Product Details

• Actors: Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Jim Belushi
• Directors: Matt Hoffman
• Format: Color, NTSC
• VHS Release Date: December 12, 2000
• Run Time: 57 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0970363001
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,412 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Chicago Tribune, December 16, 1999

A documentary about The Second City ought to be, foremost, funny, and this one meets the test.

From the Actor

Walk into The Second City, the groundbreaking improvisational theater in Chicago, and you will be as dazzled as we were. Look at the walls and see the photos of those who have performed there: Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, John Candy, Mike Meyers, Ed Asner, Robert Klein, Alan Arkin and many more. You will begin to realize that this theater has had an extraordinary impact on television, film and theater, and the next generation of Second City movers and shakers are appearing on its stages nightly.

Creating "Second To None," the sixth of our PBS specials, remains one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences we've had at HMS Media. Our job: document the comedic genius of six terrific improvisers, under the guidance of one of the most original and risky directors working in American theater. The challenge: do justice to their genius and accurately and creatively display their talents as they create one of the truly remarkable revues in the history of The Second City. "Second To None" will not only showcase an innovative and very funny mainstage revue, it will show you how it's done -- an elusive process, never before seen by television cameras.

Watch electrifying talent make comedy magic and have a blast doing it. That's life at The Second City, and that's what HMS Media is proud to present in "Second to None."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You must own this if at all interested in comedy., October 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Second To None [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Simply put, if you have the slightest bit of interest in the Second City, improv, or good comedy in general, this tape is a must own. As stated elsewhere, the Second City is a legendary comedy theatre which has spawned some of our country's greatest comic minds (John Belushi, Alan Arkin, Mike Myers, Robert Klein, Joan Rivers, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, etc.). This vid is a doc of the making of one of the troupe's most successful and innovative reviews in recent years, "Paradigm Lost." It also presents scenes from the show which won many top Chicago theatre awards. It was so hilarious, in fact, that two of the revue's performers, Tina Fey & Rachel Dratch, were immediately scooped up by "Saturday Night Live." It's a fascinating portrait, letting us see the process from the very first day of rehearsals to the opening night. Interviews with the cast and very talented director, Mick Napier, are sprinkled throughout and, if you listen to what they have to say, you can learn as much here as you could sitting in on a good improv class for a few days. All the performers are fantastic and all the scenes are genius. Most all of the cast has popped up elsewhere in recent years and deservedly so. In addition to Dratch & Fey, the performers are Jenna Jolovitz (now a writer for "Mad TV" & the failed "The Downer Channel"), Kevin Dorff (writer & sometime performer on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"), Jim Zuvelic (last seen in a guest shot on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), and, in my opinion, the funniest of all, Scott Adsit, who was in the cast of "Mr. Show with Bob & David" and has been seen on "Tenacious D" and "Friends." This title is as informative as it is hilarious. Host Jim Belushi doesn't even manage to bring things down (thank God he's not called on to be funny)!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second to None is second to none, December 20, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Second To None [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This brilliant documentary manages to bring the viewing audience behind the scenes of the creation of a very funny Second City show titled Paradigm Lost. Second City is Chicago's famous comedy improv theater which has produced many of American comedy's great stars ever since the classic Saturday Night Live cast of the 70's.In fact comedians shown in this Second to None video are now writing and acting in SNL.We see hilarious ideas unfold and emerge as full blown skits, while learning,in wonderfully interspersed vignettes,how the actors learn to relate to and trust each other and the director. Don't miss the unforgettable first day of a baby gargoyle in school.Yes,it's far out sometimes but always entertaining, while we learn about theater direction and production at the same time. The writing,direction and production of this video by HMS, a Chicago based company with six Emmy awards to its credit, is skillful and unobtrusive.It's hard to think of a documentarty that was as much fun as this.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The SECOND CITY process captured for the first time, December 20, 2009

By 

Jeffrey Sweet "Jeffrey Sweet" (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Second to None: 10th Anniversary Special Edition (DVD)

For all that has been written about Second City (including my own splendid book, SOMETHING WONDERFUL RIGHT AWAY), there has been little to document how the shows are put together at this remarkably influential theatre. The big exception has been Scott Silberstein's SECOND TO NONE, which, in its original form, was an hour-long documentary narrated by Jim Belushi that followed the creation of a particularly good show called PARADIGM LOST. Belushi's narration has been cut and new footage added to make an even richer presentation. Add to this out-takes, a couple of complete scenes from the final show, and an audio track featuring the surviving members of the cast, and you have a package that no serious student of improvisation should be without. This is one of the rare instances in which a hell of a lot of lightning has been caught in a bottle.