A big tip of the hat to Sharon, who pointed us toward a feature in yesterday’s Redeye (an affiliate of The Chicago Tribune) that discussed comedians who’d gotten their start in Chicago. As expected, our favorite Doctor of Fine Arts, Stephen Colbert, got some love.
From Chicago’s Redeye:
Stephen Colbert
Chicago ties: Graduated from Northwestern in 1987, I.O., Second City
You know him from: “The Colbert Report,” “The Daily Show”
Up in ’08: Since mid-January, Colbert’s portrait has hung in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit will run through the end of March.Before he was a star: Colbert was a good mimic who got laughs when he stuffed a trick ear in his ear canal, said his Northwestern sweetheart Ayun Halliday. Life wasn’t so glamorous back then, she said. “It was really just a golden age of hanging out—in memory every day is warm and sunny. … We went to Ravinia. We saw some bands. Watched movies on the coffee-table-sized VCR my housemate’s parents had handed down when they got a newer model,” Halliday wrote in an e-mail to RedEye.
. . .
Stephen Colbert. Nia Vardalos, who wrote and co-starred in
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” is on the far left.“I trained Stephen Colbert on his first improv team, No Fun
Mud Pirahanas. He was so good that he is the only person I
remembered from that team and was recently surprised when
he informed me that David Schwimmer was also on that team.”- Charna Halpern, co-founder IO
There are also some fabulous pictures of Steve Carell and Amy Sedaris, and the hilarious Paul Dinello appears in a couple of the photos, too.
Check out the whole piece here; it’s a great collection of info on a lot of incredible comedians.
Thanks again for the tip, Sharon!
I’ve been lurking on this site for several months now, but this is my first comment. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this article during my morning commute. Stephen brought a spot of warmth to an otherwise bleak Chicago winter day. Thanks for sharing the joy!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Aw…they all look so young.
Definitely O.T., but I just wanted to let you know that the picture of Colbert wrapped in the flag on your homepage never ceases to bring a smile to my face.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Nice work, Sharon! How great were these pics? Unfortunately, Flickr doesn’t like to play — it says “This Photo Is Currently Unavailable”. But, the links provided bring you to the article and photos as well.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Do the pics work any better now? Kina also said they weren’t working for her, but they show up fine on my computer. I re-entered the code, so I’m hoping that clears things up.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Time machine, please!
Can you imagine seeing all those great people on stage? Why the heck didn’t I go to Chicago in the early 90′s?
Great pictures–I especially love the last one of Steve and Paul
Also, the improv teacher not remembering David Schwimmer gave me a chuckle.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
The Pixs are fab! Stephen sure has nice teeth! His charisma pops off the page.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Okay, who else noticed Stew in one of the Chris Farley pictures . . . : )
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Great article! And LMAO at the teacher not remembering David Schwimmer.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@ Ms. I,
Working perfectly now! I adore that pic of Stephen dressed as a security guard and all smiley. Makes me smile too. : )
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Your coding worked, MsI, thanks :) I love seeing all those young faces.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Great article and pictures! I can definitely see Bill Murray getting a lot of detentions in school.
I wish Amy and Paul had been included…
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
I meant to say that I wish Amy and Paul had been included in the article. Ms Interpreted, thank you for including pictures of them.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Great article.
but, I gotta wonder if she’s kicking herself, and if so, how hard…..
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
thanks for posting this! oh, waitasec… is that his ex girlfriend? in the first pic?
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@ daphne,
That’s Nia Vardolis with Stephen Colbert in the first pic. You may recognize her from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
What with Karlin’s book out right now, I’m not sure I’d mention being Stephen’s ex…. This is the same one they interviewed when Stephen was Grand Marshal of Northwestern’s homecoming parade.
@ooth – if you go to the article and click on the photo gallery link for the article there is more about Amy.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@Jennie
Thanks! I didn’t realize that there was more there. The information about Amy was interesting. I also liked the story about Stephen and the car he inherited from his brother.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
ahhhhh I’m so in love with Second City AmyStephenPaul. Although I must really express my fangirl rage over Paul always being excluded from the trio *shakes fist* you would think that SWC would make him at least worth talking about but they didn’t talk about David Pasquesi or even Tim Meadows and they were Second City peeps too.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Hey NoFact-ies,
Can anybody confirm if Stephen was part of the Annoyance Theatre, and if so what year(s) he was there?
There are lots of references to him at Second City but rarely anything to Annoyance (except on Wikipedia, which Stephen has taught me not to trust).
Thanks.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@babybert – The Annoyance Theater was were Del Close started his Improve Olympics and where Stephen performed on a team while at Northwestern. He talks about it in an interview here (Thank you, JerriBlank.com!)
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
@Jennie – big thanks!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
WOW! What an incredibly adorable shot! And what a smile!
Thanks for sharing this great piece of history, glamorous or not, it was needed for all of them to be here today and to be loved by so many!
w
Shout Out (Hey!):
0