From Kodiak to the capital of comedy

by joey  |   

I Am UAA: Charlie Madsen, a theatre graduate, is the house manager at the recently-expanded iO Theater in Chicago--one of the major players in Chicago's vaunted comedy scene (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen).

I AM UAA: Charlie Madsen, a theater graduate, is the house manager at the recently-expanded iO Theater in Chicago-one of the major players in Chicago's vaunted comedy scene. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen)

B.A. Theatre '07 Hometown: Kodiak, Alaska Fun Fact: Promoted to House Manager at iO Theater while still an intern, meaning he had to supervise himself (and he missed a lot of those intern shifts)

"If you told me when I was in college I would have done what I'm doing now, I'd find it hard to believe."

That's Charlie Madsen-a 2007 theater graduate who is now house manager at iO Theater in Chicago, a long-term proving ground for the best sketch comedians in the country. Chris Farley, Vince Vaughn, Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis are just a precious few of the hundreds who built their careers at iO-originally called ImprovOlympic. Could a homegrown Alaska talent be the next to break through?

Backstage at UAA

Charlie arrived at UAA entertaining two separate career interests-architectural engineering and theater. He enrolled in an AutoCAD class his first semester to continue his architecture interests, but ended up changing course.

"After a semester of that I realized I could take what I liked about design and do that in theater," Charlie recalled. "And that I'd get to destroy it all with a hammer in a month."

Charlie spent the bulk of his next four years backstage. "My focus at UAA was to learn the technical aspects of theater," he said. He worked as a carpenter in the set shop, enrolled in costume classes, worked the soundboard, rigged lights and designed the entire Cape Cod cottage-set of 2007's production Just Sisters.

While earning his theater street cred, Charlie also built up his writing skills. "I learned to write at UAA," he said. "It wasn't until I had [English professor] Clay Nunnally that I actually found my voice, and then [theater professor] Brent Glenn just let me use my real thoughts on paper. That's when I realized 'Oh, I can write.'"

Charlie's UAA career gave him a background in all aspects of the stage-he arrived as a performer, learned the technical aspects backstage and ended up leaving with a strong affinity for script writing.

"I love writing because of the ability to sit back and really get it right...I love the ability to get big dumb jokes perfect," he laughed, "but I'm never going to say no to the opportunity for people to watch me on stage."

From the 49th State to the Second City

Although UAA provided a foundation, a fateful paperback gave him direction. Charlie's dad gave him a book about the venerable Second City theater-a Chicago-based mecca for aspiring comedians-and his comedy ambitions were set.

Second City is known as a pioneer theater for sketch comedy. They encourage improvisation-i.e. creating an entire scene entirely on the spot-as a tool to generate sketch ideas, and the theater's training program has since helped make Chicago a magnet for comedians and a launch pad for comedy careers. "I didn't understand anything about the [improv] form, I just knew I wanted to do it," Charlie said of Second City.

Charlie, right, and a few castmates during an improv show in Chicago (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen).

Charlie, right, and a few castmates during an improv show in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen)

As his student days wound down, Charlie joined Scared Scriptless (an Anchorage improv team) and spent a short three months learning improv comedy. After graduation, he returned to Kodiak, took a job in radio sales and saved money for his big move to the Midwest. After two years at home, he bought his flights, landed a sales job at the Chicago Tribune and immediately enrolled at Second City.

He started in its writing program, adapting his writing skills to fit the comedy stage. He then successfully auditioned for its conservatory-a one-year acceptance-required course that ends with an eight-week show. Charlie's contributions to the final project came directly from his Alaska roots.

"Everyone thinks when you're from Alaska that you're somehow a hyper-masculine woodsman," he said. "So I did a scene called the Gentlemen's Book Club-we were all weary adventurers drinking whiskey with spittoons [while discussing literature]."

After Second City, he went to iO and enrolled in both its writing and improv programs as well. He landed an internship, the internship became a job and he finally had an opportunity to focus fully on comedy.

Comedy clubhouse

Charlie is now the house manager at iO, overseeing packed crowds across four theaters and three bars on a nightly basis.

iO's new, expanded theater-opened in September-is the latest Chicago comedy hub. "The goal is to make it sort of a clubhouse for comedians," Charlie said of the theater's facilities. Greenrooms overflow with performers, improv teams rehearse in every available corner (even in the beer cooler downstairs), comedy legends cozy up at the bar and the walls are covered in photos of famous iO alumni. "You get to see Mike Myers and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey when they're all 21 and have terrible hair," Charlie joked.

Amid this crackling comedic energy, Charlie serves, in his words, as the head concierge. He's the first one in the door, prepping the registers, adjusting temperatures, advising the interns and doing whatever it takes to make sure eight or more shows go off without a hitch each night. "I'm the eyes and ears of the theater, and at the end of the night I'm the last one out the door to lock it," he said.

Charlie performs in a sketch he wrote during last weekend's Sketch Fest 2015 in Chicago (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen).

Charlie performs in a sketch he wrote during last weekend's Sketch Fest 2015 in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Madsen)

He also reports directly to Charna Halpern-co-founder of iO-who Amy Poehler once called "the Stevie Nicks of improvisation." (Amy also credits Charna with introducing her to Tina Fey). "Working with [Charna] is a huge surprise and a bit of a dream because I didn't think I'd make it that close," Charlie said.

Although busy at the theater, Charlie still has plenty of opportunities to perform. He had his writing staged at last weekend's Sketch Fest 2015 and often fills in for friends at improv shows throughout the area. "In the entire city of Chicago, you can't swing a stick without hitting an improviser. We just infest the city," he joked.

"If you get enough of the right people on stage it's sort of this swirling focus on one idea," Charlie said of improvisation. "There's sort of a magic to that, and when it fires, great. And even when it fails, it's like 'Oh well. It's gone now.'"

"That's the thing I learned from doing it. Things only matter so much. Everything is really important. And then it's gone," he laughed.

Next year's household names

It's likely a few performers currently at iO will grace the next great comedies. "It's like a 10-year process. Every name that's on stage now won't be famous for another 10 years," Charlie said. But the success stories are everywhere. Current SNL cast members Vanessa Bayer, Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong were iO students a few years ago. One of Charlie's recent castmates joined the writing staff for The Colbert Report's final season.

After years in sales, this UAA theater graduate couldn't be happier to channel his energy toward comedy. "I wasn't able to do this until I fully jumped into it," he said. "When I was doing sales I was trying to make money for a living just so I could get by, but that was keeping what I wanted to do at arm's length...Things didn't really start working for me until I stopped playing it safe."

If the 10-year process is accurate, Charlie may be halfway through his stint in Chicago right now. So stay tuned. But wherever the road takes him, he's grateful for the opportunities he's had since making his home in the house of improv.

"The past few months, when people ask me how my day is and I say I'm living the dream, I actually get to feel like that's true."

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