Insurance Broker Lands Second City Comedy Gig

PLAINFIELD, IL — A 26-year-old Plainfield native is living out the dream of some hopeful comedians. Not only is Aram Rayzian one of 13 in this year’s NBC Bob Curry Fellowship at The Second City, but he’s about to start teaching an improv class at Chicago’s famed comedy joint.

During the day, Rayzian works as an insurance broker. In the evening, he's honing his improvisation skills and making people laugh.

"You gotta look for inspiration everywhere," he said. "Even when you're talking to customers on the phone ... sometimes it crosses your mind, 'This person would be a good character.' ... It all helps your improv tool belt and your general knowledge of the world."

It began in 2014, when he was 18. After saving up, he submitted an application to start taking adult improv and stand-up classes at Second City, but there was a caveat — you had to be 19. So Rayzian fudged the numbers, said he was the minimum age for the program, and started taking the Metra down to North Avenue on weekends.

"If any building is going to have a sense of humor about it, I would hope it's that one," he said.

Like many who have an affinity for comedy, Rayzian grew up watching the classics, including Steve Martin movies from the '70s and '80s and "Saturday Night Live." Many of his comedic inspirations — including Steven Colbert and John Belushi, as well as shows like "The Office" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" — have connections to the famous comedy club.

"Being able to have so many cool alumni come out of that one building in Chicago is just amazing," he said.

A 2013 graduate of Plainfield North High School, Rayzian's love of comedy was propelled by his high school speech team. Part of the program included an event called "original comedy," where students could write comedic routines and take their skits to other schools and tournaments to get feedback and hone their skills. He spent three years-worth of weekends on the team working to get better.

While Rayzian has an associate's degree in history and acting from College of DuPage, he said he "pretty much went straight to Second City" to learn in its Severn Darden Graduate Program. From producing and acting to participating in the graduate and conservatory programs, he has dipped his toes in multiple roles at Second City.

"Finally this year when I got hired to be faculty, I'll be able to be there all the time," Rayzian said. "It's kind of double-duty right now with the teaching and then with the Bob Curry Fellowship."

Although the details of what course he'll be teaching haven't been ironed out, Rayzian said it will be one that combines acting, comedy and improv skills. He said the class is a part of Second City's efforts of having an acting program that reflects the work done in the building.

"Your acting helps your improv and your improv helps your acting," he said. "They kind of feed into each other."

Anyone can take the classes, which typically run three hours once a week for eight weeks. Rayzian said it's a "diverse demographic" of people who take the classes — some want to pursue a career in improv, while others want to have fun and learn something new.

Along with teaching, Rayzian spends about three days a week working on the NBC Bob Curry Fellowship training to produce a showcase that's presented to NBC casting and Second City producers at the end of the 10-week master program. Up to 16 fellowships are given out to qualifying actors and comics from diverse backgrounds for the program.

"I'm very happy to be part of the fellowship," he said. "There was a time we weren't sure the comedy theaters would open back up, so to be back in Second City doing the program and getting ready to teach in the next couple of weeks is really exciting. It's a great way to suddenly be back in a really cool environment."

Rayzian said they started working on the showcase before the pandemic hit, and the cast spent many hours on Zoom together as a result.

As he continues his journey at Second City, Rayzian said he hopes to see more people from Plainfield taking classes and attending shows.

"After the pandemic, everybody needs a laugh, so I'm so interested to see what [comedians at Second City] come up after this crazy time that we lived through," he said.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article misnamed the College of DuPage as DuPage College. We apologize for the error.

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