Splitsider

Talking Del Close and the Early Days of Chicago Improv with SNL's Alex Baze

He was in his late 50s when I was taking classes from him and he had a shitty apartment and slept on a futon and all he ever did was hang around Improv Olympic, watching or teaching, never really performing. His classes were so insane. It was a three hour class and sometimes he would tell two people to get on stage and we would just do scenes for three hours and get notes from him and then sometimes he would come in and say, “Did I ever tell you the time that John Belushi and I did acid?” and he would just tell you stories for three hours and nobody would get on stage. You’d be like, “What the hell just happened?” But it was clear that he just had unfounded enthusiasm for this form and it was contagious. He was a charismatic guy.

- SNL’s Weekend Update head writer Alex Baze on his time studying under Del Close in Chicago in the early 90s. He performed with The Victim’s Family (later shortened to just The Family), a legendary team that featured Adam McKay, Rachel Dratch, Matt Besser, and Ian Roberts, amongst others.

  1. kaitlin-kelley reblogged this from splitsider
  2. yesiamanamishdancer reblogged this from erikamk
  3. erikamk reblogged this from improvnonsense
  4. cokesnlfan reblogged this from huffpostcomedy
  5. adhesivemustache reblogged this from pleasant-tomorrow
  6. pleasant-tomorrow reblogged this from bunnybunnyswag
  7. bunnybunnyswag reblogged this from improvscapades
  8. improvscapades reblogged this from splitsider and added:
    Will Hines interviews SNL’s Alex Baze! A surriously good read for improvisers/comedians all.
  9. mikecav reblogged this from improvnonsense
  10. salgentile reblogged this from improvnonsense and added:
    I love this whole thing, but especially this
  11. bestnatesmithever reblogged this from huffpostcomedy and added:
    This is a really great read for anyone interested in comedy.
  12. callmekp reblogged this from huffpostcomedy and added:
    Baze is the BEST.
  13. korroh reblogged this from improvnonsense
  14. huffpostcomedy reblogged this from splitsider