“As a major media hub, the New York location will be integral as the brand moves to expand its content offering onto new platforms beyond the live stages,” the company says. In addition to introducing a New York location, the Second City, which was acquired by a private-equity firm in 2021, is opening a new flagship theater in Toronto to mark its 50th anniversary in the city in 2023, and it will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Second City in Chicago in 2024. The UCB’s new owners recently reopened its theater in Los Angeles and have announced plans to reopen its location in New York after both experienced layoffs, shuttered during the pandemic, and had been the subject of a labor controversy.

This announcement arrives during a period of transition for improv’s major institutions following the sale of the UCB to new owners in March and the closing of the Peoples Improv Theater’s main space in New York last year. “New York City is a renowned hub for talent and culture,” said new Second City CEO Ed Wells - who left his job at Sesame Workshop to join the company in September - in a release. “We could not be more thrilled to bring the Second City’s unique brand of improv-based entertainment and education to the city as we continue to foster the next generation of comedy.” Liebling, who branded Chicago, the theater’s original home, as “the second city” compared to New York in 1952.

It will mark the Second City’s fourth location - it has theaters in Chicago and Toronto as well as a training center in Los Angeles that’s gone virtual since late 2020 - but technically its first “city” as well: The theater’s name was inspired by a New Yorker writer, A.J. Its new 11,900-square-foot space will be located in the borough’s Williamsburg neighborhood, where it is guaranteed to find many people with disposable income willing to spend it on introductory improv classes. In 2023, the comedy powerhouse responsible for incubating talents like Bill Murray, Tina Fey, and Tim Meadows will open a new location in Brooklyn, New York, the company announced October 6.

When SNL wants to scout the Second City sketch players for its season-49 cast next year, its talent producers may not have to travel very far.

Sesame street season 49