THE NIGHT STUFF
'Second City' players and a 'French Cafe'

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Molly Erdman, bottom right corner, is part of a touring ensemble of Second City comics performing tomorrow at Blaisdell Concert Hall. The Chicago-based comedy and improv theater provides training in comedy writing and performing for shows such as "Saturday Night Live." Second City 8 p.m. Saturday Blaisdell Concert Hall $20-$30 (877) 750-4400 ARTafterDARK 5-9 p.m. today Honolulu Academy of Arts $7 (free entry for museum members) 532-8715 Note: The exhibit "Japan & Paris: Impressionism, Postimpressionism and the Modern Era" will be open. A separate $15 admission is required.

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Chris Farley and Tina Fey all got their start at the now Chicago-based comedy theater and improv group. At age 45, Second City remains one of the most revered training grounds and resume enhancers for actors angling for careers in comedy writing and performing.

Catch a potentially big-time Second City star when six of the company's current crop of young comic hopefuls deliver an evening of classic sketches, improvisation and original material at Blaisdell Concert Hall Saturday. The ensemble is one of several Second City touring casts cutting their teeth at theaters, colleges, clubs and festivals nationwide, hoping for primo promotions to the company's two main Chicago stages.

I asked two-year Second City touring player Molly Erdman to offer Honolulu audiences a deeper understanding of the inner workings of her castmates' comic minds by referencing each to a character on an '80s or '90s television show. Erdman, and a few stray players in the room, were spooky ready.

• Lori McClain — Sue Ellen from "Dallas." "I was very young when Dallas was on, so I don't think I was even supposed to be watching it," said Erdman. "But I could totally see Lori as a hot-blooded-driven-by-lust-and-power woman." (McClain is heard laughing and whooping in the background.)
• Brian Gallivan — Clayton Endicott III from "Benson." Erdman swore that Gallivan wasn't as perpetually uptight as the press secretary to fictional Gov. James Gatling, "but that's sort of the character he plays in life." (Gallivan is overheard swearing revenge in the background.)
• Craig Uhlir — The Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld." "He can have a little bit of a temper sometimes," said Erdman. "Not in a bad way. But he's very forceful with the things he says, (and) very opinionated."
• Nicky Margolis — Samantha "Sam" Kanisky from "Gimme A Break." "Nicky is the baby of our group, too," said Erdman, comparing Margolis to the tomboyish youngest daughter of Police Chief Carl Kanisky on the Nell Carter sitcom. "We're all sort-of siblings, so I think that fits."
• Andy St. Clair — Buddy Lembeck from "Charles In Charge," or Tommy Bradford from "Eight Is Enough," played by Willie "Bible Man" Aames. No comment, but much laughter. "Andy actually looks like David Duchovny, but he's nothing like (Fox Mulder)," said Erdman.
• Molly Erdman — Sandy Hogan from "The Hogan Family." As suggested by a vengeful Gallivan, through Erdman, "Brian says it's because I seem nice, but maybe my eye is fake."

My apologies to Sandy Duncan who, despite an urban legend testifying to the contrary, does not have a glass eye. Really.

'French Café' ... after dark

The Honolulu Academy of Arts drops its third ARTafterDARK party tonight with a Parisian theme. The museum's outdoor courtyards and gardens should prove an ideal setting for "French Café," an evening celebrating the lighter side of the country's food, wine, art, music and film.

Designed with an eye toward attracting Honolulu's twenty- and thirtysomething professionals with a taste for the arts, ARTafterDARK's latest fete promises live music from Pierre Grill & Co., French hors d'oeuvres, a wine tasting and tours of the interactive exhibit "Art & Life in Paris and the Countryside." Semi-naughty cancan dancers show out in the Luce Pavilion, while director Jean Renoir's celluloid doppelgangers unspool in the Doris Duke Theatre via his 1955 flick "French Cancan." Caricature artists on hand should be more than happy to make joyeux with the subtleties of your visage.

Upcoming ARTafterDARK nights — always on the last Friday of the month — include "Tokyo Nights" (May 28), "Fellini Friday" (June 25), "Summer Swing" (Aug. 27) and "Tiki Night" (Sept. 24). For more information, call 532-8715 or visit www.artafterdark.org.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.