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Del Close — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Chicago years

In 1960 Close moved to Chicago, his home base for much of the rest of his life, to perform and direct at Second City, but was fired due to substance abuse. He spent the latter half of the 1960s in San Francisco where he was the house director of improv ensemble The Committee, featuring performers such as Gary Goodrow, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Bonerz, Howard Hesseman and Larry Hankin. The Second City later described Close as having developed the long-form improvisation format he called the "Harold" while working with The Committee in San Francisco, before returning to Chicago in 1972. He toured with the Merry Pranksters, and he created light images for Grateful Dead shows.

In 1972, he returned to Chicago and to Second City. He also directed and performed for Second City's troupe in Toronto in 1977. Over the next decade he coached many popular comedians. In the early 1980s he served as "house metaphysician" at Saturday Night Live; for many years, a significant percentage of the show's cast were Close protégés. He spent the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s teaching improv, collaborating with Charna Halpern at Yes And Productions and the ImprovOlympic Theater with Compass Players producer, David Shepherd.

In 1987, Close mounted his first scripted show, Honor Finnegan vs. the Brain of the Galaxy, created by members of Close and Halpern's Improv Olympics from a scenario by Close, at CrossCurrents in Chicago. Running concurrently at the same theater was The TV Dinner Hour, written by Richard O'Donnell of New Age Vaudeville, featuring Close's running routine as The Rev. Thing of the First Generic Church of What's-his-name.

During this period, Close also appeared in several movies; he portrayed corrupt alderman John O'Shay in The Untouchables and an English teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He co-authored the graphic horror anthology Wasteland for DC Comics with John Ostrander, and co-wrote several installments of the "Munden's Bar" backup feature for Ostrander's Grimjack. His later stage credits included Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Briar Street Theatre.

Personal life

An obituary published in the Manhattan Mercury said that Close's father died in Manhattan, Kansas, on December 16, 1954, after being found unconscious in his jewelry store and that the cause of death was "self-inflicted." Close would have been 20 years old and, according to Kim "Howard" Johnson, a biographer in the documentary For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, Close was in New York at the time, over a thousand miles away from where his father died.

Close had told many varied and dramatic accounts of his father's suicide, with the general story being that his father did it right in front of him when he was a child (accounts vary in age between 6–17 years old) by drinking a caustic liquid (various accounts on which type of caustic liquid).

Regardless of when or how the suicide of Close's father occurred, many of his friends believed it had a profound effect on him. Close would frequently bring it up in conversation with friends and even on stage. In the 2020 documentary For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, he is filmed on stage saying to the improv actors and audience, "My father was a spectacular suicide. He drank a quart of sulphuric acid, slashed his wrists. And they kept him alive for two days longer than Jesus hung on the cross, and I used to use that death to get sympathy and to get laid with."

Then Close wanted to do an improv scene where he would play himself and another actor, Dave Thomas, would play the doctor who would tell Close that his father had just died from the suicide that Close had described. Thomas refused, saying in the documentary that he didn't think it would be a good joke and that there was an obligation to the audience to create laughs—not just to make them gasp. Close replied, "Now perhaps you're not used to this particular kind of horrifying honesty, but I expect the same thing from you and nothing less."

Close was addicted to heroin and cocaine but decided to change his lifestyle when his student John Belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982, although he continued to smoke marijuana. Close had recently read the book A Witch's Guide to Psychic Healing by Yvonne Frost, which argues that the modern Pagan religion Wicca can provide spiritual healing. He joined a Wiccan coven in Toronto and fought his drug habit together with Wiccan priests who performed a banishing ritual. He stopped using drugs and remained an active Pagan.

In print

Close is featured in an extensive interview in Something Wonderful Right Away, a book about the members of the Compass Players and Second City written by Jeffrey Sweet. Originally published in 1978 by Avon, it is currently available from Limelight Editions.

From 1984 to 1988, Del Close wrote comic book stories in First Comics' Grimjack. With regular writer John Ostrander, Close co-wrote Munden's Bar stories in Grimjack issues #3, 4, 8, 10, 17, 22, 25, 28, 35, and 42. (Close knew Ostrander from the Chicago theater scene.) From 1987 to 1989, also with Ostrander, Close wrote anthology-style horror stories in the DC Comics title Wasteland. Several of the stories are allegedly autobiographical; one recounts Close's experiences while filming Beware! The Blob (1972), and another recalls an encounter with writer L. Ron Hubbard, author of horror and science fiction, and founder of Scientology. Eric Spitznagel wrote about when he heard Close recount his alleged meeting with L.Ron Hubbard, in which Close claimed to have suggested to Hubbard, "Well, if you're worried about taxes, you should just turn Scientology into a religion" (an anecdote that Spitznagel claimed many others have heard Close recount also). In the 2020 documentary, For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, one of the interviewees, Charna Halpern, recounts that she had heard Close say the same anecdote about himself and Hubbard. There have been a number of different individuals that have claimed for themselves, or been attributed with, giving Hubbard the suggestion of turning Scientology into a religion in order to make a lot of money.

In 2004, writer/comedian R. O'Donnell wrote "My Summer With Del" for Stop Smiling magazine #17 Comedian Issue. The feature was an account of O'Donnell's visits at Del's Chicago apartment as well as recounting highlights of their time spent at CrossCurrents, the theater that housed both their comedy groups.

In 2005, Jeff Griggs published Guru: My Days with Del Close, detailing their friendship during the last two years of Close's life. Due to Close's poor health (in part caused by long-term alcohol and drug use), Halpern suggested that Griggs run errands with Close. Guru gives a particularly detailed and complete picture of Close based on those shared hours. At the beginning of their relationship, Griggs was a student of Del's, and the book includes several chapters in which Griggs depicts Close as a teacher. Griggs also wrote that as Close's reputation grew, improv clubs around the country invited him to teach, and that some of those visits developed into weeklong festivals, including Austin's Big Stinkin' Improv Festival, which Griggs described as "the biggest of the bunch". The book has been adapted into a screenplay, and as of 2006 Harold Ramis was attached to direct the script. Ramis (who died in 2014) wanted Bill Murray to play Close.

Close co-authored the 1994 book Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation with Charna Halpern and Kim "Howard" Johnson; the book outlines techniques now common in longform improvisation and describes the overall structure of "Harold", which remains a common frame for longer improvisational scenes.

In 2007, Eric Spitznagel wrote an article in the September issue of The Believer magazine reflecting on Close's life and his propensity for storytelling.

In 2008, Kim "Howard" Johnson published The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close, a full-length biography. Johnson himself was a student of Close; the two remained friends until Close's death.

In 2022, Bob Odenkirk wrote a memoir Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama, which includes excerpts of an interview with Del Close who was influential in the startup of his career.

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