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IO Theater
iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The theater has many notable alumni, including Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert. The theatre closed briefly in 2020, though the building was purchased in 2021 and reopened on November 3, 2022. Description iO concentrated on "long-form" improvisational structures, in contrast to the "short-form" or "improv game" format of Theatresports, ComedySportz or the television show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' The iO's signature piece is the "Harold", and the theater featured other forms of improvisation, as well as sketch comedy and stand-up comedy. The building had four performance spaces: * The Del Close Theater - This was the second-largest of iO's the ...
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Chicago
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The Players Workshop
Created in 1971 by Josephine Forsberg, The Players Workshop was Chicago's only official school of improvisation for over a decade. Although it was never officially a part of The Second City cabaret theater, The Players Workshop was often referred to as Players Workshop Of The Second City, due to the school's close affiliation with the famous sketch comedy stage. From 1971 through the mid-1990s, performers flocked to The Players Workshop to study improv with Josephine Forsberg, Linnea Forsberg, Martin de Maat, or one of the school's many other instructors, in the hopes of eventually getting onto The Second City mainstage. Players Workshop was also one of Chicago's largest family entertainment production companies, producing original plays and musicals for The Children's Theater of The Second City for over 30 years. Its production of the one-act musical ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' later went on to be expanded into a full Broadway-style two-act musical which was mounted at The Theater ...
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Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' (2001–2014) and hosted the show's news parody segment, ''Weekend Update''. Early life and education Meyers was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was raised in Okemos, Michigan, from four to ten years of age, and Bedford, New Hampshire, after that. Meyers's mother, Hilary Claire ( Olson), was a French teacher, and his father, Laurence Meyers Jr., worked in finance. His younger brother, Josh Meyers, is an actor. His paternal grandfather was an Ashkenazi Jewish emigrant from Kalvarija near Marijampolė in modern-day Lithuania.Stated on ''Finding Your Roots'', February 19, 2019 The rest of his ancestry is Czech, Austrian, Croatian (from his paternal grandmother), Swedish (from his maternal grandfather), English ...
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Bill Hader
William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (2018–present), for which he has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning two. Hader's initial success was for his eight-year stint (2005–2013) as a cast member on the long-running NBC variety series ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Peabody Award. He became known for his impressions and especially for his work on the ''Weekend Update'' segments, in which he played Stefon Meyers, a flamboyant New York tour guide who recommends unusual nightclubs and parties with bizarre characters with unusual tastes. He is also the star and producer of the IFC mockumentary comedy series ''Documentary Now!'' (2015–present) which he co-created along with Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers. Hader h ...
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Kate Flannery
Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She went on to star as Principal Saperstein on the Hulu series ''All Night'', compete on the 28th season of '' Dancing with the Stars'', and voice Carol on the animated series '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes''. Early life Flannery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, daughter of parents Joan and Tom Flannery, and was raised in the suburb of Ardmore, Pennsylvania. She studied for two years at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia and then transferred to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has five sisters and a brother, and is three minutes younger than her twin sister, who is a social worker. Career A former member of The Second City's National Touring Company, Flannery is an original member of Chicago's Annoyance Theater, wher ...
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Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013) and ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' (2015–2020). Fey is also known for her work in film, including ''Mean Girls'' (2004), ''Baby Mama'' (2008), ''Date Night'' (2010), ''Megamind'' (2010), ''Muppets Most Wanted'' (2014), ''Sisters'' (2015), '' Whiskey Tango Foxtrot'' (2016), ''Wine Country'' (2019), and ''Soul'' (2020). Fey broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She joined ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, appearing as co-anchor in the ''Weekend Update'' segment and, later, developing a satirical portrayal of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in subsequent ...
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Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' for five seasons from 1990 to 1995. He later went on to pursue a film career, appearing in films such as ''Airheads'', ''Tommy Boy'', '' Black Sheep'', ''Beverly Hills Ninja'', and ''Almost Heroes''. From his early acting days and through the height of his fame, Farley struggled with obesity and substance abuse. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 33. Early life Christopher Crosby Farley was born on February 15, 1964, in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in Maple Bluff. His father, Thomas John Farley Sr. (1936–99), owned an oil company, and his mother, Mary Anne (née Crosby), was a homemaker. He had four siblings: Tom Jr., Kevin, John, and Barbara. His cousin, Jim, is chief executive of ...
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IO Chicago
iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The theater has many notable alumni, including Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert. The theatre closed briefly in 2020, though the building was purchased in 2021 and reopened on November 3, 2022. Description iO concentrated on "long-form" improvisational structures, in contrast to the "short-form" or "improv game" format of Theatresports, ComedySportz or the television show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' The iO's signature piece is the "Harold", and the theater featured other forms of improvisation, as well as sketch comedy and stand-up comedy. The building had four performance spaces: * The Del Close Theater - This was the second-largest of iO's the ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of , the pandemic had caused more than cases and confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history. COVID-19 symptoms range from undetectable to deadly, but most commonly include fever, dry cough, and fatigue. Severe illness is more likely in elderly patients and those with certain underlying medical conditions. COVID-19 transmits when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets and ...
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Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, rea ...
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Chicago Theatre
The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 6, 1979, and was listed as a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983. The distinctive Chicago Theatre marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography. History Grand opening, growth, and decline ...
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