Del Close's Last Birthday Party (Part 1 of 2)

Del Close is perhaps the least famous of the great comedy maestros of the latter half of the 20th century. The performers he worked with, directed, or taught at the Compass Players in Saint Louis, the Committee in San Francisco, and Second City and the ImprovOlympic in Chicago constitute a who's who—Elaine May, Mike Nichols, Shelly Berman, Fred Willard, Joe Flaherty, John Belushi, John Candy, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Vince Vaughn, Tina Fey, and Stephen Colbert, to name only a handful. But his ultimate legacy might be theoretical: Close led the movement to reinvent improvisation and establish it as an art form.

As he lay on his deathbed in a Chicago hospital in 1999, his friends flew in from around the country to throw him one last birthday party.

Video from ChicagoReader.com.

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[boils2]

@johnnywadd80 kin ya ya read boy?

[johnnywadd80]

a smack addict and a woman beater...?

[boils2]

crankyBugger was a theatre major who now mows his mum's lawn..............

[2891thomas]

Potty mouth slut................. What n idiot. Your just proving my point that your a rambling retard by saying stupid repetitive name calling insults. your useless a wasted. condom a no talent nancy who gets his jollys off by insulting dead peolpe. congrats you have a mind of a mino and a brain of a tree trunk. Live with that scooter

[boils2]

wank baby wank

[2891thomas]

get a life boils2 or better yet kill yourself and make it easy on yourself for being the guy who peaked in highschool

[killratoss]

ive read a few of your comments down the page and i must say, you seem to be a jealous hater. what is the source of your hatred for this man who influenced such comedic giants as bill murray and john candy. dont hate, appreciate.

[boils2]

dead men are there for a reason and Del's reason is that he is useless................

[boils2]

MFer DEL was on H every day of his life...got that stupid....I'm talking from way way back try 1972-73 down til just before he croaked. was he your role model you pumpkin....Where do you think fat stupid John belushi (do I need to tell you how untalented that joke was) got his first habit......

[2891thomas]

iof abusedevery H? what the fuck are you on man is it H? or C? or since light travels faster then typing you seem bright until you type