But even more than before, I can see why the venue is so venerated, and with the 42nd e.t.c. revue daring to hit a bit harder, it's nice to know such laughter can be found in truth.

And the other way around.