Not for casual fans, but a light treat for improv aficionados and comedy junkies.
A Chicago Sun-Times staff writer weeds through hours of interviews to fashion an in-depth oral history of comedy’s greatest talent factory, The Second City.
When Bernard Sahlins, Paul Sills and Howard Alk founded a coffeehouse in 1959, they had no intention of starting a comedy dynasty. Sahlins and Sills had produced a few plays around Chicago, but didn’t think of putting together a show at their new club until it was nearly ready to open. They gathered up a few friends—many leftover from the defunct improv group the Compass Players—and started hosting comedy and political satire. A half-century later Second City is still a comedy institution, what many alums believe was “the purest and most fulfilling creative experience of their lives.” Thomas tries to capture the group’s vast history—its hundreds of performers and dozens of success stories, its multiple outposts and massive influence on SCTV and Saturday Night Live—and it proves to be a daunting task. The author focuses on Second City’s early history and its most recognizable—and notorious—graduates, recounting tales of John Belushi’s massive appeal and Chris Farley’s excesses. Thomas capably builds a coherent narrative from all the backstage moments and business dealings, but the interviews often fail to provide adequate depth about what has made Second City so successful. There are also notable absences—particularly Mike Myers and Bill Murray—that create narrative gaps the author struggles to navigate around.
Not for casual fans, but a light treat for improv aficionados and comedy junkies.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-345-51422-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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