Chicago's Second City to Perform for Rotary Benefit

The Chicago-based comedy troupe that spawned the careers of comedians ranging from Alan Arkin to John Belushi to Stephen Colbert will perform April 30 in the Burnsville Performing Arts Center.

The event, Comedy for Caring, is the Burnsville Rotary Club’s 36th annual fundraiser to benefit more than two dozen south metro nonprofits, including Meals on Wheels, the YMCA and DARTS.

Second City’s special Burnsville performance will include some of the venerable comedy troupe’s best sketches, songs and improvisations from its 50-year history.

Tickets for the show are $35, with a limited number of meet-and-greet tickets available for $75, and will be available at Ticketmaster beginning April 15.

A pre-show party will include live and silent auctions, complimentary appetizers, beer, wine and champagne, and music by Real Big Band, an 18-piece jazz ensemble.

Bids on more than 100 auction items, ranging from lunch with Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz to a ride-along with Burnsville police officers to restaurant gift cards to electronics will be accepted through April 16 at BiddingforGood.com.

Second City evolved from the Compass Players, a 1950s cabaret revue show started by University of Chicago undergraduates.  Second City’s first show premiered in 1959; since then, the theater has expanded to three touring companies and a second resident company – in Toronto – and also was the genesis of the 1976-1984 TV show “SCTV.”

The company’s list of alumni reads like a who’s who of entertainment over the last 50 years. Among the most notable: Alan Arkin, Ed Asner, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, Fred Willard, Peter Boyle, Harold Ramis, John Belushi, John Candy, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, George Wendt, Shelley Long, Dan Castellaeta, Bonnie Hunt, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, and two of the newest “Saturday Night Live” cast members: Vanessa Bayer and Paul Brittain.