Fondling at It’s Funniest
Jimmy Carrane is known all over Chicago for his Improv Nerd live show/podcast. Jet Eveleth has been one of the most well-recognized females in improv and comedy in Chicago for years. John Hildreth has made a lasting impression on Second City and has been in the community for over a decade. It is blatantly obvious that these three have been playing together for a while and watching them improvise together is like watching an amusing clunky ballet…with words…and awkward moments of stunted rhythm. Now add Scott Adist, one of the most talented improvisers I’ve ever seen play, to the mix and you know you’re in for a good show.
The suggestion was “going to Target.” The scene opened with Jet playing a Target employee trying to help out gay fathers, Carrane and Adsit, find their son who they lost in the store. It was established that their son was Asian, with blonde hair and they weren’t quite sure what day they lost him. Hildreth made a comment about the “two dad situation” with a bit of disapproval for already losing their child. But when Carrane came back with a rebuttal about black people, Hildreth didn’t hesitate before he said, “black people lose their kids all the time” like it was no big deal. As they tried to identify what exactly this child looked like, Eveleth pulled up pictures on a phone and asked, “This kind of Asian or this kind of Asian?” After questioning what the child liked, Adsit mentioned he liked housewares, like Pyrex. Hildreth paused for a moment and then said, “Well you should just get a wok.”
In the middle of switching scenes there was a bit of confusion and it turned into Eveleth and Adsit dancing and twirling around. Hildreth stopped Adsit and asked him if he was planning on taking away his daughter from him just like he took away his wife. Adsit replied, “Yes, I would like to take both of the women in your life. Even though I’m only 16, I can take care of them better than you.” After about three seconds of thought, Hildreth agreed and said he could have them both, if he would just tell him where his wife was. He didn’t want her back, he just wanted to know. “My father’s grain silo.” So Eveleth started swimming around in a presumable grain silo behind them as they said it would take her 15 years to eat her way out of there, fast-forward 15 years and in the middle of conversation, Eveleth surprises them and crawls out of the silo.
Another scene broke out with Carrane and Eveleth as he was her “not blood related” uncle. She had to give him a child in order to leave the country. When Carrane asked her if she understood what she needed to do, her response was, “Yes. I need to steal a child.”
Hildreth informs Adsit that they found his son! Adsit was so thrilled and continued to express his gratitude while holding onto Hildreth’s shoulder. The intensity grew and he grabbed Hildreth’s chest. Eveleth walked on to make sure he knew they found his son and Adsit turned and placed his hand on her shoulder and thanked her and then proceeded to grab her chest. Jimmy walked in and and with all the touching going on Eveleth closed the circle by reaching for Hildreth’s groin. From there it was just an awkward and hilariously wonderful few minutes of seeing how weird and touchy-grabby they could get. Eveleth exited by being twirled out of the mangled groping.
In the next scene we got to watch Carrane “dance” (I use that word lightly) around stage and then move onto an awkward massage table with a fierce Asian masseuse (Eveleth). All she said was, “Reeeelllaaaaxxx. Get com-for-ta-bul.” She then found the game of lotioning herself, instead of him, while increasing his frustration as he laid on this table. From there she went to the police station to claim a missing Asian son who turned out not to be hers – because she didn’t have a son. Eveleth and Adsit ended up both eating alone at a restaurant while Carrane and Hildreth fought over who’s table was who’s. We found out that Adsit had two children he didn’t speak to much and he favored his deaf daughter, Kate, over his son. Eveleth closed the show when she picked up the phone and played a very convincing deaf daughter and the audience roared with surprised laughter.
This show was phenomenal. So many fun characters. Such great talent. Everyone played to the height of their intelligence and had a blast. As I watched the @CIFest twitter handle conversations after the show, people were already quoting “Relax, get comfortable.” I’m so glad I finally got to see this show and what a pleasant surprise that Scott Adsit decided to join in.
