Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

TODAY

Friday, March 29

Gapers Block
Search

Gapers Block on Facebook Gapers Block on Flickr Gapers Block on Twitter The Gapers Block Tumblr


A/C
« Reconstructing Storytelling with Mordine & Company Love Is Found »

Interview Tue Apr 26 2011

A Fairly Serious Chat with Margaret Hicks

Margaret Hicks is objectively awesome. In the past few years she's gone from working an office job to owning and operating her own tour guide business, and now on top of that she's a published author. As both a font of Chicago knowledge and an improvisor, Hicks was just the person to pen "Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History."

Hicks was leading one of her Second City-themed tours when a rep from History Press was along for a tour and asked if she'd considered writing a book. She took his card, but assumed he wanted a book about Second City and didn't reach out to him. A few months later he contacted her, saying that she could pick something to write about but that he'd wondered why there had never been a history of comedy in Chicago. "I looked into it and saw that there hadn't been anything written about it," said Hicks. Why did Second City and iO (Improv Olympic) happen in Chicago and not New York or someplace else? That was it. I needed to figure out what happened before that." And so she did.

To start the research process, Hicks arranged to interview some folks who'd been around the Chicago comedy block. "I'm very personality driven, and have always learned more from talking to people than reading. I set up a ton of interviews with people from as many different walks of comedy as possible- stand-up, theatre, improv...I got a nice variety, and each interview led to my next piece of research." Amongst the comedy notables that she interviewed, such as Bernie Sahlins and Sheldon Patinkin, she also used Tim Samuelson, Chicago's official historian, as a resource during her research.

Going into the project Hicks had a general idea of Chicago's modern comedy history from her Second City tours, but through her research found out a lot about Chicago's hilarious (Chi-larious?) beginnings that she hadn't known. "The idea that Second City was the first to improvise is kind of true, but not true. Improv is a very Chicago thing because we didn't have the budget that New York or Los Angeles did, but we always wanted to do what they did and were now doing it for the first time. Improv has been around since the moment Chicago sparked. Second City had to happen here because that's what Chicago was all about. With vaudeville, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," "Amos and Andy" and others, you had people improvising, but Second City was the first to acknowledge it as something that performers did."

Hicks' book gives its readers an overview of Chicago's comedic legacy, from its early days as a frontier town to its present day position as a breeding ground for some of comedy's biggest names, but she says that there's "all kinds of cool stuff" that couldn't fit in the book. She hasn't ruled out writing a more comprehensive history or even giving fiction a try. She says, " I loved researching Chicago and I loved writing about Chicago. I have a much deeper knowledge about my city, comedy and otherwise. I'd definitely write another Chicago story, for sure."

Margaret Hicks' book, "Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History," is now available for purchase from Amazon , and Hicks will also be participating in a discussion about her new book this Friday at noon at The Playground (3209 N. Halsted) as part of the Chicago Improv Festival.

 
GB store
GB store

Architecture Tue Nov 03 2015

Paul Goldberger Describes the "Pragmatism and Poetry" of Frank Gehry's Architecture in His New Book

By Nancy Bishop

Architecture critic Paul Goldberger talks about Frank Gehry's life and work in a new book.
Read this feature »

Steve at the Movies Fri Jan 01 2016

Best Feature Films & Documentaries of 2015

By Steve Prokopy

Read this column »

Blogroll

ACRE
An Angry White Guy
Antena
AREA Chicago
ArchitectureChicago Plus
Arts Engagement Exchange
The Art Letter
Art or Idiocy?
Art Slant Chicago
Art Talk Chicago
Bad at Sports
Bite and Smile
Brian Dickie of COT
Bridgeport International
Carrie Secrist Gallery
Chainsaw Calligraphy
Chicago Art Blog
Chicago Art Department
Chicago Art Examiner
Chicago Art Journal
Chicago Artists Resource
Chicago Art Map
Chicago Art Review
Chicago Classical Music
Chicago Comedy Examiner
Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago Daily Views
Chicago Film Examiner
Chicago Film Archives
Chicago Gallery News
Chicago Uncommon
Collaboraction
Contemporary Art Space
Co-op Image Group
Co-Prosperity Sphere
Chicago Urban Art Society
Creative Control
Defibrillator
Devening Projects
Digressions
DIY Film
ebersmoore
The Exhibition Agency
The Flatiron Project
F newsmagazine
The Gallery Crawl...
Galerie F
The Gaudy God
Happy Dog Gallery
HollywoodChicago
Homeroom Chicago
I, Homunculus
Hyde Park Artcenter Blog
InCUBATE
Joyce Owens: Artist on Art
J-Pointe
Julius Caesar
Kasia Kay Gallery
Kavi Gupta Gallery
Rob Kozlowski
Lookingglass Theatre Blog
Lumpen Blog
Marquee
Mess Hall
N'DIGO
Neoteric Art
NewcityArt
NewcityFilm
NewcityStage
Not If But When
Noun and Verb
On Film
On the Make
Onstage
Peanut Gallery
Peregrine Program
Performink
The Poor Choices Show
Pop Up Art Loop
The Post Family
The Recycled Film
Reversible Eye
Rhona Hoffman Gallery
Roots & Culture Gallery
SAIC Blog
The Seen
Sharkforum
Sisterman Vintage
Site of Big Shoulders
Sixty Inches From Center
Soleil's To-Do's
Sometimes Store
Steppenwolf.blog
Stop Go Stop
Storefront Rebellion
TOC Blog
Theater for the Future
Theatre in Chicago
The Franklin
The Mission
The Theater Loop
Thomas Robertello Gallery
threewalls
Time Tells Tony Wight Gallery
Uncommon Photographers
The Unscene Chicago
The Visualist
Vocalo
Western Exhibitions
What's Going On?
What to Wear During an Orange Alert?
You, Me, Them, Everybody
Zg Gallery

GB store

 

Events


A/C on Flickr

Join the A/C Flickr Pool.



About A/C

A/C is the arts and culture section of Gapers Block, covering the many forms of expression on display in Chicago. More...
Please see our submission guidelines.

Editor: Nancy Bishop, nancy@gapersblock.com
A/C staff inbox: ac@gapersblock.com

Archives

 

A/C Flickr Pool
 Subscribe in a reader.

GB store

GB Store

GB Buttons $1.50

GB T-Shirt $12

I ✶ Chi T-Shirts $15