Best of the Second City

If any single force shaped American comedy in the twentieth century, it was the Second City. The improv collective's alumni write and star in our best sketch comedy, our sitcoms and our films. Tastes may have changed since the Chicago company was founded in 1959, but chances are those tastes changed because a new crop of Second City comics left the hive mind and spread them. The current roster of stars-in-the-making presents The Best of the Second City at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday (September 15 and 16) at the Sheldon (3648 Washington Boulevard; www.thesheldon.org). Tickets are $18 to $36, and five percent of the price benefits the no-kill animal shelter Partners 4 Pets.