“Sorry for the confetti in the first 10 rows.” Hearing this announcement as I took my seat at the State Theatre on Friday night, I knew it was going to be in for an incredible show. The stage, decked out with three chairs and a piano, was otherwise deserted.

As described in the program, The Second City is “basically a mind explosion of political and social satire cropping up in every delicious nook and cranny of this great nation and beyond. Armed from Chicago with a battery of the most hilarious sketch comedy and improvisation on any continent.” With veterans such as Alan Alda, Jim Belushi, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Bill Murray and Tina Fey, it has been a gold mine for comedic genius. The focus of the shows is scripted scenes mixed with improvisation that, sometimes, involves audience members.

Don't mock me: The Second City-ers make fools of themselves for the crowd.The first sketch involved Seth Weitberg and Brooke Bagnall, the former acting as a hipster at a museum and the latter as, well, not. “You’re one of those ‘hipsters.’ You buy your clothes from Urban Outfitters and you say they’re vintage,” Brooke spewed to Seth as he talked about his self-expression with paintings in an invisible museum. And when he broke out the guitar to sing, he turned to the audience and said, “If you liked that song, you should’ve seen the one at Ihop.”

Audience participation came early. Abby McEnany, one of the five troupe members, asked a couple in the first row to stand up. “What do you like about her?” she asked. The man responded “her spontaneity.” And when Abby then asked the woman what she liked about her man, she responded “He’s tall.” This little stint turned into the skit “An Ithaca Love Story.” While there was a basic set-up to the bit, most of the details were improvised.

Another audience-centered skit came later in the show when Rachel Miller played a high school choir teacher trying to get the audience to sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” My section was assigned to sing the soprano part and failed miserably. However, the left wing of the audience was able to keep it together and sang the alto part pretty well.

Just when I thought Second City couldn’t get any more talented, the whole troupe came together to sing a song titled “I’m Socially Awkward.” Hilarity ensued. Actually, it was probably my favorite musical number of the night, pulling ahead of “Nobody Reads Your Blog, Steve,” involving both Sam Richardson and Seth. All in all, it was a side-splitting evening.