Surreal ride for Canuck comic Lauren Ash’s turn on ‘Super Fun Night’

TORONTO – Surreal Hollywood moments are becoming routine for Canuck comic Lauren Ash.

The gregarious brunette rattles of a list of her most recent Tinseltown exploits in the wake of joining Rebel Wilson’s new sitcom “Super Fun Night, while marvelling at the wild ride she’s been enjoying.

On the phone from L.A., where she was about to board a plane for a New York premiere party, Ash recounts being whisked by private jet to Vegas and rubbing shoulders with personal idols Molly Shannon and Conan O’Brien.

“It’s pretty amazing, I’ve got to be honest,” Ash says of her career success.

“Daily at work, I’m just like, ‘Is this real? Is this my job?’ It’s amazing. It’s a pretty big dream come true for me so I’m just over the moon about it.”

Ash goes from relative unknown to U.S. prime time regular with the debut of her offbeat gal-pal comedy Wednesday on ABC and City.

Wilson stars as the awkward Kimmie Boubier, a junior lawyer who’s on her way up at the firm but has yet to break out of her limited social circle. That includes her two besties — the shy Helen-Alice, played by Liza Lapira (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”) and Ash’s character — tennis instructor Marika.

Getting the part was a year-long journey for Ash, whose past credits include “The Ron James Show” and “Lars and the Real Girl.”

She says fellow Canuck actor Paul Campbell, with whom she starred on the shortlived Showcase sitcom “Almost Heroes,” called from L.A. in January 2012 insisting she get her hands on a pilot script making the rounds called “Super Fun Night.”

It featured a quirky best friend who sounded just like a sexually confused character Ash used to do when she worked at Second City.

“I went crazy,” she recalls. “And so I was calling (my) manager and agents and everybody and I’m like, ‘You’ve got to get me into this, you’ve got to get me seen for this.’ And from there it was a pretty arduous process that went on for most of 2012, actually.”

She auditioned with Wilson and immediately clicked with the “Bridesmaids” and “Pitch Perfect” scene-stealer.

Ash knew she had the gig when the final screen test involved having her write an original monologue in the voice of Marika.

“I was so excited because I was like, ‘I get this,’” she says. “I told a story about how this guy wanted to ask her to prom but he surprised her, like he jumped out of the bushes and surprised her, and she just beat the crap out of him to within an inch of his life and she felt terrible about it.

“And initially they had said they weren’t going to make us do it in the screen test, they were just going to do it kind of in the afternoon work session with the producers but then when it actually got to the test they were like, ‘Hey, we don’t normally do this but would you mind doing that monologue?’ And at that moment I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got a pretty good chance at this.’”

She was pleased to discover that “Super Fun Night” involves a fair bit of improv, a skill she honed over a decade-long stretch as part of the Second City mainstages in Toronto and Chicago.

“Rebel really loves improvising so any scene we do, we’ll get the script the way it’s written and then we’ll do just a bunch of fun takes,” she says, adding that Wilson is not afraid to try daring things.

“I loved that she kind of does push the envelope, especially with mainstream American content,” she says. “I think that (for) anybody who has a background in comedy, kind of the darker stuff is the stuff that makes us laugh…. we’re always kind of trying to see how far we can push it.”

So far, early reviews of the pilot haven’t been kind, criticizing a preponderance of fat jokes and sight gags.

ABC has decided to run episode 2 as the premiere instead, and Ash says it’s not that unusual for such rejigging to take place.

“A lot of shows take a while to find their voice and their tone and stuff like that. I feel like out of the gate with episodes 2 and 3, especially, everybody felt, ‘Oh wow, this is really gelling’ and I think we just kind of wanted everyone to see it really fast,” she says.

“I think the pilot was great but I think the main reason for doing that switch is just because everybody is really pumped about these first two episodes— which are actually 2 and 3 — and they just want to get them out there quick.”

Ash says she hopes audiences will connect to these three friends and the intense friendship they share.

“The characters are so endearing and likable and relatable and I think people are going to see a little bit of themselves in these characters,” she says, noting Marika is especially sweet-natured.

“I think it’s really rare to see characters on TV that operate from a real place of positivity all the time.”

Highlights so far have been working with Shannon, who will be an upcoming guest star, having O’Brien as executive producer and tagging along with Wilson as she appeared at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

“She took (co-star) Kate (Jenkinson) and I and we rode on a private plane and then as we were landing the Escalades were driving onto the tarmac,” she gushes.

“And I literally — being the smalltown Ontario girl that I am — I literally could not stop myself from screaming ‘Oh my God, we’re in a movie’!”

Ash, who also appeared on “Scare Tactics” on SyFy for the past two seasons, moved to Toronto from Belleville, Ont., in 2001 to go to theatre school but dropped out after about three-and-a-half months.

The day she quit she headed to Second City to sign up for classes. She was hired by the touring company in less than a year at age 19.

“As a little kid my dream was to be on ‘Saturday Night Live’ for sure, but as you do kind of get older and go through the Second City system and see your friends get hired on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and stuff like that you just kind of realize that that’s actually not the end-all, be-all — there’s other ways and other things you can do,” she says.

“My goal is just to ultimately be able to create good television and film with people that I really like.”

After New York, Ash is headed to Ottawa for the Canadian Comedy Awards. She’s nominated for Canadian comedy person of the year, alongside Colin Mochrie, Gerry Dee, Steve Patterson and Sugar Sammy. The coveted “Beaver” will be handed out Sunday.

Ash says she feels pretty lucky to have scored a dream job in her field.

“As an actor, there’s tons of roles that you’re suited for and that you’re right for and that you can book, for sure, but this is different for me,” she says of “Super Fun Night.”

“There’s very few in a lifetime that come around like this where it’s something that you really can relate to and is so close to something that you’ve created yourself. It’s a pretty amazing special thing.”