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Second City’s Emily Wilson

Meet Second City’s Emily Wilson, star of the current hit show “America: All Better!” as she describes the life of a comic, making people uncomfortable and a hatred of stage moms

By Trent Modglin

 

Comedian: Emily Wilson
Age: Very low, early 30s
Hometown: Chicago (honestly!)

Background: Has been performing for the past several years at places like i.O. Chicago, The Annoyance Theater and The Second City. In 2007, Emily and The Ragdolls wrote “Moist,” which they performed at the HBO/Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.

How she got into comedy: I was a theatre major at the University of Missouri, and I was mostly a dramatic actress, which is ridiculous now, thinking about it. When I came home, I wanted to pursue acting, but I saw a show at iO (Improv Olympic) and instantly wanted to do that. I totally loved it. I started taking classes there and before long, got caught up in the whole community and haven’t looked back.

The improv world is a fraternity: It’s a small world, it really, really is. And that’s a great thing, and it also makes things tough and competitive because there’s only so many jobs and everyone’s your friend. But for the most part, it’s a very tight-knit, supportive community. ... Ultimately, everyone wants the best for each other, and while there are times I think that it’s hard, ultimately we want Chicago people to make it big because it makes it better for all of us.

Intimidation factor with all of Second City’s history: I think definitely the first time I did anything there, I was an understudy, and it was probably the most intimidating experience of my life. Crazy. Very intense. And now it goes in ebbs and flows. They had an alumni show on the night we were closing our last show. I had been writing that show for months, and I knew it like the back of my hand, but then I thought about everybody who was out in the audience, people I looked up to, like Harold Ramis is out there, Steve Flaherty. And God, I could barely get the words out, and I felt like I was stumbling through it for the first time.

The love of the comedian lifestyle: I don’t think anybody really takes it for granted. You know it’s such a temporary time in your life that you try to appreciate all the craziness of it while you’re in it.

Role model in comedy: I think the most inspiring person for me has been Amy Sedaris for sure. She’s influenced me and made me definitely want to do this for a living. I feel like everything she does is phenomenal.

Most important factor for successful sketch comedy: Not being afraid to approach things that would make other people uncomfortable. I try to do that every time I write something, and sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t, but it would be a waste of my time to try to deal with the easier thing I know would work. I would rather take something that people have a hard time with and try to find a way for them to laugh at it. That’s important.

Describing “America: All Better!”: I think the show focuses a lot on the darkness of what’s happening right now in our country, and in Chicago. It focuses on that darkness, but it allows you to laugh about it. What I love is that it’s so ironic, this idea of America being all better because we elected this one guy. It’s like, absolutely not. The show plays around with that, kind of building you up and then dropping you on your face. That’s how it is. We got so excited about Obama, and everybody’s crying and hugging in the streets, and then a couple of weeks later the governor is getting arrested and we realize that we’re not going anywhere. I feel like we kind of take everybody on this really scary roller coaster ride in the show, and that’s the best part of it. We kind of jerk their chains a lot, which I love.

Strangest or most boring day job while working on your comedy career: It was as a kids’ talent agent. It was the worst job I’ve ever had in my entire life. Stage moms can be the saddest, worst human beings alive. I had to carry a pager like I was a doctor so that moms could call me at midnight and freak out about their kid’s audition the next day. They’re nuts, but it provided a lot of good stories.

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