Bernie Sahlins

Bernie Sahlins (1922–2013) was the producer, director, and co-founder of The Second City, who transformed Chicago improvisation into one of the most durable comedy institutions in North America. A University of Chicago graduate, Sahlins invested the initial capital to open The Second City on North Wells Street in December 1959 alongside Paul Sills and Howard Alk, stewarding the company through its most consequential decades of growth and launching the careers of John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, John Candy, Martin Short, and Tina Fey. Under his watch, Second City also developed the Toronto company that produced SCTV and established the producing model that sustained ensemble comedy as a major cultural institution.