You Don't Have
To Go Downtown to

show. Melinn now lives downtown to
be closer to the place where she spends
most of her time.
"Whether its the 'Jihad' word or
possibly some innocuous item in the
show, there'll always be someone who's
offended," Melinn said. "I guess when
you perform so much satire, you're
bound to be offensive. But we try our
best to make each performance pure
entertainment. That's the main thing."
Melinn received the full impact of
an offended patron when she played
the bride with a bad wig in a produc-
tion of the popular Tony 'N Tina's
Wedding that played in Pontiac for six
months. The role called for her to
pounce on her future father-in-law
and pummel him, but a slightly intox-
icated woman in the audience appar-
ently didn't want Mellin to beat up on
the character, so she ran on stage and
punched the comedian.
"That really surprised me, but it
didn't hurt me," Mellin said. "They
ejected the woman from the wedding.
But it shows that anything can happen
when you're performing and satirizing
real-life situations."

In The Business

Melinn got an early start on her show
business career, taking acting and
voice lessons at the age of 5, appear-
ing in school plays, at Cranbrook
summer theater and at a summer
playhouse in New Hampshire. She
appeared in The Sound of Music as
one of the von Trapp family children
and in Neil Simon's Laughter on the
23rd Floor, both at the old
Farmington Barn Theater. After grad-
uating from West Bloomfield High
School, she attended Syracuse
University, where she earned a bache-
lor of fine arts degree.
"She was a terrific actress and
singer right from the beginning," said
Melinn's mother, Carol Rubin of
West Bloomfield, who is a certified
public accountant in Farmington
Hills. (The comedian's father ; Ed
Melinn, lives out of state.) "When
she was a child, I could see that show
business would be her career, and I'm
fully supportive of it."
The revue's program booklet notes
that in a "serious" vote by Second
City cast members, "Lisa's mom" was
voted "hands down the best.
Said Melinn: "You get only one
shot in life, so you have to determine
what makes you happy — get
pumped up and go for it."
Melinn tried "going for it" in New
York, knocking around the city for

"

six months, auditioning for different
acting and musical roles. "But I real-
ized I wasn't ready for New York and
all of the nuances of the business. I
just didn't know that much about it."
She moved back home in 1997 and
took a breather from the business
altogether. "I really missed it," she
said. So she got involved in some
community theater, then auditioned
for the Second City and made it into
the troupe's touring company, fol-
lowed by her spot on the main stage.
In a few of the Jihad skits, Melinn
looks and sounds a bit like Gilda
Radner, the late Jewish comedian
who starred on TV's Saturday Night
Live. "I loved Gilda and I really enjoy
it when people tell me I remind them
of her," Melinn said. "My ultimate
goal is to get on Saturday Night Live.
I hope Second City will be a stepping
stone to many possibilities."
After each performance, Melinn
and the rest of the cast return to the
stage for some improvisational come-
dy. Every once in a while, she gets to
perform her original, one-woman
show titled MELINNoma.
On Tuesdays only, through May 28,
she's part of an eight-person cast in a
show called Chickalicious, directed by
laugh-ladies Nancy Hayden of Royal
Oak and Shatha Hicks of Detroit.
Hayden is the director of jihad (the
first female-directed collaboration of
the Second City mainstage) and Rob
Chambers is the producer. Melinn
praises both of them for helping her
achieve her Second City stardom.
Melinn also is an instructor in the
year-round Second City Training
Center, which covers improvisation
and comedy writing, and co-director
of the Second City Improv Day
Camp for Kids, offering two-week
sessions four times each summer.
It looks like_ Melinn has found her-
self a home — at home.

❑

The comedy revue jihad It Up To
Here is performed 8 p.m.
Thursdays-Sundays, with addition-
al shows 10:30 p.m. Fridays and
Saturdays, at the Second City
Theatre, located inside the
Hockeytown Cafe, Woodward at
Montcalm, Detroit. Tickets are $15
Thursdays and Sundays/$20
Fridays and Saturdays. Chickalicious
is performed 8 p.m. Tuesdays,
through May 28; tickets are $10.
For tickets, call the box office,
(313) 965-2222, or Ticketmaster,
(248) 645-6666.

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