Where a huge chunk of North American comedy trained
Toronto's Comedy Scene
A Chicago import that put down roots in an old firehouse in 1973 turned into one of the most influential comedy pipelines in North America — Toronto's Second City and SCTV.
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Toronto's comedy pedigree rivals its music scene for sheer output — anchored by one institution that's been training performers here since 1973.
Second City Toronto (founded 1973)
The Chicago-born improv theatre Second City opened a Toronto branch in 1973, settling into a permanent home in a converted old firehouse the following year. Its first Toronto cast included Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and Joe Flaherty; John Candy joined in 1973 at age 26. Since then, hundreds of performers have trained there, including Mike Myers, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short.
SCTV (1976–1984)
Second City's Toronto cast spun off into SCTV, a sketch series built around a fictional small-town TV station, first produced for Global Television in 1976. Over seven years and 185 episodes it earned 13 Emmy nominations and gave the world The Great White North, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas's Bob and Doug McKenzie sketches — a deliberately exaggerated parody of Canadian identity that, ironically, ended up shaping how a lot of people outside Canada actually picture it.
The alumni network today
The through-line from 1970s Second City Toronto to the current landscape of American film and television comedy is genuinely direct — a huge share of SNL writers, showrunners and film comedy leads over the past four decades trace back to this one Toronto stage. See our famous Torontonians guide and media and entertainment guide for how this connects to the rest of the city's outsized entertainment-industry footprint.
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Sources
- Wikipedia — Second City Television
- Canada's Walk of Fame — SCTV
- CBC Comedy — What It Takes to Be First at The Second City