April Fools’ and a long legacy of Chicago comedians

April Fools’ Day brings out everybody’s inner comedian. But, did you know that Chicago has launched the career of famous comedians?

While it’s unknown how April Fools’ Day began, the Library of Congress explored numerous origin stories. All that can be determined is that it most likely emerged between the 14^th and 16^th centuries. One of the most widely accepted theories comes from France, where the adaptation of the Gregorian calendar in 1564 changed the start of the New Year from a week-long celebration at the end of March to January 1. Those who refused to acknowledge the switch were pranked by those that did accept the change. The pranking tradition has grown to include companies making outlandish claims on their websites and social media.

Rather than come up with some mock press release about how we’ve been acquired by a massive multinational conglomerate or something like that, we’re leaving the jokes to the pros.  Instead, we’re sharing what we’ve learned about some of our locals who found fame through humor.

Here in Chicago, we have no shortage of comedians to call our own. From the world-famous Second City to our many comedy clubs and storefront theaters, Chicago has long served as a training ground for aspiring comedians.

Stephen Colbert, who moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University and got swept up in the local improv scene, said on an episode of the City Cast Chicago podcast, “If you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere, because Chicago is so welcoming to new, young talent. It’s not full of itself.”

But instead of focusing on those who, like Colbert, came from elsewhere on their road to fame, we’re going to look at some local Chicagoans who have influenced the last 60 years of American comedy.

The Founders of Second City

Every comic actor who started out in sketch or improv work owes a debt to Second City. It was founded as a troupe in 1959 by Chicago natives Howard Alk, Bernie Sahlins and Paul Sills, who applied techniques for improvisational theater to comedy.  This concept was pioneered by Sills’ mother, Viola Spolin. From its location on Wells Street in Old Town, Second City created a comedy empire that now consists of theaters and training centers in Toronto and Los Angeles, with an impossibly long list of notable alumni.

Bob Newhart

Born just outside the city in Oak Park and raised in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, Bob Newhart signed with Warner Brothers to record the comedy routines he wrote while working as an accountant. His massive success in the 1960s led to a sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show, where Newhart played Dr. Robert Hartley, a Chicago psychologist whose dry, stammering reactions to the absurdity around him was derived from his stand-up persona. Its six-season success led to another hit Newhart, which ran even longer.  Since 2004, a statue of him as Dr. Hartley, sitting on a chair with an empty couch next to him, has called Navy Pier its home. And, in 2012–60 years after he graduated–a theater on the campus of Loyola University’s Lake Shore Campus in Rogers Park was renovated and named in his family’s honor.

John Belushi

After getting his start in comedy at Second City, Humboldt Park-born and Wheaton-raised John Belushi was hired to be part of the original cast of Saturday Night Live. He parlayed that success into a film career with classics like National Lampoon’s Animal House and The Blues Brothers, the latter featuring him and another SNL alum, Dan Aykroyd, as an unlikely pair of Chicago bluesmen. Unfortunately, Belushi died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982.

Bill Murray

After Chevy Chase left SNL in 1976, Bill Murray took his place. Raised in the North Shore suburb of Wilmette, Murray, like Belushi, cut his teeth at Second City and used SNL as a springboard to greater fame in Hollywood. He spent the 80s and 90s proving himself versatile in both starring and supporting roles, appearing in such hits as Stripes, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Caddyshack and Tootsie.  He also won awards for his work in Rushmore and Lost in Translation. When not acting, Murray can often be seen at Wrigley Field watching his beloved Cubs or popping up in unexpected places.  

Harold Ramis

It’s arguable that neither Murray nor Belushi would have had the careers they did if not for Harold Ramis. The three all came through Second City in the early 1970s and worked together at National Lampoon. While Belushi and Murray went to SNL, Ramis became the head writer of SCTV, a sketch show from Second City’s Toronto location. Ramis later co-wrote Belushi’s breakthrough, Animal House, as well as six movies in which Murray starred between 1979’s Meatballs and 1993’s Groundhog Day.  He tackled directing with Groundhog Day.  And he also co-starred opposite Murray in Stripes and Ghostbusters, playing the more intellectual foil to Murray’s wise guy. Ramis spent his childhood on the Near West Side and Rogers Park, and was living in Glencoe when he died on Feb. 24, 2014. The film school at Second City is named in his memory.

Dan Castellaneta

You may not recognize Dan Castellaneta’s name or face, but you definitely know his voice. The Oak Park native has been one of the most prolific voice actors around, most famously playing Homer Simpson on The Simpsons, as well as many other residents of Springfield, including Krusty the Clown, Mayor Quimby, Groundskeeper Willie and Barney Gumble. But that’s far from his only gig. The four-time Emmy winner has lent his vocal talents to dozens of animated film and television shows and has appeared in front of the camera in bit parts of many sitcoms.

Bernie Mac

It took the man born Bernard McCullough a little longer to break through than most successful stand-up comics. Bernie Mac was in his mid-30s in 1992 when his appearance on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, profanely telling the hard-to-please crowd that he wouldn’t be intimated, thrust him into the national spotlight. Roles in movies such as Friday and the Ocean’s Eleven franchise followed, as did a sitcom. The Bernie Mac Show, where he played a version of himself raising his nieces and nephew, ran on Fox from 2001-2006. He was 50 when he died of pneumonia on Aug. 9, 2008. Four years after his death, the block where he grew up on W. 69^th Street in Englewood was named in his honor.

Jane Lynch

It took Jane Lynch even longer than Bernie Mac to become famous. The Dolton-raised actress spent years in Chicago theatre when her training in improv at Second City finally paid off. Director Christopher Guest cast her as a professional dog handler in 2000’s ad-libbed mockumentary Best in Show. Her star continued to rise in the ensuing decade until 2009, when she began a six-year stint as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester of Fox’s musical comedy series Glee. The role earned her many awards, including an Emmy, Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.