Editing Del Close (section)

===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 Chicago|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 (improv group)|The Committee]], featuring performers such as [[Gary Goodrow]], [[Carl Gottlieb]], [[Peter Bonerz]], [[Howard Hesseman]] and [[Larry Hankin]]. 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 (producer)|David Shepherd]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/as-del-lay-dying/Content?oid=1109931|title=As Del Lay Dying|date=April 3, 2008|access-date=March 4, 2012}}</ref>

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.<ref name=RKogan/> Running concurrently at the same theater was ''[[The TV Dinner Hour]]'', written by [[Richard O'Donnell (playwright)|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.<ref name=RKogan>{{cite news|last=Kogan|first=Rick|title=Comedy Uneven in Del Close's New Show and The TV Dinner Hour - double review|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-03-20-8701220060-story.html|access-date=June 16, 2012|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 20, 1987}}</ref>

During this period, Close also appeared in several movies; he portrayed corrupt alderman John O'Shay in ''[[The Untouchables (film)|The Untouchables]]''<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuZDmY8al98C&q=John+O%27Shay+chicago&pg=PT303 |title = The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of del Close|isbn = 9781569764367|last1 = Johnson|first1 = Kim "Howard"|date = April 2008| publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref> and an English teacher in ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]]''. He co-authored the graphic horror anthology ''[[Wasteland (DC Comics)|Wasteland]]'' for [[DC Comics]] with [[John Ostrander]],<ref>{{cite journal|last = Fryer|first = Kim|title = DC News|journal = [[The Comics Journal]]|issue = 116|page = 28|publisher = [[Fantagraphics Books]]|date = July 1987}}</ref> and co-wrote several installments of the "Munden's Bar" backup feature for Ostrander's ''[[Grimjack]]''. Close performed in the 1993 world premiere of Steve Martin's ''[[Picasso at the Lapin Agile]]'' at Chicago's [[Steppenwolf Theatre Company]].{{cn|date=October 2022}}