"Why are Chicagoans so funny?"
March 13, 2015 6:27 PM Subscribe
Need some help locating a quote. The gist was that everyone in New York wants to be in LA and everyone in LA wants to be in New York, but everyone in Chicago is happy to be in Chicago. I think it was Andy richter answering, it's a pretty foggy memory. May have been on Conan... Clip, quote, any lead would be helpful.
Best answer: Something from this interview with Conan, back in '06?
“I always feel like one of the reasons Second City blossomed in Chicago is that there’s an almost Midwestern kindness, an assumption that you know what you’re doing. So when people get up on stage, it’s not the same way in New York. There’s a reason they say if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. It sounds like a threat, you know [laughs]....
The ["Happy Happy Good Show"] was far from perfect and it had a lot of problems, but there was, to this day, I remember there was a real willingness from the audience to let us be silly. There’s a sense, and I think it’s very Midwest, very Chicago, of, ‘You’ve gone to all the trouble of getting up on stage and putting up a performance for us, so we’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt.’
posted by dhartung at 1:25 AM on March 14, 2015
“I always feel like one of the reasons Second City blossomed in Chicago is that there’s an almost Midwestern kindness, an assumption that you know what you’re doing. So when people get up on stage, it’s not the same way in New York. There’s a reason they say if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. It sounds like a threat, you know [laughs]....
The ["Happy Happy Good Show"] was far from perfect and it had a lot of problems, but there was, to this day, I remember there was a real willingness from the audience to let us be silly. There’s a sense, and I think it’s very Midwest, very Chicago, of, ‘You’ve gone to all the trouble of getting up on stage and putting up a performance for us, so we’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt.’
posted by dhartung at 1:25 AM on March 14, 2015
There's a Chicago shirt that says "Too dumb for New York, too ugly for LA." Is that it?
That's a Waylon Jennings Album/Song and it does not mention Chicago unless "somewhere in the middle" counts as Chicago.
posted by srboisvert at 4:18 AM on March 14, 2015
That's a Waylon Jennings Album/Song and it does not mention Chicago unless "somewhere in the middle" counts as Chicago.
posted by srboisvert at 4:18 AM on March 14, 2015
Response by poster: The first one's a little sarcastic. It's definitely more in line with the second response. It felt really sincere when I heard it, and if I can't pull the quote exactly or I've misremembered then I'm sure I'll find something analogous in the second one. Gunna give a little before I go looking through it in depth for a choice quote. Thanks much so far though.
posted by 0bs01337 at 10:30 PM on March 14, 2015
posted by 0bs01337 at 10:30 PM on March 14, 2015
The Humor Research Lab named Chicago as America's funniest city. Results are in the book The Humor Code. Might the quote have been from some of the coverage of the book last year?
posted by me3dia at 2:32 PM on April 9, 2015
posted by me3dia at 2:32 PM on April 9, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hwyengr at 8:24 PM on March 13, 2015