One of the country’s most influential comedic institutions turn 50 just a couple of weeks ago and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it.

The Second City Theatre opened in Chicago’s Old Town on December 16, 1959, on a mission to bring smart improvisational comedy to the masses, with a cast that included Barbara Harris (Family Plot, Nashville), Roger Bowen (Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H), Severn Darden (Conquest of and Battle for the Planet of the Apes) and Mina Kolb (Curb Your Enthusiasm). It also included Andrew Duncan (Network, Slapshot), who bears the distinction of being the only first generation Second City actor to appear on the first season of Saturday Night Live, along with other, later Second City alums John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd and Gilda Radner.

Since then, The Second City has functioned as kind of unofficial talent farm system for SNL, discovering, training and featuring generations of performers that have included Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, Jim Belushi, Tim Kazurinsky, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Horatio Sands, and others.

Over the years, Second City has creatively fueled not only Saturday Night Live, but other entertainment franchises as well. From SCTV to Not Necessarily The News To Late Night/Late Show with Dave Letterman to The Colbert Report, to sitcoms (Cheers, The Simpsons) to Movies (Ghostbusters, Anchorman, I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With), Chicago’s favorite house of improv has given us actors, writers, directors and comics like Joan Rivers, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, David Steinberg, Del Close, Fred Willard, Peter Boyle, Joe Flaherty, Robert Klein, John Candy, Eugene Levy, George Wendt, Shelley Long, Richard Kind, Dan Castellanta, Bonnie Hunt, Nia Vardalos, Adam McKay, Jeff Garlin and many, many more.

The origins and first 20 years of the Second City were chronicled in Jeffrey Sweet’s oral history, Something Wonderful Right Away, published in 1978. It’s a terrific book that delves deep into the theory and art of Second City’s brand improvisational theater. It is still in print and well worth reading, especially for budding actors, writers and directors.

But contemporary audiences might find Mike Thomas’ new oral history, The Second City Unscripted, of slightly more interest. Whereas Something Wonderful covers the mid-fifties to the late seventies in its 375 pages, Unscripted dispatches that same period in about 60 pages, before moving on to surveying the next three decades in nine lively chapters with contributions from everyone from Dan Ackroyd and Martin Short to Bonnie Hunt and Mike Myers to Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. Unscripted is a bit more the gossipy backstage tell-all than Something Wonderful, but it’s still compelling.

I’ve been a fan and supporter of the Second City for many years and, in fact, was lucky enough to spend a month or so inside the belly of the beast, making a documentary about Second City’s process. (During that production, Chicago Main Stage cast member Isabella Hoffman (Dear John, Homicide: Life on the Street) worked my name into a sketch. I’ve loved her ever since). But you don’t need any kind of personal connection with the troupe to enjoy both Something Wonderful Right Away and The Second City Unscripted. Taken together, they read like a secret history of contemporary American comedy. They’rehighly recommended and both available from our good friends at Amazon.com.