Second City: Game Show Nightby Patti MartinsonReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Promoter
Credits Grade: 7 I had planned a trip to Chicago and knew that one of the things I wanted to do was go to see a Second City improv show. Second City has it's own building with several improv or other comedy shows running at any given time. Since I had some nights already booked with other things, I went with the offering "Game Night," a melding of the format of several game shows with improv.Family Feud, Match Game, and 25K Pyramid were the major game shows parodied, and in between each game there was a commercial done by the improv troupe based on the suggestions from the audience. There were four improv players that night and the game show "host." The audience was divided in half, with pairs of improv performers competing with each other, often with the help of audience members who were brought on stage. If there is one thing that stood out with this show, is that the audience participation was heavy -- so much so, that while it was all very funny, I felt there was almost too little focus on the improv folks. The improv troupe sure had their act together and showed no fear, regardless of what was thrown at them. Half the time, they ran around acting like maniacs as a way to rev up the audience. The MC was the outstanding part of the show for me, very quick witted, joking around with the audience, but keeping things fast and furious. Despite the feeling that there wasn't enough focus on the improv troupe, this was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen and not a bad choice to go with if you want to experience improv, especially for the first time. Written: June 28, 2015
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