Making Friends with Mike Fountain

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Photo via mikefountaincomedy.com

Mike Fountain

Mike Fountain

Consider Mike Fountain your friend. He practically encourages it. 

“I think it’s important to remember that we are all people first,” the Chicago-based comedian affirms. “You can always come talk to me after a show or send me a message. So, when I first started.” Fountain says of his website," “I put Comedian, Actor, Improviser, Friend because I also aspire to be a good friend.” 

Fountain brings his friendly brand of funny, rife with autobiographical and observational elements that can skirt the edge of tragedy, to the Grapevine Theatre in the wine retailer and bar The Bottle Shop (617 W. Main St., Lake Geneva) with 5 and 7 p.m. bills on Saturday April 15. It will be but his latest stop to fulfill his calling to bring mirth that began early in his performing career. 

Harkening back to his role as Nick Bottom in a seventh grade production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream,. Fountain recollects, “A couple came up to me who I didn’t know. They told me that they enjoyed my performance so much that they came back a second night with their neighbors. And as corny as this will sound. in that moment, I had the thought that while someone is watching me and being entertained, they aren’t worries about ‘The bills are due,’ ‘Mom is sick,’ ‘work is stressing me out; they are just watching and enjoying, and I thought was really cool to be able to do that for people.” 

Fountain looks back to see how some of the skills he has honed as a professional comedian were whetted to contend with the life he led as a child. “I think that we all develop our skills at different times for different reasons,” he says. “I think a lot of being silly and goofing around came from wanting to break people of their sadness or worries.” His father is a comedy lover who introduced his son to a gamut of greats ranging from respectable Red Skelton to raunchy Redd Foxx. Alas, his frequent marijuana indulgence made him a neglectful parent. 

Vignettes about Fountain's stoner dad make for some of the simultaneously most hilarious and saddest bits of his material that can be heard online. Gladly. their relationship has healed enough for the parent to be able to laugh at his son’s reminiscences.

“My Dad is the most supportive guy when it comes to my comedy and performing, “Fountain confirms, adding, “We are very close. He loves the stories/ He lived the stories with me. A lot of the time they come from things we already talk about openly and therefore he doesn’t mind at all.” And though Fountain doesn’t toke, he’s supportive enough of others’ desire to do so to say, “I do believe it is wonderful that people can freely purchase and use marijuana.” A more recent uproarious moment came when Fountain accompanied his pop to obtain weed legally. 

“When my dad and I walked into a dispensary,” the burly comic recalls, “he smiled and announced. ‘I’ve been in the closet for 37 years.’ Directly after I had to explain to him that’s not exactly what that means.” As for jokes about Fountain’s mom? They’re forthcoming, and it’s understandable as to why. 

“She passed away when I was about nine years old, which is also a main reason that my Dad and I are so close,” Fountain confides. It’s not as if he’s reluctant about processing his loss by generating chuckles, though. “I am very comfortable talking and joking about death and the like. I haven't exactly figured out how to roll it into my act just yet.”

Whether recalling his youth or more his more recent romantic travails, Fountain’s mission remains the same. “I’m here for fun and joy and to make people laugh.” And … make friends. 

Here Fountain regales a Chicago Improv audience a few years ago with plenty of bits that roll at a pretty quick clip...