Why Chicago's Comedy Tradition Is Unlike Any Other

www.backstage.com: Reduce Chicago to its deep-dish core, and you will see it is at once synonymous with blustery winds, baseball futility, and side-splitting comedy of the highest degree. It is not only the birthplace of ensemble comedy but also the breeding ground for generations of comedians since the 1950s. Chicago comedy began at the turn of the 20th century, when the city was a major hub for vaudeville. According to Douglas Gomery, professor emeritus at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in College Park, “Chicago always trailed only New York in vaudeville stops,” with dozens of theaters, some—like the Academy of Music and the McVickers—with capacities of up to 2,000 seats. But vaudeville didn’t stand a chance against the emergence of the talkies. “By 1930 pure vaudeville had died,” writes Gomery, “crushed by Hollywood.”