Streamer Topic Teams With The Second City On Sketch Series; Jack McBrayer, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy & ‘Tiger King’s Saff To Feature

Peter White
·3 min read

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Comedy and theatre troupe The Second City, which kicked off the careers of the likes of Bill Murray, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, has teamed with streaming service Topic on a weekly variety series.

The first episode of half-hour series The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth will be hosted by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer and feature guests including Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Tiger King’s Kelci “Saff” Saffery.

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The show will initially launch as a 24-hour global stream on The Second City’s and Topic’s social channels on April 16 and then air on Topic’s streaming service on April 22. Episodes will roll out weekly over the course of four weeks.

Christina Anthony (Mixed-ish) will host the second episode, while other guests include Edgar Blackmon (Alone Together), John Hartman (The Good Place), London Hughes (To Catch a D*ck), Katie Kershaw (Mrs. Fletcher), Andrew Knox, Kate Lambert (Teachers), Brad Morris (Bombshell), Mike O’Brien (A.P. Bio), Ian Owens (Shrill), Claudia Michelle Wallace (Shrink) and Fred Willard (Modern Family).

Andrew Bird will also compose and perform an original theme song. Valerie June will be the musical guest in the second episode.

“In this time of uncertainty, I think we could all use 30 minutes of fun and laughter, and who better to provide that than the experts at The Second City?” said Ryan Chanatry, general manager of Topic.

Debbie DeMontreux, executive producer for Topic added, “Streaming the show for our audience will also provide a communal viewing experience that many of us are craving right now.”

“Following in the footsteps of SCTV, this partnership with Topic is allowing The Second City to once again do what it’s done best for over 60 years: create irreverent, thought-provoking comedy under minimalist conditions. Producing a show entirely remotely is something Second City was born to do,” said Andrew Alexander, CEO and executive producer of The Second City.

“When the world as we knew it turned upside down, our first instinct was to call up all our talented friends and associates and figure out how to put TV back together the way we always wanted it to be: funny, uplifting and weird as hell,” added co-creators Billy Bungeroth and Liz Kozak.

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