Off-Off Campus

The University of Chicago is the undisputed birthplace of improvisational and sketch comedy. In the 1950's, a group of University Chicago students formed the Compass Players on campus, and in 1959, the group became The Second City. In 1986, U of C alum and Second City con-founder Bernie Sahlins (A.B. '43) returned to the University campus in order to begin a south side group to rival his north side creation. Sahlins trained the first Generation of Off-Off Campus in the art of sketch and improv comedy, much as he had done 27 years ago when he invented the forms as we know them today in his classroom, and the group has kept to his regiment of training ever since. Since 1986, Off-Off Campus has entertained thousands of Chicagoans with its unmistakable mix of improv, sketch, and musical comedy.