Welcome to The Second City Archives, in which we post an exclusive clip each week of some of comedy’s biggest superstars performing early in their careers on the legendary Chicago stage. Second City has generously given us a glimpse into their extensive archive of live performances, and over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing some rare and retro comedy never before seen on the web.
Today marks the 46th birthday of Second City and SNL alum Tina Fey, so to celebrate, Second City gave us another clip from the 1997 revue Paradigm Lost, which featured Fey alongside Scott Adsit, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Jenna Jolovitz, and Jim Zulevic. The above scene “Gone Country” isn’t just a group of expert improvisers doing what they do best – for 30 Rock fans, it’s also a pretty fun precursor to what would eventually become Kabletown exec Hank Hooper played by the late Ken Howard. Check out some more clips from Paradigm Lost here and here.