All Things Comedy with Anne Libera (The Second City)

In this episode, Amanda chats with Professor Anne Libera—Director of Comedy Studies at the prestigious comedy club The Second City in Chicago—about how comedy works and why we need it.

Anne Libera is an Associate Professor and Director of Comedy Studies at Columbia College Chicago and The Second City and served as Director of Pedagogy for The Second Science Project. She has presented on topics in improvisation and comedy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, Chicago Humanities Festival, and guest lectured at the Stanford Business School. Directing credits include Stephen Colbert's one man show Describing a Circle, The Madness of Curious George, Computer Chips and Salsa, and The Second City Goes to War as well as Second City touring productions all over the world. Her book The Second City Almanac of Improvisation is published by Northwestern University Press who will also publish her upcoming book Funnier: A Theory of Comedy with Practical Applications.   

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