By J. Scott Hill

As a straight boy coming of age in the south suburbs in the 1980s, I knew exactly one thing about how to get a date: ask her to go see Second City. Lead with Second City, not the “date”:

DUDE: Hi Heather, Karen, Julie, Tammy, or Michelle. Will you go to Second City with me next Saturday…

CHICK: Second City? Tubular!

DUDE: …on a date?

CHICK: Oh! [ponders] Hmmm. [ponders more] OK Kevin, Jim, Steve, Tommy, or Craig. Sometimes you just gotta say, “What the heck,” and make your move…

We understood the relationship between Second City and Saturday Night Live. This became the gauge of an active social life: if you knew the in-jokes from SNL, then you obviously spent your Saturday nights home alone, but if you recognized one of those last few names Don Pardo would read at the end of SNL’s opening credits (one of the “…and featuring” names), then you must have been in with the cool kids. So, if you wanted a second date, then for the first date you wandered through Bizarre Bazaar (and prayed she got all sexy-sexy with any one of a number of fetish items), took her to dinner at the Fireplace Inn (and prayed she got all sexy-sexy eating her saucy, sticky ribs), walked up the street a couple of doors to the Fudge Pot (and prayed she got all sexy-sexy eating her chocolate Hancock Building on-a-stick), if she smoked you walked up the street another couple of doors to the Up Down Tobacco Shop and bought her a pack of parti-colored Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes with the gold-foiled filters (and prayed she got all sexy-sexy French inhaling), and finally you crossed North Avenue and took her to see Second City (and prayed she got all sexy-sexy after guzzling half a dozen zombies).

Studs Terkel’s Not Working at Second City e. t. c. is, above all, hysterically funny — a revue that will make your date happy they came out to see a show with you.  The ensemble is tight. It is bittersweet that the northwest corner of North and Wells is but a layover on the journey to stardom. See these actors here in Chicago while you can; several of them will be working for either Conan O’Brien or Lorne Michaels before the decade is out.

At a Second City revue, I love the surprise, the discovery of just what in the world is going to come next.  I will try to keep from revealing here much about the content of the sketches to afford you the same pleasure when you heed my advice and go see Studs Terkel’s Not Working.

At the performance I attended, one standout among the outstanding ensemble was a replacement player whose blurb was not preprinted in the program (though that evening’s entire cast had their blurbs printed on the addendum).  It is not clear whether Joey Bland is an understudy or has been recast in the role, but his presence energized the entire production.

Fresh off a long and successful run as the titular character in Second City e. t. c.’s Rod Blagojevich Superstar!, Bland gives a spicy performance, unrecognizable without that rotten cat-corpse of a wig he wore all those months in the brutal send-up of the former governor.  Without the hair hat, Bland looks, at a glance, like Brendan Fraser — much to the surprise of anyone who saw him as Blago.  His impishness and high enthusiasm really help stir the audience every bit as much as the pitcher upon pitcher of Goose Island 312.

Another highlight of this ensemble is Beth Melewski.  Years ago, the late Phil Hartman said that actresses are more strongly typecast than are actors: the girl-next-door, the slut, the virgin, the best friend, etc.  Hartman lauded fellow SNL alum Jan Hooks for being an excellent “utility player” –- able to handle portraying the vixen and the queen dork in rapid succession.  Melewski proves just as versatile.  She wows as a 1940s-style screen vixen, having only moments earlier been convincing (or possibly unconvincing) as a questionably transgendered prostitute at an undeterminable place along the surgical progression.

The brightest and most brilliant star in Studs Terkel’s Not Working is Timothy Edward Mason.  I resist describing the characters he creates for fear of spoiling the surprises and with them spoiling a large part of the fun.  Without giving much away, one sketch takes place on the upper deck of a double-decker bus during a sightseeing tour; the character Mason creates for this sketch is one of the most unbreathably funny and original characters I have seen since Rachel Dratch’s plus-sized avenger in Promise Keepers, Losers Weepers at Second City Mainstage a decade ago.  In addition, Mason led the audience-participation theater games-type sketches; Del Close would squee for joy at these well-constructed improv games, since their inclusion in the revue confirms Second City’s admission that improv can be art unto itself, not merely a tool for writing.  One of these sketches is a hard-boiled noir detective story, and Timothy Edward Mason as the hack pulp writer/narrator has the entire audience transfixed upon his every word, and runs a few privileged audience members around the theatre looking for clues in ten minutes of comedic bliss.

Studs Terkel’s Not Working is a whole lot of fun.  Come to see Joey Bland, Beth Melewski, and the phenomenal Timothy Edward Mason before we lose them to New York or Los Angeles.  Come to laugh really hard, and maybe even get to improvise.

Bring a date: the tried and true formula still works like a charm.

3 ½ STARS

(“Studs Terkel’s Not Working” has an open run at The Second City e.t.c. Theatre, 1608 North Wells Street, 2nd Floor of Piper’s Alley. 312-337-3992)

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One Response to “Studs Terkel’s Not Working - REVIEW”

  1. 5:49 pm, 8 October, 2009 р.
    Beck says:

    This show was HILARIOUS! And I am a harsh critique. This is GREAT for a date or just a night out. Many belly laughs and the 312 was excellent — especially by they pitcher!

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