‘Ginger’: An Uneven Debut at Lost Studio

ED is the name of a young comedy troupe that hails from Chicago, the town that practically invented comic improvisation with such groups as The Second City and The Compass.

The producers have labeled ED’s approach “radical” because, unlike many improv groups that ad-lib from rehearsed routines, this cast totally improvises every performance. But “Ginger,” the scattershot late-night show at Lost Studio that marks the group’s West Coast debut, will probably leave most viewers longing for the status quo.

While ED’s tag-team sketches occasionally lead to amusing gaffes and Freudian slips, the eight ensemble members struggle mightily to make free association funny. The evening is probably more successful as an experiment in group psychology than as a viable entertainment.

On review night, the cast blundered through woozy bits involving the Department of Motor Vehicles, two fishing buddies and a family of “Deliverance”-style rednecks. Running jokes about cod liver oil and manatees were abundant.

Fate played a supporting role. The clink of a coin accidentally dropped in the wings inspired cast member Joey Slotnick to kneel down and pretend to pick it up. And when a freshwater angler spoke of the crappie and halibut he hoped to catch, his mate smirkingly observed, “Crappie and halibut? This is kind of a magic fishing hole, isn’t it?”

Directors Jim Dennen and Chris Reed will have their hands full trying to even out the quality of something so inherently erratic. But the enthusiastic SRO crowds for “Ginger” suggest that its appeal may depend on the gifted cast: Slotnick, Jen Banbury, Melanie Hoopes, Lisa Houle, Carlos Jacott, John Lehr, Jason Kassin and Lauren Katz.

* “Ginger,” Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. Fridays-Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. Ends March 11. $10. (213) 651-2203. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.