For the second time in many years, Second City will be making a double appearance at the Forest Roberts Theatre this weekend. Each show will be themed differently.

The first show, “Second City Goes to College: The FAFSA and the Furious” is aimed towards students with college-based humor.

Eileen Montelione, who has been performing with Second City since 2007, said they are hoping for a purely college crowd on Thursday night.

“It will be one of the funniest nights and it will be very entertaining,” Montelione said. “They are both great for very different reasons.”

The second night, Second City will be performing “The Best of Second City: LOLs.”

“It is an all encompassing show: everything from the past 52 years. There will be a lot of relationship scenes and things not specific to college students. They’re both a lot of fun,” Montelione said.

Montelione said that college was when she really decided that she wanted to pursue a career of being a comedian.

“College was when I was finally coming into my own,” Montelione said. “I was kind of a nerd when I was a kid.
This Chicago-based group has a history of starting the careers of many prominent performers in today’s entertainment.

Comedians like Mike Meyers, Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Steve Carell and many others have started their careers with Second City.

“The people that I work with are absolutely fantastic and hilarious,” Montelione said. “As soon as I get to work, I am like ‘these people are wonderful.’”

Despite traveling for long hours, Montelione said she is excited to be in Marquette for a couple of days.
“I basically grew up in the U.P. during the summer,” Montelione said. “I have family and friends there, and it is just so beautiful and amazing and peaceful.”

Even though Second City has performed in Marquette before, Montelione said this will be a completely different experience.

“A lot of times we will get repeat audience members and we don’t want to bore them,” Montelione said. “This ensemble hasn’t been there and there is totally new material.”

Sarah Leissring, a senior sports science and pre-physical training major, has been involved with Northern Arts and Entertainment, the on-campus group that is sponsoring the Second City performances.

“They always are really great to work with and do really well. It’s nice that we’re bringing up the same group, but with different people every time,” Leissring said.

Second City performances have become a campus tradition, Leissring said. They come back every couple of years to perform family-friendly shows for the entire community.

“It is harder to get the community on campus to a music event, but people come out for comedy because it is a good stress-reliever,” Leissring said.

Second City will also be speaking at a masters’ level class on campus the days of their performances.

“I am looking forward to the surprises and the hilarity of the show, and I am looking forward to meeting and working with them,” Leissring said.

There will be two shows, one at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 and another at 7:30 p.m. Friday Sept. 23.

Tickets are available at all NMU ticket outlets including the Superior Dome and NMU Bookstore.

The cost is $2 for students and $5 for the general public.

For more information, email Northern Arts and Entertainment at [email protected].