The Journal

Issue date: 9/6/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Max Gersh Sarah Haskins dances with Tim Sniff in a Middle Eastern skit during an Aug. 30 performance in the Grant Gymnasium. Haskins and Sniff are part of a six-member touring company with Second City of Chicago.

Media Credit: Laila Wessel Aimee McKay and Jordan Klepper, just two of the six actors from the comedy group Second City, performed improvisational and scripted skits Aug. 30 in Grant Gymnasium.

A traveling troupe of actors from Second City gave Webster's packed gymnasium a laugh Aug. 30. About 300 students, some standing due to a lack of seats, crowded in and laughed out loud for almost two hours. Despite the chilly conditions inside the gym, the six actors who comprised the troupe were so active they were visibly dripping with sweat.

Second City is an improvisational comedy group based in Chicago. It boasts such famous former members as Peter Boyle, John Belushi, Bill Murray and Stephen Colbert.

"Some of these performers seem like they have a future in front of them," said freshman Sam Cotton, a math major. "I wouldn't be surprised if I see them on 'Saturday Night Live' in the future."

Second City is known for its edgy, sometimes political humor and this show was no exception. The opening skit featured a man being held accountable for all of America's perceived evils, including using up the world's entire supply of oil and policing the world. The mock trial ended when the man beat up the whole court and said: "I'm America; I don't have to be accountable. I kick ass!"

The Chicago-based team ruthlessly tore into Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., claiming that she's not human. The skit, one of the longest of the night, showed Clinton attempting to hire an assassin to kill Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The assassin said he was unable to take the job, because he was "gay for Obama" - because he is "just the right amount of black." The assassin claimed to have murdered a long list of famous people, including Terri Schiavo, a job that he admitted had taken a long time.

"I loved the political satire," said senior Lis Hohl, an international relations major.

There were several skits poking fun at Muslims. One such skit showed a departing American soldier saying goodbye to his burqa-clad Iraqi girlfriend, who was defying loud, bullying commands from her father to get back in the corner. The heartfelt moment was shattered when the American soldier grabbed the woman and began to reenact the final dance scene of "Dirty Dancing."

"It's the first time I've seen professional improv," said senior Jonathan Fournier, an audio production major. "It's pretty impressive."

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