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Steve Kerr hops up on the improv stage at Second City

Kelly Dwyer
Steve Kerr is going to ask for a location. (Getty Images)
Steve Kerr is going to ask for a location. (Getty Images)

Former Chicagoan Steve Kerr and famed Chicago improvisational landmark Second City were in a bad place late last summer. Kerr was laid up following his second back surgery and subsequent spinal tap complications, and the Old Town institution was in the process of rebuilding after a fire destroyed a goodly chunk of one of its buildings’ offices.

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Months later, both are back to form. Second City never stopped producing shows, and while Kerr isn’t back to coaching the Golden State Warriors, he is traveling with the team and apparently healthy enough to step on the boards with members of the troupe as his team swung through Chicago.

Kerr took his coaching staff to Second City on Tuesday night, and he was asked onstage to participate in a little back and forth. Take a look.

Diamond Leung at Bay Area Newsgroup, via James Herbert at CBS Sports, has the rest:

“During one of the intermissions, (cast members) asked if he’d be willing to come up on stage and take part in it. He was good up there too, showing some of his wit and being as engaged as he was. We obviously don’t try to read into anything. Whenever he’s ready, he’s ready, but that’s a good sign.”

The return of Kerr’s dry sense of humor has for months been an indicator to the coaching staff of at least some progression with his health. The on-stage appearance marked a rare public appearance for Kerr, who due to complications from offseason back surgeries has missed the first half of the regular season.

“He was hesitant a little bit about doing it, but I think he thought it’d be good,” said Warriors player development coach Bruce Fraser, a longtime friend of Kerr’s who was in attendance. “He was great. He’s witty. It was more of almost an interview. They were asking him questions that were serious, a little bit more about the team, and they would act out some of the things that came up.”

In a city full of would-be wiseacres, Kerr used to make local Chicago sports talk radio somewhat tolerable in the 1990s when he (and sometimes his wife) would call into shows while a member of the Chicago Bulls, the team his Warriors is in town to take on. That tone carried over to two different sportswriting gigs, trips to the broadcast booth, and his touch with the media as both the general manager of the Phoenix Suns, and coach of the Warriors.

We’re a bit bummed that the Wells St. denizens got to hear more from Steve Kerr on Tuesday than we’ve been able to this season, but for someone who disclosed that his aversion to light produced a constant stream of debilitating headaches as he recovered from the spinal tap, it’s great to see Kerr happily hop on stage.

Now, Steve, do all of Chicago another favor and bench Stephen Curry on Wednesday night.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!