Customer Reviews

Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of the Second City and the Compass Players

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This is a completely self-serving comment because I wrote thebook. But it occurs to me that it's hard to tell from the listingwhat the book is about. Briefly -- it's an oral history of the Second City, the Chicago-based theatre that popularized improvisational comedy. There are extensive and exclusive interviews here with Mike Nichols, Barbara Harris (her only full-length interview in more than 25 years), Alan Arkin, Alan Alda, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, David Steinberg, Gilda Radner, Del Close, the late, great Severn Darden, Paul Mazursky and the founder, Paul Sills.Being a book about people who created classic comedy, it can't help but be funny. But, beyond that, it and Viola Spolin's Improvisation for the Theatre and Keith Johnstone's Impro offer concrete ideas on how to build theatre of all kinds -- not just improv. I have been told by several people that Something Wonderful helped them decide what kind of theatre they wanted to do. (Mick Napier, founder of Chicago's celebrated Annoyance Theatre, was quoted as saying this in an interview with him in Chicago Magazine.) Certainly, working on the book changes my own ideas about the theatre in general and playwriting in particular. (How is the subject of another book, The Dramatist's Toolkit. Incidentally, I'd be delighted to receive E-mail regarding any of my writing.Jeffrey Sweet -- E-mail: DGSweet@aol.com

For those not familiar with the Second City, it is basically the granddaddy of all comedy troupes. Started in the mid-'50s as the Compass Players, it transformed into Second City in 1959 and has been going strong ever since, even opening sister theatres in Toronto & Detroit. So many of our current and past comedy stars have started here, it's mindboggling. The Belushi brothers, Bill Murray, Alan Arkin, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, Chris Farley, Bonnie Hunt, Ryan Stiles, Richard Kind, David Steinberg, Alan Alda, Peter Boyle, the entire cast of "SCTV Network," Philip Baker Hall, Mike Myers, Bob Odenkirk, Tim Meadows, Dan Aykroyd... the list goes on and on. This book was written in the '70s and is a collection of interviews w/ several of the company's key writer/performer/directors, among them Gilda Radner, Avery Schreiber, & Mina Kolb. A must-read for anyone who loves improv, sketch comedy, theatre technique, and, specifically, the Second City!

I read this book when I was first starting out in improv about 12 years ago. It features interviews with many of my heros and is still inspiring to me. I went on to work at Second City years later and found this book essential to my understanding of that place's traditions as well as the fact that traditions are made to be broken--with respect, of course.

Jeff's review may be self serving, but so is mine - my dad, the late Bill Alton, is interviewed in the book. This is probably one of the best books about Second City because it is written in the words of those who created Second City. Don't get me wrong, Sheldon's new book is O.K. but this book is better. Bless Jeff for getting these interviews before we lost too many of the original performers. If you can only get one book about Second City - buy this one.

I have watched many live Improv shows, and was able to learn the basics from "The Improv Trick" in Los Angeles, and then took classes and joined a short for troop at "Pan Theater" in Oakland. I was looking for some material about Improv, and chose this book to get a historical perspective on the formation and development of the Improv method.

I would not call the book an easy read, but it is thorough. The groupings of the interviews seemed strange when I started reading, but by the end I realized it was sort of the "purists" (the founders, the art-form crowd, the "zen" of Improv) , then the "splinters" (where can Improv take us?), then the "commercials" (how can we make a watchable profitable act out of this), and then the "look back" (What worked, what failed, what were the flaws of the "greats")

This is not an instruction guide, but it has the basic principles, and some really good pointers for how you can use those to "act" better, to "write" better, and to work with other performers - in any setting. If you want to "grasp" Improv, this is a great jumping off point and I think you will be better for it. If you ever want to teach or lead Improv, this book would also help.

If you just want basic, tips, structures - there are better books. But if you want some History, if you want so real stories of the people shaped by the movement, this book is worth the effort.

As far as my rating - I find the book tough to rate. Its probably a 3 due to its slow read and limited scope, but assuming you get this book looking for history and concepts, it delivers.

An insightful and even-handed look at the origins of Chicago-style improv, through the varied, humorous, and occasionally conflicting perspectives of the pioneers themselves. Sweet does a masterful job of understanding the relevant history, personalities, and creative process in such a way as to elicit meaningful and fascinating reminiscences. Rich in priceless anecdotes, it makes one wish the uniquely qualified Sweet would pen a second volume with more interviews with and about the other early improvisational groups, the developments of the 70's to the 90's in Chicago, the broader effects of SNL/SCTV-style sketch shows on comedy, and the contemporary use of improvisational techniques by screen writers and directors.