After just a year as artistic director of Dad’s Garage improv theater, Jon Carr has landed a gig at The Second City, the most respected sketch comedy theater of its kind in North America.
Second City — with theaters in Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto — has developed comedic stars for the past six decades, including Alan Alda, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Amy Poehler, John Belushi, Steve Carell and Chris Farley.
Carr will be the executive producer overseeing programming at all three theaters and will move to Chicago, where he’ll start his job Dec. 15. Dad’s Garage will begin a fresh national search for an artistic director after doing so just a year ago.
“We’ve called ourselves a launchpad for creative careers for a very long time,” said Matt Terrell, communications director. “This cements that... We are so proud of Jon for landing this awesome position, and showing the world the great talent that comes out of Atlanta.”
>>RELATED: The history of Dad’s Garage
Second City has faced issues with diversity and the hiring of Carr, who is Black, was deliberate. The New York Times in August wrote a lengthy piece on the theater’s checkered history with minority performers, who told the newspaper they were often “demeaned, marginalized, tokenized, cast aside or worse.” This past summer, after pressure from current and former members, the theater’s management wrote an open letter committing “to tear it all down and begin again.”
In its earlier years, improv and sketch comedy, in general, tended to attract white men. Over its quarter-century of existence, Dad’s Garage, too, has struggled to diversify its staff and cast, and Carr became the organization’s first person of color to lead the company.
But Carr, like every other live theater company in America, had another issue to address soon after he took over: the pandemic, which forcing Dad’s Garage to shutter its doors, a former Old Fourth Ward church the group purchased five years ago. The troupe quickly pivoted to Twitch, a gaming app, to do live comedy from their homes instead of performing in front of a live audience on the primary stage.
They received enough grant money to stay afloat this year while drawing individual donation and ticket money for its digital events, including a 25th anniversary online-only celebration in August.
The theater isn’t sure when it’s going to reopen its doors for customers though it is planning to hold its first show on the stage since March minus an in-person audience. “Improvised Made for TV Christmas Movie,” a spoof directed by an actual Hallmark Christmas movie writer, Topher Payne, will run on Fridays and Saturdays from Nov. 27 to Dec. 19 starring married couple Amber Nash and former Dad’s Garage artistic director Kevin Gillese. People can watch the digital live feed for $15.
Carr began attending Dad’s Garage in 2003. According to an essay he wrote for the Dad’s Garage 25th anniversary book, “I was a nerdy homeschool kid that some would describe as ‘not traditionally funny but homeschool funny.’” He took improv classes and said he was so bad, he was suspended from the stage. Instead of slinking away in humiliation, Carr was given a second chance and decided to stay, eventually making it onto the primary ensemble cast. He was named artistic director in late 2019, replacing Gillese.
While focusing on positioning Dad’s Garage for a post-pandemic world, Carr said in an interview that the interim Second City executive producer, Anthony LeBlanc, recommended him as a candidate to take his place. They had met when LeBlanc directed Mark Kendall’s “The Magic Negro” at the Alliance Theatre in 2017.
So, Carr applied two months ago with no expectations. “This was more of an exercise,” he said. “It’s good to go through this process and network. I never expected to get the job.”
He said he is still wrapping his head around his new responsibilities: “This is the theater that spawned Tina Fey and John Candy and the other SCTV guys like Eugene Levy from ‘Schitts Creek.’ To help guide the future and the next generation of comedy stars in America is a huge thing.”
And he said he has nothing but love for Dad’s Garage. “I’ve been working with some of the best Atlanta talent for more than 15 years,” he said. “I’m taking what I’ve learned here and going to a new city to work with great talent.”
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