THAT’S NOT FUNNY! Chicago’s Famed Second City Comedy Theatre Issues Strict New ‘Safe Space’ Rules.
Signs at the famed Chicago’s Second City comedy theater, which produced such greats as John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert (and some not-so-greats, like your humble reporter), is issuing rules for audience participation in its famous improvisation shows until its audience knows how to behave.
Or, at least, how to keep Second City, where supposedly no joke is off limits, a “safe space” from Trumpism.
Over the weekend, signs went up on Second City’s doors warning that the company “has a zero-tolerance policy and does not allow hate speech of any kind whether it’s directed toward our artists, employees or patrons,” and that anyone “verbalizing any homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist or prejudiced comments will be asked to leave.”
A taped message before Second City’s e.t.c. stage shows now tells audience members, “If you have to yell something like that, go home, shout it into your pillow and suffocate yourself with it.”
Good grief.
Second City used to take on anyone, from journalistic icons like Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley, all the way down to your local TV station lightnight movie host. Now it would seem their targets — and their appeal — have become more selective.