Club 66 Rubs Shoulders with The Second City Comedy Empire

Today's post is written by Yuctan Hodge, founding member of Wolf Trap's Club 66.

There are certain signs that spring is here in Washington, D.C. with the most notable being the Cherry Blossoms on the Tidal Basin. But with these beautiful trees comes the pain and tears associated with allergies. More spring time tears were shed on Friday, March 23rd but these were happy tears of joy and laughter from another sign of spring, a hilarious performance by The Second City at The Barns at Wolf Trap.

Like in years past, Club 66 at Wolf Trap hosted a networking and social pre-show reception at Wolf Trap's Center for Education. An exciting addition for this year was an exclusive opportunity to meet two Second City cast members, Chelsea Devantez and John Hartman (a native of Fairfax, VA), during the reception. Chelsea and John not only gave attendees a quick Second City history lesson, they also drew parallels between the lives of traveling comedians and traveling rock stars. The key takeaway, both have super-fans that can over-expose themselves to the performers as well as ask them to sign strange body parts.

As noted by John, one of the most remarkable things about improv and The Second City is how each show is completely different. Unlike last year's performance, this year's was light on political humor except for one great moment depicting a child in the throes of a tantrum repeating “I don't want any girls in my club” – that little boy turned out to be Rick Santorum. Another big difference was the role music played in many of the skits. Two musical performances, “Absti-dance” and “Sweatpants”, were the highlights of the show with lyrics and choreography that kept the audience laughing well after they were finished.

To close out their performance, a Club 66 attendee joined the cast to relive an early '90s high school prom. She was lucky enough to share this moment with John Hartman who played her band geek date. This '90s flashback left the audience with their eyes watering and wondering if their allergy medicine stopped working or if they were really laughing that hard.

Club 66 at Wolf Trap would like to thank their sponsors, The Capital Grille and E. & J. Gallo Winery for the great food and wine. Please be sure to take a look at Club 66’s upcoming events. We’ll be announcing our summer schedule very soon, so make sure to join our email list or “like” us on Facebook to stay in the loop.