If you happened to hear laughter coming from Hoag Hall Thursday night, you were probably hearing the sounds of the Second City Hits Home group as they performed hilarious sketches for comedy fans from CSU-Pueblo and the community.
The Second City has been in the business of making people laugh for more than 50 years, specializing in improv and sketch comedy. The six comedians who made up the Hits Home team put together a live sketch comedy show with everything from short two-liners to lengthy skits.
Keeping true to the classic Second City style of comedy they are known for, the show was filled with relevant, clever and racy humor. Some in the audience remarked that the show was similar to Saturday Night Live, which is understandable considering many SNL stars got their start with Second City in Chicago.
“I thought it was really funny, and it reminded me of SNL. I like how they incorporated things from Pueblo into their acts,” said Ashley Smith, a psychology major at CSU-Pueblo.
The six performers, Lisa Barber, Jo Feldman, Julie Marchiano, Chucho Perez, Nick Rees and Adam Shrek were experts at inducing laughter and getting their audience involved.
One lucky student named Derek was brought onstage to meet his boyfriends’ parents for the first time. Another skit saw the group create an extensive song about audience member’s name.
To incorporate Pueblo, which each comedian pronounced “Pueeblo,” into the show, they set sketches at local places like the River Walk, the Pueblo Reservoir and even Adolfo’s. At one point, the actors had the crowd cheering on the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves.
Other memorable sketches included a set of embarrassing parents and their teenage daughter, and a romance between a woman and a robot.
“The skit about American families in different time periods was probably my favorite,” Smith said. “I heard a lot of Second City actors go on to SNL when they performed here last year. I think that’s really cool.”
The Second City has several tour groups that visit college campuses, and CSU-Pueblo has been a scheduled stop for several years. The Second City website at www.secondcity.com offers more information about improv, Second City comedy workshops, and touring schedules.
