There's a darker side to Improv Nation
When he was drunk, or high from Valium or, occasionally, speed, the legendary improv guru Del Close had a habit of firing entire Second City casts.
In the mid-1970s, it was not uncommon for Second City casts to be working together in the middle of the night. And as Kim Howard Johnson recounts in his closely reported book, "The Funniest One in the Room: The Life and Legends of Del Close" (Chicago Review Press, 2008), Close would run up to the stage and shout: "You're all fired! You're done! You're fired!" Usually, he'd calm down and the late Second City matriarch Joyce Sloane would make sure nobody really lost their jobs.
Close also would threaten to fire those who did not choose the
