University of Chicago duo plugs into comedy with a high-tech tack

From The Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, November 22, 1994.


The University of Chicago, which gained added fame this fall with its "Sex in America" survey, may be on another cutting edge: Comedy. SITCOM, an experiment in improvisation created by students John Bourdeaux and Dan Goldstein -- with the sophisticated help of computers, classroom research, plot analysis, etc., impressed HBO producers enough to get a special weekend audition. It's the first step leading to the U. S. Comedy Arts Festival next year, when top acts gather in Aspen, Colo., to perform. Could be the second time around for the school: In the 1940s, then-students Mike Nichols and Elaine May blazed comedy trails the old-fashioned way, without computers.

--Hevrdejs & Conklin, INC.

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