Episode 76 – 'For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close' w/ Director Heather Ross & Co-Editor George Mandl

Phi Phenomenon

Del Close was an early member of the Compass Player (later Second City), an early proponent of “Yes, and” improv method, the “Harold” longform improv format, and an unironic “guru” of almost every major comedy player who came out of Chicago into Saturday Night Live into your favorite comedies of the last 40 years. Yet, why isn’t he known to many, or all, and why do those who did knew him personally describe him as a “madman”? On this episode is Heather Ross, director and co-writer of the new Close documentary For Madmen Only, along with her co-producer and -editor George Mandl, and former Chicago improv student Dustin Levell. We discuss:

• How Ross’s doc work with women in Chicago kept her hearing stories about this “Close guy with a needle hanging out of his arm” who trained all her favorite comedians;

• the closest Close had to an autobiography, the late-’80s pre-Vertigo comic Wasteland, and how its visual narrative contributed to the doc;

• his degree of shock-seeking and self-mythologizing;

• and why Chicago improvers from Mike Myers to Bill Murray have wanted to make a biopic out of Close’s life;

Also:

• the difference between the ‘60s San Franciscan Harold versus the “Teaching” Harold;

• the influence of the book Close’s tri-authored book Truth in Comedy and its profound wisdom, both personally and artistically;

• the ambivalent nature of being a great “guru” and having one’s students surpass in levels of fame;

• and why the 4-20% of genuine good improv is ephemerally like the being around your funniest friends at the lunch table in high school — you had to be there, and it can never be recreated.

Heather Ross is an Emmy-Ward winning documentarian for her film Girls on the the Wall, along with producing on the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are. She also directed several shorts in the “It Gets Better” series of advocacy films.

George Mandl is a film editor based out of Los Angeles. He and his work can be found at his website.

Dustin Levell is a Chicago-based comedy writer, performer, and stage director who trained at Second City and Improv Olympic.

For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close is currently available to rent or buy on VOD. And, also, on Kanopy.