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REVIEW: 'Second City' show continues comic tradition

By Loren Keller

If last night's near-zero temperatures kept you at home in front of the television, your network viewing choices were pretty thin: a repeat of "CSI: NY," "Celebrity Apprentice," another rerun of "Grey's Anatomy," or "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

Much fresher entertainment -- and a lot more laughs -- were to be had in downtown Iowa City at the Englert Theatre, where six members of "The Second City" comedy troupe from Chicago brought a mix of satiric songs, sketches and, funniest of all, improvisational performances.

This is where some of the brightest comedians to reach the small screen (and big) perfected their craft, including the likes of Bill Murray, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Stephen Colbert. The three men and three women who performed last night are considerably less famous but they did a fine job of continuing the Second City's 49-year history of hilarity while tailoring their performance for the locals.

The troupe's sketch comedy, like most of what you see on television, was somewhat hit and miss -- though a fair amount of it worked even without the benefit of a team of writers, a lot of props, or a long period to rehearse. But it was the troupe's energetic, without-a-net improv work that drew the loudest laughter.

A wide range of serious topics were addressed with engagingly lowbrow wit: war, religion, politics, relationships, smoking.

"I smoke to keep my unborn baby tiny so it doesn't hurt when it comes out," says a lady smoker in one act.

Iowa, too, was made fun of in a sketch about a wedding proposal made at an Applebee's restaurant to a woman who wants to go somewhere more romantic.

"But Katie, we live in Iowa. This is as romantic as it gets!"

In another sketch, three weary soldiers fighting in Iraq grow nostalgic about other wars, one wishing he could fight the War on Drugs "from the other side."

Another finds the gang at a bar playing a game of "two truths and one lie."

"I'm a Sagittarius. I have herpes. I have syphilis," one posits.

"You were born in December," replies another.

"Gemini!"

Iowa native Shad Kunkle displayed throughout the show a natural talent for projecting irritable exasperation not unlike that of "Second City" alumnus Steve Carell, and Aimee McKay's improv performance as an off-target psychic with a Puerto Rican accent was a crowd favorite.

"A lot of psychics don't want to tell you the bad s--t, but I'm not one of those psychics," she said. She diagnoses a bespectacled gentleman in the audience: "Are you under the care of an optometrist? Your eyesight is not going to get better."

Odds are television this weekend won't be improving a whole lot either. "The Second City" cast performs again tonight and Saturday at the Englert; go see them instead.