Shelly Gossman, Michael Patrick O'Brien (Photo by Knuth)

The short version of this review: If you’re planning to see one show at Second City, bypass the mainstage.

In fact the two shows currently running at Second City—“America: All Better” on the mainstage and “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” on the e.t.c. stage (see my review here)—are a case study in comedy formatics. In other words, the format of each show is the same but the results lie on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Break down most sketch comedy at Second City and what you’ll find is an initial premise repeated over and over. The joke is not really advanced or deconstructed or developed. The trick is to keep the audience engaged anyway, and the folks over at e.t.c. do this with considerable ease. It takes inspired ideas to make such a gambit work.

Alas, the same cannot be said of the 96^th revue on the mainstage. Hell, just look at the title—call your show “America: All Better!” and you’re just advertising a lack of wit and better instincts.

Three new cast members join the ensemble, with Lauren Ash as the standout. She brings to mind the loud sarcastic girl at the pep rally, and she’s a natural fit here. Tellingly, she doesn’t have to fight (i.e. resort to overblown performances) to be noticed. (Veteran Emily Wilson, on the other hand, does an awful lot of screaming with very little payoff.) In a sketch where Ash could easily be the harpy—complaining about her boyfriend’s emotional reticence—she is funny, but she also taps into something authentic: frustration and hurt.

Anthony LeBlanc (also new) needs to create more of a defined presence for himself, though his song about interracial love (sung to a white women in the front row) contains priceless, tasteless lyrics, including: “I want to plow your snow.”  Clever raunch is a delicate thing, and LeBlanc has a knack for it.

Michael Patrick O’Brien is new to the mainstage, as well. Over the summer I went nuts for his Andy Kaufmanesque solo show called “Shatter” (when he was billed merely as “Pat O’Brien”). His strength as a performer is that you’re never sure if he’s fucking with you—this comes to the fore just once in the show, when his “love life” takes center stage.

It’s a good bit, and I wish there were more of them. The best sketch features Shelly Gossman as a Russian gymnast performing a balance beam routine on the rail separating the front of the house from the back. Stepping over drinks (and imbibing them at various points), she is accompanied by her effusively bearded coach (a very funny Brad Morris) and color commentary provided by O’Brien and Joe Canale. It’s the one bit that feels absolutely right. It’s a surprise and it manages to be both lightly transgressive (I’ve never seen any Second City cast member venture this deep into audience territory) and strangely hilarious.

Ultimately, though, there is something missing in the creative drive. (Matt Hovde is the show’s director). If “Impress These Apes” has shown us anything, it’s that funny people—given the right motivation and freedom to play—will generate unique and indelible material. Second City can’t accommodate the freeform structure of “Apes” (nor should it) but I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere. Second City has always had impeccable taste when it comes to hiring talent, but shows like this suggest there has to be a better way to take advantage of what these folks have to offer.

“America: All Better” certainly has enough good actors in it—I’ve come to really appreciate what Brad Morris is doing as a performer—and it’s not quite a colossal failure. Then again, it is so mediocre as to be insignificant. (Nina Metz)

At Second City Mainstage Theatre, 1616 N. Wells St., 312-337-3992 or www.secondcity.com. Tues-Thur 8p, Fri-Sat 8p & 11p, Sun 7p. $20-$25. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

In sketch and improv—especially among younger performers—you’ll often see an inability (or unwillingness) to move beyond the easy laugh. It takes real chops (and risk-taking abandon) to build a character beyond a series of punchlines. It’s the difference between someone like Ricky Gervais—whose public persona is wittily complex, both dark and light—and joke man Howie Mandel, who can get off a decent one-liner, but who cares?

“Hero” (the one-act improvised play running Wednesdays at i.O.) looks this challenge in the eye and mostly comes out on top. With a cast of veteran actors—Brian Boland and Claudia Wallace are former Second City mainstagers; Jet Eveleth and Holly Laurent are members of The Reckoning, an improv team with serious talent—the actors are relaxed enough to carefully build their characters. (Patrick McKenna rounds out the ensemble.) This is a group (directed by Sandy Marshall, of Schadenfreude) that understands how inhabit a manufactured world with total confidence.

Hero mythology is the underlying theme of each show, although the one I caught was hazy on this point. I don’t think it matters. Half the cast offered up performances that were modestly funny but limited (and limiting to the story). This was a problem for Wallace, especially, who seemed trapped within the two-dimensions of her a vapid character.

The stronger work came from Boland, something of straight man when he was at Second City, who uses his tall good looks to subvert expectations. His character insights are specific and detailed, and boy does this guy know how to play burning dissatisfaction.

The other standout is Eveleth, with her hair clipped Mia Farrow-style, circa “Rosemary’s Baby”—more than anyone, Eveleth showed genuine dramatic instincts, charging face-first into a portrayal of quiet desperation that was funny and unflinchingly honest. Also, quick on the uptake; on the night I attended, she turned a momentary speech impediment into a Porky Pig sign-off—an inspired way to acknowledge her verbal flubbing and tweak it at the same time. (Nina Metz)

At i.O. Theater, 3541 North Clark, (773)880-0199. Wednesdays at 8pm through October 29. $10. 

It is a little depressing to see a twisted soul like Timothy Edward Mason, hilarious and slightly freakish earlier this year at SketchFest, now reduced to just another guy doing the same old tired Second City schtick. Mason’s previous sketch troupe, Brick, has been disbanded for a few years now, but their reunion show at SketchFest in January was brilliant and strange and full of unpredictable moments. Also, it was very, very funny. The same can not be said of “Campaign Supernova,” the thirty-first revue currently occupying Second City’s e.t.c. stage like a warm beer on a humid night (Matt Hovde is the director). Too much feels like a retread of a retread, including a sketch with spliced dialogue that is an almost exact rip-off of something Brick did with far better results. There is a slow jamz ode to R. Kelly’s incessant lyrical rhyming and trial delays, and while I like what it’s aiming for, it never quite comes together and it needs more work. A few sketches point to something verging on originality. The new cast members—four out of the six—make the strongest impressions of the night. Tom Flanigan, with his easy-going vulnerability, mines something fresh from PowerPoint and Peter Frampton. Laura Grey does an old-fashioned mime routine that it is actually quite ingenious—even when her victim, a member of the audience, doesn’t see or understand what’s being mimed, Grey remains in character and plows forward anyway with a sweetness bordering on hostility. Megan Grano does the strongest character work as a ball-busting, no-nonsense-spewing, Suze Orman-type financial adviser: “I just saved you $23 million—and a shitty relationship!” she informed someone in the front row. Veterans Amanda Blake Davis and Andy St. Clair are likable if forgettable, though St. Clair has a nice rapport with the audience as he wanders through the theater. Good thing, because it helps smooth over the numbing been-there, done-that moments. (Nina Metz)

At Second City, e.t.c., Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells, (312)642-8189. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

There is something to be said for a year’s experience on the Second City mainstage. Last year’s rookies, Brad Morris and Amber Ruffin, hadn’t quite staked their claim in 2007’s monster hit, “Between Barack and a Hard Place.” This time out, Ruffin is relaxed and goofy, qualities that play nicely against the brittleness of newcomers Shelly Gossman and Emily Wilson. (Gossman seems to have the most potential—a performer willing to embrace the strange if only someone would let her.) But wait until you see Morris. There is a tendency at Second City to mug through a scene; Morris is having none of that. This is not a loud or look-at-me kind of actor, and when he plays a character, it comes from somewhere in his core, veering between deadpan and a condition I would call companionable intensity. Also, he does a mean Chewbacca. Directed by Jim Carlson, the show overall is good but not exceptional. Times are tense, and so is the comedy. The presidential race is boiled down to “black, old or woman.” There is the obligatory “Hey, grandma…” sketch; could do without one of those for a while. Same with the retread Cubs material. Notably, Carlson has toned down the smug and manic edge that tends to creep into these revues when they are directed within an inch of their lives. If only every scene were executed with the same off-kilter attitude as the Jiffy Lube bit, with Morris informing each customer that a simple oil change turned up a few problems, and Ithamar Enriquez (always a welcome and mirthful presence) as the mechanic called in to explain the jargon. The rhythms of the sketch are unexpected and the performances “Office”-like in their heightened sense of reality. Morris even backs into a legitimately funny IKEA joke. If you’re gonna to do an IKEA joke, this is way to do it. (Nina Metz)

At Second City, Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells, (312)337-3992. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

Hal Sparks started his career in Chicago when he began studying with Second City in high school. In 1987 the Chicago Sun-Times named Mr. Sparks “Funniest Teenager in Chicago.” He shortly thereafter headed off to California and his career was launched. Through March 2 Sparks will make one of his regular stops to the area when he takes the stage at Chicago Improv in Schaumburg. Sparks has performed in some of the more prestigious comedy clubs in the country, including The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory and The Ice House, as well as performing at Comic Relief’s American Comedy Festival. If you are not too familiar with the comedy circuit you may recognize this stand out performer from his stint as host of E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup” from 1999 till 2000. Sparks made waves as Michael on Showtime’s “Queer as Folk” and was a favorite on VH1’s “I Love the 70s.” He also loved the 80s. Whether commenting on pop-culture television, breaking boundaries in gay television or standing behind a lone microphone Hal Sparks is a funny man. Check him out. (William Scott)

At The Improv, Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, (847)240-2001.

RECOMMENDED

Why should you see “Between Barack and a New Show,” now playing on Second City’s main stage? Because it is what is great about Second City. If you want to see how this company really works, go now. With productions taking the stage year round, the company transitions from one show to another right in front of the audience’s eyes. They phase in new material as it is written and out goes the old. It is an exciting time. Watch these comedians and writers be put through the paces of so many luminaries that have taken the stage before them. If you saw “Barack” when it was between a hard place you might recognize some of the best material still intact while the show is in limbo. The musical number “I am Socially Awkward” and the audio tour of the Art Institute are two that I was happy to see again, but some of the new material was great as well. Do not expect anything. Everything is up for elimination and your reactions help determine if it goes or stays. In a few months Second City will deliver a brand new show, but the in-between time is way more thrilling. (William Scott)

At Second City, Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells, (312)332-2244. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

The Chicago History Museum may not be the first place you think of when you think “comedy,” but maybe that’s what’s so funny about the fact that they’re hosting a series of events featuring some of the Second City’s most famous comedians. On the November 13, it’s hosting “Tuesday Night Live,” in which “SNL” and Second City alums Tim Meadows and Rachel Dratch (who’s been yukking it up in multiple parts on Tina Fey’s funnier-than-it-should-be “30 Rock”) will come back to town to talk about Chicago’s own comedy history (and their parts in it) and perform live sketch and improv with other members of the Second City ensemble. Sure, tour guides have their charms, but odds are this could be the funniest thing you’ll ever see inside a museum. (Mike Schramm)

At the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark, (312)642-4600. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

Just as “SNL” and Second City populated the last generation of stand-up comics, Web sites like Chicago’s blerds.com (short for blogs plus nerds) are cultivating a new generation of comedians, a class of comics that’s getting popular not in nightclubs and on late-night talk shows, but on YouTube and MySpace. Already, Blerds alum TJ Miller is shooting pilots in Los Angeles, and it’s a good bet that the other writers and filmmakers whose work is all over the site are soon to follow. This Friday, they take the stage at Lakeshore, showing the videos that garner the views online. Plus, sets by Jared Logan, Sean Flannery, CJ Sullivan and Prescott Tolk. (Mike Schramm)

At the Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492. This production is now closed.