Andrew Alexander | |
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 Andrew Alexander at the opening of the Harold Ramis Film School at The Second City Training Center | |
| Born | 24 March 1944 London, England |
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| Known for | SCTV TV series, and former executive producer and CEO of The Second City |
Andrew Alexander (born 24 March 1944) is an English theatre and television producer best known for his previous leadership and co-ownership of The Second City, and co-developing and producing the television show SCTV.
Andrew Alexander was born in London, the United Kingdom. [1] His father, who worked in the aeronautics industry, moved the family to Canada in 1951. Brampton—raised [2] Alexander studied at Tri-State College in Indiana. [1] Alexander studied at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, for a year and a half. [1]
In 1967, Alexander worked for Thompson Newspapers and the Oakville Beaver newspaper.[ citation needed ]
In the early 1970s, he frequented the Toronto arts scene, working as an editor of Ski Magazine, and for the ill-fated John Lennon Peace Festival.[ citation needed ] Alexander worked at the Global Village Theatre, co-producing late-night shows, along with his marketing and publicity day job at the Toronto Arts Foundation.[ citation needed ] He was eventually hired by the Ivanhoe Theater in Chicago, where he met Bernie Sahlins, owner and co-founder of The Second City. [1]
In 1974, Andrew Alexander bought the Canadian rights to The Second City. [4] At the time, The Second City's Toronto location was failing; Alexander then offered to assume its debts in exchange for the rights to operate The Second City in Canada. Sahlins agreed, and in 1974, Alexander took control of The Second City Toronto. [1] Alexander produced and developed live theatre revues and launched the careers of comedians Gilda Radner, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and others.
In 1976, Andrew Alexander started The Second City Entertainment Company, a TV and film production company. The first production was the television show "SCTV."
In 1985, Andrew Alexander became co-owner of The Second City Chicago. He actively led The Second City in Canada and the US until 2020.
In 1993, Mr. Alexander established Second City's Diversity & Inclusion Division, devoted to bringing new voices to the Second City stage. Over the next 28 years, this department, beginning with Frances Callier and then Dionna Griffin-Irons, was successful in bringing diverse voices to the Second City stages, with programs that included the Bob Curry Fellowship, NBCUniversal Second City Emerging Voices Scholarship Awards, and NBCUniversal Second City Break Out Festival and the Los Angeles Diversity in Comedy Festival.
Alexander has produced or executive-produced hundreds of Second City revues in Canada and the United States. [5] Over the past 42 years, The Second City has operated resident theater and improv training facilities at one time or another in Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Edmonton, London, Ontario, and Cleveland. Additionally, Alexander expanded The Second City's Training, Touring, and Corporate Services divisions from niche offerings to boutique business lines in their own right. In February 2016, Alexander announced the opening of The Harold Ramis Film School in Chicago, starting its first term in September 2016. In 2021, After almost a 50-year career with Second City, Alexander sold his interest to ZMC. [6] [7]
During Alexander's career as a television producer, he co-developed and executive produced over 185 half-hour shows and over 150 hours of television comedy for SCTV. Throughout the length of its run, the series garnered an ACTRA Award, 2 Emmy Awards and 13 Emmy Award nominations. [ citation needed ]
Alexander has developed television programming for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Television, Comedy Central, HBO, Showtime, A&E and CBC. Alexander has had co-production deals with MGM Television, Imagine Entertainment, Disney Studios and United Artists.[ citation needed ] He has produced movies and television shows with Ed Asner, Dan Aykroyd, James Belushi, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Bonnie Hunt, Shelley Long, Andrea Martin, Steve Carell, John Candy, Mike Myers, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, Martin Short, and [Dave Thomas.
Alexander Executive Produced the Martin Scorsese-directed SCTV documentary for Netflix and for CTV, and was executive producer for The Second City Project , which was nominated for six 2016 Canadian Screen Awards. Alexander executive produced I, Martin Short, Goes Home as well as Second City's Next Comedy Legend for CBC (2007). He executive produced the 2004 Canadian feature film Intern Academy written and directed by Dave Thomas and featuring Aykroyd, Thomas, Dave Foley, and Maury Chaykin.[ citation needed ]
He was a founding shareholder of the Pay Television service Super Channel and served on the board of directors.[ citation needed ]
Alexander served on the Columbia College Chicago Board of Trustees. He was on the founding board of directors of Gilda's Club in Chicago and Toronto and has also served on the board of the League of Chicago Theatres and Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2008, Alexander facilitated a reunion of the cast of SCTV in Toronto, launching The Second City Alumni Fund, which has since raised over $1,000,000 to assist actors and support staff during times of illness or economic hardship. [8]
Alexander has received two Emmy nominations as well as The Canadian Comedy Awards' Chairman's Award, Gilda's Magic Award from Gilda's Club, Chicago Improv Festival Lifetime Achievement Award 2009, The League of Chicago Theatres' 2009 Artistic Leadership Award and named 2009 Arts Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune , Crains Who's Who in Chicago Business 2011, Chicago Magazine's Power 100 - 2012. Since acquiring Chicago Second City in 1985, the Second City under Alexander's leadership has been nominated for 154 Jeff Awards and has won 32, and 28 Dora Nominations and 2 wins as well as receiving on behalf of Second City, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Just for Laughs, Spirit of Innovation Award 2011, The Big Shoulders Award 2012 from the Chicago Film Critics and The NAB Spirit of Broadcasting Award 2012, Phi Beta Kappa Distinguished Service Award 2014 and Chicago Fifth Star Award 2016. Governor General Performing Arts Award 2018. [1] [7] [9] On November 18, 2022, Mr. Alexander was inducted into Canada's Comedy Hall of Fame. [10] [11]
Daniel Edward Aykroyd is a Canadian and American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).
Gilda Susan Radner was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. In her routines on SNL, she specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, Radner won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.
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Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is a rare example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American television, where it aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983.
Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His film acting roles include Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One (2009).
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David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
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Bernard Sahlins was an American writer, director and comedian best known as a founder of The Second City improvisational comedy troupe with Paul Sills and Howard Alk in 1959. Sahlins also opened the Second City Theatre in Toronto in 1973.
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Ronald Pederson is a Canadian, Métis actor, comedian and theatre director who has worked extensively throughout Canada and in the United States. He has performed at most of Canada's major theatres including The Stratford Festival, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Arts Club, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Young Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soulpepper and The SummerWorks Festival. Pederson is an alumnus of Toronto’s The Second City and has also worked extensively in television and may be best known for his Canadian Comedy Award-nominated work and his three seasons on Fox Television's MADtv.
An Afternoon with SCTV is an upcoming Canadian-American comedy streaming television special directed by Martin Scorsese. The special reunites the cast of Second City Television.
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