"I've been accused in the past of doing too much 'black stuff' - whatever that means. Would anyone ever say to a white person, you're doing too much 'white stuff?'" -- DAVID POMPEII, Second City mainstage & e.t.c.

Anyone who has experienced David Pompeii's exuberant teamwork as a long-time Second City mainstage and e.t.c. performer would find it hard to believe that he originally preferred the solo comedy format. Before he joined The Second City Touring Company in 1996, he was making a decent living as a stand-up comic.

'I had a stand-up career and did some TV before Second City,' says Pompeii, with an air of non-boastful confidence, over lunch in Old Town. 'So I had no problem making an audience laugh. I came to Second City to improve my acting and ended up staying.'

Over the years, he had to make some compromises in order to mesh with the group dynamic. But he honed other skills along the way.

Currently a co-writer/performer in the 89th mainstage revue, No, Seriously, We're All Gonna Die, Pompeii believes his stand-up background 'is the best source of what's funny, because the stand-up looks an audience in the eyes and reads them. The stand-up is in touch with what makes people laugh and is capable of tailoring a show to an audience's individual energy.' He also stresses that, because 'comedy is all about timing,' stand-ups offer insights into the most effective ways to pace a sketch.

Although not entirely of the anti-improvisational school of thought (after all, Pompeii has extensive improv experience), he observes that 'sometimes an improviser gets so caught up in being an actor, the funny is an afterthought.' Pompeii also has noticed that improvisers are not always on the same theoretical page, or they might be more focused on their scene partner than on the audience.

On the flip side, he says he has become more comfortable settling into the synchronized but eclectic energy of a team 'a radical shift from the intensely interior world of stand-up.

'As a stand-up, I was used to getting a laugh every 30 seconds,' explains Pompeii, 33. 'As an ensemble member, I had to learn to relax and play those moments. I realized there can be comedy in silence. I also had to learn how to rehearse. In stand-up, you don't go to rehearsal or do vocal warm-ups. It's all about, 'are you funny or not?' You just jump right in.'

But, over time at Second City, he was able to perfect his approaches to structuring a show, writing and scene work. Pompeii stopped doing stand-up altogether in the late 1990s, but is now working on a solo show 'somewhere between stand-up and a theatrical monologue.'

On stage, Pompeii conveys a relaxed energy with a politically charged edge. And audiences relate to his realness. Far from exhibiting a buzzword-laden ambitious streak, Pompeii is as casual and non-contrived as his earliest entry into show business: a career he had no intention of pursuing.

The performer kind of winged it. But, along his rather improvisational career route, he paid attention to those crucial intangibles within the biz that helped get him noticed.

Pompeii was born in Niles, Michigan. He grew up on Chicago's South Side, and the closest he got to any sort of spotlight was being part of 'an awful' rock band at Dunbar High School. And, aside from kidding around with friends and family, he did not consciously blaze a path to stand-up comedy. He majored in advertising/marketing at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and initially planned to work in the corporate world.

'I started out in advertising,' Pompeii continues. 'And then I realized I didn't want a conventional job, and I didn't want to fight rush-hour traffic. But I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

'Then, one day, I was at home watching TV and The King of Comedy [a satirical comedy about the stand-up business starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis] was on. It really turned me on to stand-up. When it was over, I wanted to hear more. I wanted to hear some jokes.'

He proceeded to get as many comedy books as possible'including Steve Allen's 'How to Be Funny,' Mark Goldberg's 'Improv Comedy' and Judy Tenuta's written advice'and listened to classic comedy albums like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. He also hung out at comedy clubs and did open mics. Pompeii entered the solo arena in 1991.

He got his first three-minute gig at the Chicago Improv: 'At the Improv, my first joke tanked, but my second joke killed and that really boosted my energy!' Pompeii then got regular work at the Funny Firm and sound career advice from its co-owner, Len Austrevich.

Sufficiently propelled by the audience's guffaws, Pompeii carried those vibes into an unexpected day job: a flight attendant for United Airlines. 'I wanted to hang out at the New York and LA comedy clubs,' he admits. 'And I thought that was a [cost-effective] way to travel.'

While hitting the New York City clubs, Pompeii noticed that the booking agents would always ask phone applicants where they were from. The fact that he was from Chicago and not New York regularly gave him the green light in the Big Apple. 'The comedy clubs were always looking for comics from other cities,' he says. 'Also, in New York'unlike Chicago'the clubs would have continuous comics from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. The newer comics would go on around 2 a.m.'

He had to be prepared for any unexpected number of triumphs and disappointments. Pompeii remembers, during a United layover in New York, he got booked the same night to perform at Stand-Up New York. 'I spent the day hanging out and feeling the pulse of the city,' he relates dreamily before turning somber. 'Then these big storms hit that night, and no one came to the club. My show was cancelled. And, since I had to fly out the next morning, I couldn't re-schedule.'

Pompeii'who worked as a flight attendant for 13 months'continued to pound the comedy pavement. Again in New York, he tried to get booked at Dangerfield's comedy club but was told to go to The Comic Strip because 'they like black comics down there.' When he arrived at The Comic Strip, a life-size cut-out of Chris Rock convinced him that it was one of the few clubs where all the black comics performed. While an admirer of African-American-style humor'and inspired by his personal experiences for his routines'Pompeii wanted to be part of a more diverse comedy scene.

It may have taken him almost two years to find ongoing gigs but, once he got in the loop, he would be on the road for seven months out of the year.

'It took me a long time to figure out how to get work'an art unto itself,' Pompeii acknowledges. 'You have to spend as much time on your material as you do on marketing yourself. Applying in person worked best for me. Phone calls don't cut it. And, for anyone thinking of doing stand-up, go on stage when you are absolutely ready. If you're bad, you won't get another chance until at least a year later. And, remember, try out stuff in the open mics, then build up to the A rooms.'

After doing a gig at the Southern Illinois Bowl, Pompeii had a revelation in his budget motel room: 'Here I was in the middle of nowhere, looking out at bleakness'the glamorous life of a stand-up, right? I turned on the TV and saw one of my friends in a commercial. So I called him and asked how that happened, and he told me how to get an agent.'

Pompeii then got more professional headshots, hooked up with an agency and began auditioning for commercials in the mid-1990s. When he wasn't getting cast, he decided to take classes to improve his acting skills. He studied at ImprovOlympic and took classes in monologues and on-camera at the Actors Workshop. Then he went on to study at The Second City. His instructor, Joe Keefe, immediately noticed Pompeii's natural comedic talent and asked him to write shows for Second City's corporate division. In 1996, while in Level 4, he got hired as an understudy for the Touring Company and officially got on the team not long after.

From there, Pompeii co-wrote and performed on the Second City e.t.c. stage in The Revelation Will Not Be Televised, History Repaints Itself and Better Late Than Nader. Now a mainstage staple, he has co-written and appeared in Embryos on Ice, Thank Heaven It Wasn't 7/11, and the current revue. In addition to commercials, Pompeii has been seen on TV in 'The Sports Bar,' 'HBO Sketch Pad' and 'The Daily Show.'

He is particularly proud of his long-term job as host/narrator of 'A Better Place,' a public television series devoted to issues related to the Chicago Housing Authority. Pompeii landed his role on 'A Better Place' through an earlier connection he made back in 1991 when he was featured on a WGN-TV special, 'The Serious Business of Stand-up,' which followed a group of struggling comics.

And Pompeii is quick to admit that 'my whole show business life, I've been gearing up to do television and film.' His dream is quickly picking up momentum. When we talked, he just found out that he got cast in the Chicago-set film, Barber Shop II. He also has his sights set on a TV series, but is aware of the vagaries of the business.

'I've concluded that I'm gonna need a development deal,' Pompeii states. 'Bernie Mac had to wait for that.'

As an African-American comedic actor, Pompeii has experienced the usual typecasting. He's been told at film/TV auditions that 'you're great, but we don't know what to do with you.'

'I'm not Will Smith and I'm not Fast Eddie Griffin,' he points out. 'I'm somewhere in between.' He's well aware that casting agents typically want 'a safe black guy.'

At Second City, Pompeii revels in social justice issues, often ones involving racial stereotypes. And, while not one to hammer audiences over the head with racially provocative sketches, he has no intention of playing it entirely safe.

'I have been accused in the past,' he recounts, 'of doing too much 'black stuff''whatever that means. Would anyone every say to a white person, you're doing too much 'white stuff?' They also will say 'it's not the time' to get into a certain issue [like affirmative action]. But is there ever a wrong time to fight injustice?'

During these harried political times, one of Second City's greatest challenges has been to successfully satirize an increasingly absurd world. And Pompeii agrees. But he and his fellow artists employ the following strategy: 'We'll look at it as, this is so absurd, we'll be more realistic. One way is to agree with the absurdity and be completely dedicated to it.'

Now that he is focusing on more TV/film work and exploring solo possibilities, could these be the last days of Pompeii at Second City?

'I'm kind of in a holding pattern right now,' responds Pompeii. 'I've been working on my solo show. And I may be moving on. It's time for me to find out who I am again.'

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