Severn Darden

Severn Darden was a gifted comedian and a co-founder of The Second City troupe, He was born 9 November 1929 in New Orleans, Louisiana, attended the University of Chicago, died 27 May 1995 of a heart attack in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he had lived for many years.

Related Topics:
Comedian - The Second City - 9 November - 1929 - New Orleans, Louisiana - University of Chicago - 27 May - 1995 - Heart attack - Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Darden?s offbeat and intellectual sense of humor, appropriate for someone who attended the University of Chicago, is evident throughout his work, and exemplified by the opening remarks to ?The Metaphysics Lecture? (introduced as ?A Short Talk on the Universe?): ?Why — you will ask me — have I chosen to talk about the Universe, instead of some other topic. It's very simple: there isn?t any other topic!? This lecture, loaded with digressions, was ostensibly given by Prof. Walther von der Vogelweide, which was actually the name of an obscure medieval poet or troubador.

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Another Prof. Walther von der Vogelweide lecture (with the assistance of the rest of the Second City cast) was ?Free will and necessity in the light of Oedipus Rex?, or ?What would have happened to Oedipus if he had read the book before going on the journey?. The professor plays the role of Oedipus and refuses to perform the actions that would cause his fate, but other circumstances produce the same results.

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The Second City sketch ?Football Comes to the University of Chicago? satirized the intellectual U. of C. students and how they might approach the sport. Darden played Morgenstern, a student of the history of arithmetic. Being informed of the football positions called ends, he tells the coach that the ends must have beginnings, according to Aristotle.

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Another good example of his offbeat humor is the way he squeezed the phrase ?know thyself? into the seven-character limitation of a New Mexico license plate: ?NOYOSEF?.

Related Topics:
New Mexico - License plate

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Darden appeared in various movies.

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• The Telephone (1988)
• Saturday the 14th (1981)
• In God We Trust (1980)
• Wanda Nevada (1979)
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
• The Hired Hand (1971)
• The President's Analyst (1967)
• Dead Heat on a Merry-go-round (1966)
• Vanishing Point (supporting role) as J. Hovah

Other movie credits include:

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• The Last Movie (1971)(Composer)

?The Metaphysics Lecture? and ?Oedipus Rex? appeared on an LP collection entitled ?The Sound of My Own Voice (and Other Noises)?, Mercury OCS 6202.

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?Football Comes to the University of Chicago? is available on CD 3 of the collection ?But Seriously: the American Comedy Box?, Rhino R2 71617.

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