Improv artist learns you don't need to be the greatest dad to be a good one

When someone says laughter is the best medicine, that also applies to the one delivering the punch line.

Improv guru Jimmy Carrane is a perfect example.

Like most people he's experienced his share of pain and joy. The difference is he gets up on stage to talk about it.

Carrane will present his one-man performance, "World's Greatest Dad(?)," in three shows June 16-17 at The Laughing Academy in Glenview.

With a tagline of "One man's story about losing a dad and becoming a dad," it's earned praise from the Chicago Reader and had people laughing at Second City's Training Center, the Elgin Fringe Festival and the Solo Sunday series in Chicago.

Carrane is an actor, author, podcast host, radio personality and, primarily, for more than 30 years an improv performer and teacher.

Raised in Kenilworth, the 1982 New Trier graduate now lives in Evanston with his wife of 11 years, Lauren, and 6-year-old daughter, Betsy.

"World's Greatest Dad(?)" details the complications of mourning the 2016 loss of his workaholic, once-imprisoned father to pulmonary fibrosis months before Carrane celebrated Betsy's birth at the age of 52.

"I got the whole parenting thing wrong. I thought the parent should give the kid unconditional love. With Betsy, she gives me unconditional love," Carrane said. "I feel fulfilled. I feel I have a purpose. Being a father, that surprises me."

For years Carrane felt his purpose was to become famous as a comic. As a kid, he was committed to comedy.

He was not like his four siblings - two athletic brothers, two popular, smart sisters. While now trim, Carrane said at New Trier he weighed about 300 pounds, which was tough in high school.

At home, he used humor to get attention. In school, it was to get by.

"The only thing I had was to be funny," he said. "It was really a survival technique."

Carrane studied at Columbia College, taking classes from instructors such as the late sports broadcasting icon, Les Grobstein.

His path, however, was improvisational comedy.

Starting in his late teens in what he called "the golden age of improv" in Chicago, Carrane drilled with legendary troupes like Second City, ImprovOlympic and The Annoyance Theatre.

Carrane studied under Del Close, took classes with Chris Farley, and worked out scenes with Mike Myers. Amy Poehler, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, David Koechner and Tina Fey were all in his galaxy.

He finally felt truly rewarded for his humor, he said, and in 1991 had a hit at The Annoyance with his one-man show, "I'm 27, I Still Live at Home, and I Sell Office Supplies."

The goal was to reach "Saturday Night Live" or similar bright lights. But that didn't happen.

He became bitter, jealous, resentful.

"I was obsessed with fame," he said. "I was so focused that I've got to make it that I didn't spend time nurturing relationships."

Teaching improv, with the benefit of maturity, he sees things differently now.

"These students, they're just doing it for the joy of it," Carrane said. "It's a lot more fun to teach it because there's no expectation, they're not putting any pressure on themselves. If you want to be good at comedy - and I'm saying this because I needed to learn this - you want to be relaxed and have fun."

It took years for Carrane to embrace this knowledge.

He met his wife, Lauren, at a New Year's Eve party. Still, continued depression led Carrane to therapy.

The diagnosis?

"If you want to have more joy out of life, have a kid," Carrane said.

It took months even after Betsy's birth on July 2, 2016, for him to snap the doldrums. Betsy finally convinced him.

"She filled that hole that I had that fame could never do," Carrane said.

Then there's Carrane's father, Robert, who was rarely home from work yet supportive of Carrane's comedy career, and able to watch his son perform before he died.

What was troubling was the embezzlement conviction that landed Robert Carrane in prison in the early 1990s. That brought some shame to the family.

Emotions ran high even after Robert died on March 18, 2016. Fearing he'd bring up the past, family members didn't want Carrane to speak at the funeral. But he did.

Police were called to the church to calm things down.

For a comedian, of course, this was gold. Carrane will bring such trials and triumphs to The Laughing Academy for Father's Day weekend.

"It was the greatest feeling to make my dad laugh," Carrane said. "Even in my 50s I never outgrew that. And today, it's the same feeling I get when I make my daughter laugh."

"World's Greatest Dad(?)"

Location: The Laughing Academy, 3220 Glenview Road, Glenview, (847) 724-2787, thelaughingacademy.com.

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 16; 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, June 17.

Tickets: $25.