Over Easy:Del Close’s Pony

When I was in The Second City Touring Company with brilliant comedic talents like Ron James, @debmcgrathics, Mike Myers, Bruce Pirrie and @cjscottgibson, we had workshops with visiting directors and other comedy luminaries to sharpen our skills for the next gig, where we’d perform through a shitty p.a. in a boomy dining room in Barrie for hungover shoe sales conventioneers. We made ourselves laugh by doing things like whispering through the curtains at our fellow actors, “Get off the stage. Get off the stage now.” True comedy.

For one workshop we were fortunate to work with the legendary Del Close, one of the founders of Second City Chicago. His list of students includes Amy Poehler, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Gilda Radner, John Candy and John Belushi. During breaks, Del would regale us with tales from his unique life, including one story about his first show biz gig, as a sword swallower. Fascinated, we had to know how you do that most perilous of stage tricks. “By unlearning the gag mechanism,” Del informed us.

After a short pause, one of us inevitably asked how you do that, and Del explained that he tied a bunch of oysters on a string and slowly lowered them down his throat and back up again until he didn’t gag. Presto!

My best memory of Del’s teaching style was that fairly frequently he would critique one of our improvisational attempts with the line, “Where there’s a pile of shit, there’s a pony.” An excellent life lesson, reminding you that something wonderful can come from the worst disaster. Thanks Del.

Addendum – this morning I had to ask my daughter if there’s a poop emoji.