More quotes from ‘The Second City Unscripted’

Howdy, everyone. I’m sure you all read Ann’s entry about the new book on Second City when she posted it last week, but I thought I’d point out a few more tidbits that have since turned up online and that make The Second City Unscripted: Revolution and Revelation at the World-Famous Comedy Theater (by Mike Thomas) an even more attractive addition to your reading list. Today’s quotes come to us courtesy of former Second City student Mandy Stadtmiller.

From The New York Post:

The Second City unscripted
Comedy troupe bred talent — and total depravity
By MANDY STADTMILLER
Last Updated: 8:14 AM, October 4, 2009
Posted: 12:02 AM, October 4, 2009

. . .

[L]ater success stories such as Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert show what happens when the manic performing energy is channeled almost purely into the art itself.

Because Colbert improvised so much on stage, he said he found himself doing it in real life, too. When some gorgeous woman at a club seemed unapproachable, Colbert pretended he was simply making up a new scene where he played a modeling scout.

“I said, ‘I bet like this [snaps fingers], I could get that girl to talk to me,’ ” Colbert recalls. “I said . . . ‘I just want to talk to you about your look.’ She came over and gave me the time. And I walked back over and said, ‘There, I did it.’ . . . In sweatpants. And I don’t have the greatest physique.”

. . .

Full article available here

Better yet, Ms. Stadtmiller posted some more quotes on her blog. Some of them have already been excerpted here, and longtime fans of Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello will recognize at least some others, but it’s definitely worth a read. If you must skip ahead, start with this block quote from Paul:

“I came from a blue-collar Chicago background, and Stephen [Colbert] had come from the South. And he got formal acting training at Northwestern, and I was just a drunk idiot. I think he thought I was a bit of a philistine, and I thought he was a bit of a dandy. His hair was in a pompadour, and he had, like, a red turtleneck on, and he held his chin in his hand. Rested his chin on top of his knuckles. And he was very dry. And I had never really followed any rules, nor did I really want to hear about the rules. I always sort of screwed around. I think Farley and I were closer, but oddly enough, Colbert and I hit it off more.”

Don’t forget to stick around for an anecdote about Steve Carell that sounds like a precursor to The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Reading it and imagining Paul’s voice relating the story is thoroughly hilarious.