Del Close's Last Birthday Party (Part 2 of 2)

Del Close is perhaps the least famous of the great comedy maestros of the latter half of the 20th century. The performers he worked with, directed, or taught at the Compass Players in Saint Louis, the Committee in San Francisco, and Second City and the ImprovOlympic in Chicago constitute a who's who-Elaine May, Mike Nichols, Shelly Berman, Fred Willard, Joe Flaherty, John Belushi, John Candy, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Vince Vaughn, Tina Fey, and Stephen Colbert, to name only a handful. But his ultimate legacy might be theoretical: Close led the movement to reinvent improvisation and establish it as an art form.
As he lay on his deathbed in a Chicago hospital in 1999, his friends flew in from around the country to throw him one last birthday party.
Video from ChicagoReader.com.

[@franksmith8271]

I met Del in the East Village in the late '50s. He was a joy to hang out with. I happened on to the Compass Players at the Gaslight Theater in St. Louis in 1960, and he was about to go on a tour opening for the Kingston Trio. He gave me the key to his apartment in New York so I'd have a place to stay when I got there. I spent time with him while he was with the Committee Theater in San Francisco in the late '60s. I saw him last at the Second City in 1975 or so, and had no thought that it would be the last time. In 1999, I was living in Barrow, Alaska, and was moving to rural Bluff City, Kansas in April. Since it was in the Midwest, I figured I'd have a chance to visit with him. I looked him up when I got there only to find out sadly, he''d died a month earlier. I appreciate whoever posted these videos.

[@MBIRD221]

I just finished reading The Funniest One in the Room...it was so phenomenal and meaningful to watch this especially after reading The Party chapter. I never met or had the pleasure of training with Del...but my absolute love for performing longform makes me respect this man so much. Thanks for posting!

[@indymagicmonthly23]

Del was a friend and an influence. I stayed in his place and slept on his couch and he taught me a lot of things without my ever being a real student. Think what you want, but I knew him in a very different way than most. He was not a fraud. I asked him once, "How do you feel when folks call you eccentric?" He answered, "They're just being kind."

[@Rightious23]

What was cut out after "celebrate the birthday and the life of..-" ?

[@flash472002]

I saw Del in St. Louis' Crystal Palace (where my sister worked) in the 1960's and was impressed. I mostly remember his routines about how beer can openers disappear, mate, and produce wire hangers, and the one about the sound of a dripping faucet calling to it's mate: "Mort...Mort...Mort..."

[@alunaornopia1099]

Wow.

[@boils2]

Del killed John Belushi

[@merrittfan]

Sure, Del Close was a junkie and a curmudgeon, but why should that discredit his accomplishments? The man revolutionized (and in a lot of ways created) a beautiful artform. And that artform changed the world of modern comedy and performance as we know it.
William S. Burroughs was a junkie too. HP Lovecraft was a junkie. Does that mean their work is meaningless too? Nah. The personal life on an artist has little to nothing to do with the work.

[@LorieLee7]

How sad & tragic that they invoked demons at his deathbed. Jesus is the ONLY way to God.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

[@williamsanders2348]

How dare you impugn a dead man's wishes for how he wanted to die? People like you give religious people a bad name. Shame on you.

[@onefjef]

You are the problem with Christianity.

[@angelozachos8777]

@@williamsanders2348
Why so mad ?
Is you a Wiccan ?