What? You don't know who Mitch Rouse is? Well first, you probably do, but not as well as me, so let me explain.
When I was a kid I never wanted to be a fireman, I wanted to be Chevy Chase, and Harrison Ford if there was time. Like many kids I stayed up late and watched Saturday Night Live, unlike many kids I was encouraged by my parents to stay up and watch it, and unlike many more kids I was also encouraged by my parents to stay up LATER to watch SCTV which aired after SNL throughout the eighties. I was being groomed for comedy. I asked my Mom how you become a comedian and she told me that all those people came from a place called Second City, which made me think that Eddie Murphy went there.
Hey, that would be a funny bit, call up Second City and ask them if Eddie Murphy will be in tonights show, and when they say no, say that you heard that he went there, and then get deliberately confused about John Belushi and Tina Fey coming from Second City. I don't have their number, but I bet you could find it. If you tried really hard.
When I was thirteen my Mom gave me a book on The Second City but I had lost interest in comedy I didn't think about it until I saw an ad for The Tower Players improv group at Miami Of Ohio. To call the decision to attend the first meeting life-changing would be like calling something large small. I got back into comedy pretty hardcore and six months later the group made a trip to The Second City; which I had kind of forgotten about.
Mitch Rouse, yeah, I know, getting to it.
So the thing was, this place had been built up to me over the years, for years I had heard that this was THE place, and yet, I'd never seen Sketch Comedy in a theatre, what was it going to be like? 13 years later Second City holds no secrets for me, but back then, boy, I was a six-month old young-comedian with a huge boner for comedy sitting and waiting for a show at THE Second City to begin while surrounded by twenty comedy peers all with huge comedy boners too.
Who was going to be the Belushi of 1992? The Bill Murray? Mike Meyers was just getting famous, Chris Farley was too, but who would we see? And would they be the next big thing like the people who had come out of here before them?
Steve Carrell, Dave Razowsky, Amy Sidaris, Paul Dinello, and Mitch Rouse. The latter three + Stephen Colbert (who would be on stage the following year) formed the comedy shows Exit-57 and Strangers WIth Candy.
They were all very very nice and encouraging to a 19 year old frothing comedy nerd who'd just seen the best fucking show in the entire fucking history of the entire fucking world. 13 years later now having known numerous mainstage and ETC actors I have to imagine that to these demigods that Saturday night felt like...a Saturday night, but to us it was that greatest night of our lives. So young, so eager.
The show was funny in a way we'd never heard or felt before. The people onstage were funnier than anything we'd ever seen before, and the improv which we'd thought we'd mastered bore no resemblance to the smooth masterpieces that were woven in front of us. The show was so good that we actually got really depressed because it turned out we sucked, we hadn't known that. I thought Mitch Rouse was the funniest man on Earth and defininitely going to be the next big thing, so after the show I zeroed in on him with laserlike precision and talked shop, and he was very nice to me.
Later that night we passed The Last Act Bar and in the front window was Mitch, Paul, and Amy. They turned, saw us, and waved, except Mitch who jumped up in a mock "Let's Go Bitch" fighting pose to me. I mock charged the window and Matt Larsen mock held me back so that Mitch and I would not mock fight.
Now, it's one thing to go to The Second City, it's another to see the show, and yet another to converse with the cast after the show. But doing a BIT with a cast member. Instantly the best night ever.
So I usually look Mitch up every once in a while to see what he's up to and saw that he wrote and directed this movie called Employee of The Month with Matt Dillon and Steve Zahn, a movie with a very enjoyable first hour. I definitely recommend the first hour. I guess the point of this wasn't that the film was great, it was more that no matter how obscure the Mitch Rouse project I always check it out, and yet, who the fuck is Mitch Rouse?
One last thing. This country contains no Mitch Rouse academians and 99.99% of the people renting one of the 30 copies at Blockbuster will enjoy it or not as much as they do or don't any movie they've never heard of before, and will never notice what I noticed. The name of the bank Matt Dillon works at is The North & Wells, the person in the painting of the president of the bank is Del Close and the names of several people in several comas at the hospital are "D. Close", "M. Nichols", "E. May", and E. Troobnick").
He's also the Bee Swatting guy in "The Truth About Cats & Dogs."
4 comments:
I remember going with the group the next year - and I think it was Stephen Colbert who came out afterwards to talk to us - or more specifically you, because you wanted to hang around and ask them if he wouldn't mind saying hi. Man, what a really nice guy. I remember during the show Leah Rader taking notes (during the show!) and afterwards getting called out by the cast - I think they said "And if you want a transcript of tonight's show, see the girl down front."
And how he's the best thing on TV.
All I can say is, there is good in this world, and that it makes me very happy that he's successful.
There's a lot of crap out there now, but groups like Schad are working to honor the guys before you, like Colbert.
I forgot that they called Leah out like that! She was so embarrassed, but it was very funny. Yeah, they were all so nice and encouraging, but just think, that was 13 years ago and he became an overnight success this year, ditto with Carrell. I guess they're right when they say it just takes time and persistence.
Hey Adam - Guess who? Yeah, it's me, Mitch Rouse. That's who the fuck it is. Someone e-mailed this blog. What are you doing in the world of comedy? Don't tell me you're out of it, because I will track you down and we'll finish what we mock started back in Chicago at the last act bar across the street from second city. I can't tell if you liked "Employee of the month" it seems like you liked the first hour. That's an hour more than most. I do enjoy the dark comedy. It's nice tto see that you picked up on so many of the "hidden" inside stuff like North and Wells, Del, etc. There were also alot of second city people in the film, David Pasquesi, Mike Coleman, Paul Dooley, Renee Albert the list goes on. I won't keep you any longer - I hope all is well in your world and stay tuned - I got a few more things to come. MITCH
Holy fuck! How awesome that you found this! Mitch, don't get down on the first hour joke, just trying to get some laughs at the expense of your hard work. I showed it to a lot of my friends and it goes over very well, particularly the "man on fire!" joke and the "are you on crack?...no...why do I sound..." joke. Big laughs, and so clearly your sense of humor. Way to go with the Bob Yari hookup, that's the indie world version of dating J-Lo, and I believe I've read that you're working with him again. I am definitely still in the comedy scene here in Chicago with my group Schadenfreude who's site this blog is hosted on, making short films, teaching at Second City, drinking at the Old Town Ale house, you know the gig. From Rudy to Exit-57 to Employee it's been great following you. Oh and Paul Dooley should be in EVERY movie.
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