Here’s something new to worry about: I have it on good authority that, for the first time, every single member of the Second City main-stage and E.T.C. ensembles has national representation. What that means is that you no longer have to distinguish yourself in revue after revue to attract a heavyweight agent’s attention—simply gaining access to one of the elite Second City stages is considered enough to guarantee big-time showbiz viability. And what that means is that there’s less incentive—less economic incentive, anyway—for good performers to stick around Chicago long enough to get better, before moving on to some fabulous sitcom berth. Or to bring their A game to the revues they do write and perform here. Think of it as the professional sportsification of sketch comedy. I figure we’ll eventually find ourselves watching productions in which the cast spend two hours standing around, texting their people.
It’s an amusing exchange, but there’s something a little melancholy about the fact that it—along with a great piece about a visit to the health-care professionals at Walgreens—signifies the ultimate in social thought as far as Clown Car is concerned. If the show touches on subjects ranging from gay acceptance to Second Amendment crazies, it definitely prefers goofiness as the way to handle them. Punctuated by outbreaks of sentiment and the occasional gross-out joke (wait till you find out what Papa Smurf did on his date), the evening ends up feeling slight. And also, by the way, strangely retrograde with regard to women’s parts: a couple of them revolve around the character’s longing for a guy, a couple more suggest old-style scratch-her-eyes-out feminine competitiveness. It’s an odd note for a venue like Second City E.T.C., especially given the stereotyping-be-damned roles Katie Rich, Holly Laurent, and Tawny Newsome are taking on in the latest main-stage production, Let Them Eat Chaos.
Open run: Tue-Thu 8 PM, Fri-Sat 8 and 11 PM, Sun 7 PM
Second City E.T.C.
1608 N. Wells
312-337-3992
secondcity.com
$23-$28
