We sat down with Kiff VandenHeuvel, Second City Alumni and SC LA teacher to talk about this new course, “LATE NIGHT WITH (YOUR NAME HERE)”

SC: So first off, what is this class “LATE NIGHT WITH (Your Name Here)”?

KV: “LATE NIGHT WITH (your name here)” is a 2-semester seminar that explores the different formats of late night comedy, and then each student will create their own 15-20 minute show.  They will perform their show on stage here at Second City Hollywood for an audience and work on various aspects of their persona.  Regardless of format, whether it’s Chappelle Show styled, or Daily Show, or Samantha Bee, or John Oliver, or Jimmy Kimmel, it’s up to each student, using the aspects of different late night comedy shows to find the unique writer/performer that’s inside them and put it front of an audience.  What is starting here as a class, I have the intention of doing a longer run of these shows and having each student leave the class not only with their own show experience, but also a late night writing packet.

 

SC: Why are you offering this class?

KV: Well, it feels to me that late night comedy is the ultimate marriage of current event driven social political satire and it’s the space that The Second City has always seemed to prime it’s folks for.  But if you weren’t plucked off to MadTV or SNL, you were kinda left to have to figure out the next steps on your own.  My intention with this class is to bridge that gap.  To use the skills learned here at Second City and then to perfect those skills in a format that is conducive to the television landscape.  The other part that is so important to me is that this class is personality driven.  Second City work is about ensemble, until you get out into the world.  Unless you find yourself in an ensemble cast, you are flying solo.  This class is aimed at finding the students unique voice, point of view, and comic sensibility and getting to test those things out on stage in front of an audience in a familiar format.

 

SC: Tell me about the performance component of the course?

KV: Basically, the idea is to do shows made up of 3 15-20 minute “late night shows” each.  Each student will be host, interviewer, editorial, creative, 800-pound gorilla for their 15-20 min piece.  During the semester, my goal is for each student to put their show up at least 3 times.  It will be live on stage at Second City Hollywood, but I’m exploring having the student’s shows shot on video as well, should they want to have it for a reel… that’s still developing, but that’s my intention.

SC: What has you’re experience in working on late night shows given you?

KV: I’ve appeared frequently on Jimmy Kimmel Live and I love the discipline and compression working with a tight live show deadline.  It’s guerilla comedy.  It’s so exciting and thrilling and reminds me of my time on mainstage.  I believe that that experience has significantly contributed to other work life, auditions, the kind of teacher I am, all of it.  It’s unlike any other kind of performance environment and the necessity of self-reliance mirrors our experience in the audition room as well.

SC: What do you want students to leave the class with?

KV: I guess, my hope is that each student will get a sense of what not only something like this takes, but a stronger sense of their comedic voice, a validation of their uniqueness in the marketplace, the benefit of trying out jokes in front of a live audience, and a sense of the kind of solo performer that they are.  There will be a ton of collaboration amongst the students and my role is to guide and be an advocate for the audience as they try stuff out.  And I really want them each to leave the class with a better sense of that world and with a late night writing packet they can bring with them.  Some places want writer/performers (Daily Show comes to mind) versus spec comedy writing, desk bits, headlines etc… and finally I want them to have a really unique experience that scratches a different kind of performance itch that we don’t really focus to deeply on here.  So… yeah.  I think it’s gonna be a blast and when people get a sense of the ambition of what this class entails, I think it’s going to be very exciting and a great place to spring from!

 

The class begins May 11th and runs for 2 semesters.  Space is limited so be sure to jump on this incredibly cool opportunity.