In honor of tonight’s “30 Rock” season premiere – (congrats again for that Emmy, Tina Fey!) – I’m streaming another track off of “Classic Moments from The Second City Stage,” a bonus CD that comes with this “SCTV” DVD set.Ten years ago, Tina was doing improv in Chicago with The Second City. This sketch features Tina and her ace boon coon, Rachel Dratch. You will recognize Dratch’s character here; she later used it for the “Boston Teens” sketches on “Saturday Night Live.”
Click here to hear “Wicked” on my Vox audio stash.
6 comments:
Did you catch Tina on Conan yesterday? I have such a huge crush on her...and she was on the cover of geek magazine!
I missed her... dammit. I should've been on the lookout.
I saw this in person back then, when I was in law school there. Dratch was someone I always thought would hit it big, and I have no memory of Fey at all.
Lucky you, Adam. I miss Second City so much. I remember seeing Dan Castellaneta when he was with the third-string company (National Touring Co.). I remember Bonnie Hunt with the main company. Isabella Hoffman too.
We're talking mid-'80s, before the Second City once again became a feeder to "SNL" and "Mad TV" and Comedy Central.
As for having no memory of Tina Fey... time has shown us that her main strength was never as a sketch player, but as a writer. Lucky her.
I was there 1994-97, which was a lot of Adam McKay and Scott Adsit. Dratch, I remember clearly. There would be nights my third year I'd wrap up at Law School late, and on my way from Hyde Park to Lakeview stop at Second City for the free improv on Thursdays and Saturdays. Miss that place.
The free improvs were great!
For a while in L.A., like late '90s, a clique of ex-Second City players -- including some I saw in the '80s -- would do weekly long-form improvs. (A construct called "The Harold.")
I became a geek for that, too. Because whereas some of the Second City free improv sessions seems only loosely connected to audience suggestions... seemed more like a way for them to road-test written bits... the Harold is total fly-by-the-pants improvisation... thrilling to witness.
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