by ALLISON CASEY
Lifestyles Editor

The Second City comedy troupe of Chicago will bring big city laughs to Blowing Rock this weekend.

“The Second City: Pratfall of Civilization” plays Sept. 19 and 20 at the Miriam & Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $35 for general admission and $26 for students.

The sketch comedy show addresses, “responsible parenting versus rock & roll roots, functional families surviving in a world of dysfunction, [and] The Green movement meeting the Jonses,” according to a press release.

Second City comedian Michael P. O’Brien estimated the show is about 80 percent sketch comedy and 20 percent improvisation.

“It’s not all stand-up, which we all enjoy and do on the side,” O’Brien said. “The closest thing I can compare it to is [Saturday Night Live], though I hesitate to make that connection. It’s different. We wear suits, there’s not as many bad acting celebrities, there’s some singing.”

The show consists of six actors performing two 45-minute acts. 

The Second City has two stages and a training facility in Chicago and touring companies.

Many comedians have graced the Second City stage since it’s opening.

Second City launched the careers of John Belushi, Billy Murray, Mike Meyers, Gilda Radner and countless others.

“It’s really cool and a little surreal to be on the same stage as Bill Murray,” O’Brien said. “The theater really hasn’t changed that much since then,”

O’Brien said the comedy troupe has become friends with more recent actors and several from “30 Rock.”

“We don’t think of those people as famous, we think of Billy Murray as famous,” O’Brien said. “It’s very odd.”

Second City has three touring companies for a total of 18 total touring actors. 

“This particular group is really special,” O’Brien said.

Because the group spends so much time together, O’Brien said it is easy to get annoyed with one another.

“You have people getting in relationships and having uncomfortable, public breakups. It’s intense stuff,” O’Brien said. “People are either making out or fighting.”

However, this group gets along really well, O’Brien said, a fact that comes across on the stage.

“We’ve got really good chemistry,” he said.

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