I enjoyed reading about how so many famous people got their start. It reminded me of the book "Live From New York" about SNL, but the players had a different mind set. Second City was all about the acting, where SNL was just about putting on a tv show each week.

This collection of short stories/anecdotes from comedians, producers, and writers of the Second City theater was not interesting, but maybe I went into this thinking the book would include funny stories and juicy information. However, I felt like you had to be part of their community to understand all the stories. I also did not like the set-up of the book and the way they presented the little anecdotes. I did enjoy the pictures of a young Steve Carrell, Nia Vardalos, and many other comedians. I have a lot of respect for the theater group because it spawned so many of the comedians we see today.

not nearly as funny as i was hoping for. and the anecdotes were more bitch sessions about the management of Second City than actual stories about their work and their fellow actors/comedians. not bad, but not great.

I enjoyed this one, especially the side stories.

There are certainly flaws in this book, but it is by and large a very entertaining and informative history of the Second City. The most compelling part for me is the waves of innovation that took place over the years at the institution to keep it vibrant. Maybe this is the central feature of any highly creative institution, but I think the freedom to essentially do whatever you want allows you to break down rules and create something truly unique. It's certainly a rare opportunity in life to be able to do that. For comedy, it's integral. I don't think we recognize how ingrained certain comedy rules are until someone breaks those rules and develops a completely new way of thinking about comedy. Fascinating to read about the germ of many of those comedic developments.

Not a bad book. Provides a nice, historical look at the company. Having spent some time in Chicago and familiar with the brand and its famous alumni, the book reveals its history and evolution, relevance and theoretical underpinnings, in such way that makes me want to review what I had seen and what I had thought about Second City.

Read in short clips from many of the important players, the book accomplishes its task in an oral retelling. While it contains gems of anecdotes about characters and characters of John Belushi to Chris Farley, Steve Carrell to Stephen Colbert, the book lacks as many of these as one would want or expect. And that keeps it from being a must-read.

I did like it, but it was difficult to get through at times. I learned a lot about Second City and it was nice to hear from so many different people that were involved over the years, but I feel like it could have been shorter and more focused; some of the same ground was covered over and over. A comprehensive history for those interested and a solid three, but it could have been much more.