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Horror fans will know him as one of the engineers from last year’s hit killer-doll movie M3GAN, while Nineties-sitcom aficionados will recognize him as Estefan from the revival seasons of Will & Grace. But to the very online, Brian Jordan Alvarez is also the mastermind behind the cult web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, which followed the lives of an LGBTQ ensemble in a slightly off-kilter version of our own reality. With his internet comedy, Alvarez is always ahead of the game, finding ways to...

The Second City opened its doors in 1959 as a small comedy cabaret. It has since grown to become the world’s most influential name in improv comedy, boasting such prominent alumni as John Belushi, John Candy, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Eugene Levy, and many more.

Now, the Chicago troupe is giving back with its Victor Wong Fellowship for Aapi Voices in Comedy, a first-of-its-kind workshop funded by Peng Zhao, CEO of Citadel Securities, and his wife, Cherry Chen.

The fellowship will annually provide 16 Fellows with a tuition-free master program in improvisational comedy.

California native Victor Wong (1927-2001) moved to Chicago in the 1950s to study theology at the University of Chicago. He joined The Second City at the encouragement of his close friend and famed theater academic, Viola Spolin. A fixture in the San Francisco Beat Scene of the 1950s and ‘60s alongside Jack Kerouc and Lawrence Ferlinghetti,...

Photo: The Second City Oh, what a night. Opening its doors on December 16th, 1959 at 1942 N. Wells Street in Chicago, right in the midst of a comedy boom, the Second City was born. Stemming from the genius acting techniques of Viola Spolin; Bernie Sahlins, Howard Alk, and Paul Sills co-founded the theater together and invented a novel and revolutionary approach to creating art; improvisation.. It worked tremendously and has made Second City one of the most attended and most reliable breeding grounds for talent for decades. Related article: Who Are The Groundlings, and What Makes Them So Famous? Related article: A Tribute to Ben Stiller: Respects Paid to Comedy Legend and Critically Acclaimed Writer-Director Just two years after The Second City opened, one of the most influential improvisation instructors in history, Del Close, started at the Second City, but was fired due to substance abuse and didn’t return until the 1970s,...

Alan Arkin turned 85 earlier this year, yet he has always seemed timeless. With a career spanning more than 60 years, it’s difficult to fathom when there was ever a time when Arkin wasn’t part of the culture. He was an early member of the Second City theater troupe before making his Oscar-nominated film debut in the timely “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” in 1966. He gave iconic performances in seminal movies; he terrified Audrey Hepburn (and audiences) in “Wait Until Dark”; starred in Mike Nichols’ take on Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22”; starred and produced the comedy classic “The In-Laws”; and lent his voice to the 1982 cult classic “The Last Unicorn.” And that was all before his Oscar-winning turn in “Little Miss Sunshine,” which kicked off a renaissance of sorts for the actor, who earned another nomination for best picture winner “Argo” and now stars on the heralded...