Second City to open first NYC location in Brooklyn come 2023

A little bit of the Windy Metropolis is taking a chew out of the Massive Apple with the Second Metropolis slated to open a New York location in 2023.
The Second Metropolis

After 63 years of creating Chicago chuckle, this midwestern sketch and improv establishment is establishing store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 

Second Metropolis, whose Chicago mainstage counts Alan Arkin and the late Gilda Radner as alums, is increasing to New York for the primary time with an 11,900-square-foot leisure advanced that includes a theater, seven lecture rooms, and a full-service restaurant and bar. It’s set to open subsequent summer time, although the tackle is but to be introduced. 

“New York Metropolis is a famend hub for expertise and tradition, and we couldn't be extra thrilled to convey The Second Metropolis’s distinctive model of improv-based leisure and training to town as we proceed to foster the subsequent era of comedy,” Second Metropolis CEO Ed Wells stated in a press launch. “We launch at a time of super momentum for the model.”

The brand new Brooklyn location will hardly be the comedy firm’s second location. Along with its Chicago headquarters, its Canadian department, Second Metropolis Toronto, will rejoice its fiftieth anniversary subsequent yr. An outpost in Hollywood can be nonetheless operational, whereas ones in Detroit and Las Vegas have closed, the New York Occasions reviews.

Second Metropolis, the enduring Chicago improv comedy membership that’s produced an extended listing of well-known comedians over the many years, will certainly entertain its forthcoming guests in Brooklyn.

The Second Metropolis

The Second Metropolis opened in Chicago in 1959, and has had different areas in cities throughout North America.

The Second Metropolis

The choice so as to add a New York tackle to its roster was considerably impressed by the top of COVID-19, Wells — who was solely introduced as the brand new CEO final month — instructed the publication. 

“As we got here out of the pandemic and noticed the resurgence of our levels and our client demand and the truth that we’re promoting out each night time, it turned extra fast for us to start out fascinated by enlargement,” he defined, including “New York simply feels apparent.”

The discharge additional famous that Second Metropolis plans to “elevate comedy whereas growing the expertise that New York Metropolis attracts” from its Brooklyn perch. The corporate has a popularity for incubating expertise, and counts different celebrities together with Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Keegan-Michael Key amongst its many different alums.