Welcome to The Second City Archives, in which we post an exclusive clip each week of some of comedy’s biggest superstars performing early in their careers on the legendary Chicago stage. Second City has generously given us a glimpse into their extensive archive of live performances, and over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing some rare and retro comedy never before seen on the web.
This week’s unearthed clip comes from Second City’s 41st revue from 1971 No, No Wilmette featuring ensemble performers John Belushi, Brian Doyle-Murray, Jim Fisher, Roberta Maguire, Judy Morgan, Joe Flaherty, and Dan Ziskie. In the above scene “Jail,” Belushi and Flaherty play newly paired cellmates on death row who meet for the first time…and things get pretty dark. Both performers would go on to become TV sketch comedy stars in their own right – Belushi joined the original Saturday Night Live cast in 1975, while Flaherty began to rack up characters on SCTV a year later.
