The Groundlings Celebrate 50th Anniversary With Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri and Jon Lovitz
variety.comEmiliana Betancourt The legendary Groudlings Improv Theater and School celebrated its 50th anniversary on Oct. 19 with a party in at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
The guest list was a gathering of Groundlings alumni, including Laraine Newman, Cheryl Hines, Nat Faxon, Jon Lovitz, Julia Sweeney, Cheri Oteri, Michaela Watkins and Mindy Sterling.
Sandy Helberg got teary-eyed on the red carpet remembering his times at the theater in the 1980s. “I got married when I first joined The Groundlings, and we went to New York,” he told Variety. “We got married at the Plaza, and we had the honeymoon suite, and I told my wife, ‘I want to leave by Friday.’ She said, ‘Why?’” An emotional Helberg recalled telling his new wife, “They’re doing a show [at the Groundlings] and if I’m not there, I’ll be out.’ Lovitz also remembered his first day The Groundlings: “I get on the freeway in the valley and I’m sobbing because I was so scared, because I really wanted to be a comedian,” he said. “I got to the Groundlings, and Randy Bennett was my teacher who is here tonight.
So, I did an improv and he goes, ‘Well, that was good, but you could have been funny this way. You could have been funny that way, funny this way.’ And in my head, I went, ‘Oh, I’m home.
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