SemiNoTV: Second City for Sale

[Mark Jeffries]

The famous Chicago comedy institution has for all intents and purposes hasn't been in operation in Chicago and its Toronto and LA outposts, including its training school, cruise ship shows and very profitable corporate division, since the beginning of the pandemic in March (and was shaken by a George Floyd-"We See You American Theatre"-inspired internal shakeup regarding alleged racial insensitivity, to which CEO Andrew Alexander announced he was stepping down and would sell his half of the company)--now the entire company is for sale, estimates are that it could get $50M (possible pay wall):

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-second-city-chicago-sale-20201006-6hdncmybcvewjo7ktk5fzukvoa-story.html?fbclid=IwAR024O-h1K0WKX5TqQnd7peiFfQTb7NpzoKjrGC60TUWs-M4fbUFcSQScm0

Alexander is the second owner of The Second City and its original operator of the Toronto franchise (and main force behind the "SCTV" series).  He bought the company from co-founder Bernie Sahlins in 1984 (Sahlins' original partners dropped out over the course of the 60s).  Who's going to buy it is wide open, but it could range from noted alums wanting to keep it going, someone like Lorne Michaels who wouldn't want to see the talent pipeline to "SNL" dry up (someone hold Siklua and Marousek back) or some other corporate owner looking for a talent and content incubator. When lesser-known Chicago improv company iO went under back in June Sheri Flanders, a free-lance theater critic who also taught improv of Second City, proposed turning iO not-for-profit and getting donations from various sources to make it a showcase for BiPOC comedy and performers (like Chicago's major alt-weekly newspaper the Reader, suffering from long-term losses of ad sales that have gotten worse during the pandemic, and its conversion to an NFP)--nothing came of that with iO, but she may propose it again for Second City.