An older, black Audi pulled up outside the old factory building, just after four pm. For Joe McKay it was another day at the office. When he wasn't performing on stage, he was on publicity tours. Such was life for a half-decent stand-up comedian. He had flown in yesterday and was booked for a couple of shows in the weekend. Thursday was supposed to be a day off to relax, but his agent insisted that he did this thing. Said it would be a great way to get some younger fans. Halfway into the whisky bottle, he had given in to her insistance. That was last night.
Joe stepped out of the rental, and his well-selected boots made a creaking sound in the fresh snow. He could tell by the lack of other tire tracks that he was the only guest. The sun had already set, and the area was quiet. It was definitely a trend, and he wasn't sure if he liked it: Old brick buildings being turned into alternative theaters for young, aspiring comedians and actors. This one in particular was supposedly one of the trendiest, an improv stage that attracted the young demographic nearby. He'd never been there, of course, but his agent had only good things to say about it.
Warm light emerged from the windows of just one of the buildings, so he figured that was his destination. He sighed as he walked through the deep snow. What a stupid way to spend the afternoon. He would rather have been at the hotel, drinking a nice scotch by the fireplace while browsing Tinder.
"Come on in. Third door to the left," a female voice said in the intercom. He soon found the studio and entered the door.
"Hiiii!" a young woman said, and got up from her chair. "I'm Kylie. Welcome to our little den! We've been so excited about having you over," she said with a big smile.
"Thanks. A pleasure to be here," he said and took her hand. It felt soft and warm in his larger, colder palm. She was a petite, young brunette, about 5'5 with a slim build. Very cute. Her face reflected her slender build; oval, with high cheekbones. Her straight, dark hair fell down to her shoulder blades, and contrasted her pale face. Did she have some French in her?
She looked into his eyes and he realized he had held her hand too long. "Uh, it's freezing out there," he said, and let it slide.
"Thank god for central heating," Kylie said, and led him over to his designated studio chair. The other girl, Emily, nodded to him, but kept her headphones on.
"She's preparing the show," Kylie explained, "Checking the sound bites and jingles."
"Ah," said Joe, and tried not to stare. Apart from the height, the two girls were quite different. Emily was blonde, and significantly curvier than her colleague. Especially up top. He guessed she was a few years older than Kylie, but both of them had to be at least 20 years younger than him. He was pleasantly surprised.
Kylie and Joe small-talked for a while. Soon, Emily removed her headphones and told them everything was ready.
Kylie explained the concept of their podcast, which had a surprising amount of subscribers. Each week, the hosts interviewed a new guest about their life. At any time, one of the girls would ring a bell, and then the other host and the guest had to improvise the most recently discussed situation. Often with some sort of absurd improv rule applied. Joe admitted he had never heard the podcast, but he liked the idea, and a few minutes later they got started. To his surprise, the conversation and skits flowed easily. The girls were surprisingly funny and quick to catch up to his antics. Maybe there was hope for the next generation of comedians after all, he thought.
Two hours later, they were done.
"Hah, that was more fun that I had expected," Joe admitted, and took his headphones off.
"Yeah, you were great," Emily said, before she turned to the controls to shut everything down. "The perfect guest to wrap up the season with!"
"Thanks, but you made it easy. You're both very talented," he replied. He put his jacket on, looking forward to a quiet celebration at the hotel. These young women had stirred up some dirty thoughts in his mind.
"No, you should stay and celebrate with us! We have champagne in the fridge!" Kylie said and put her hand on his arm.
"I don't know... I really should get going..." Joe started, but was quickly shut down.
"No, no, we need to trick you into sharing all your secrets from the biz with us!" the brunette argued.
Joe had never been good at saying no to a party, and especially not when young women were involved.
"OK, a glass of champagne couldn't hurt," he agreed.
-
The fridge turned out to be located a five minute walk away. It was a modern and elegant one bedroom apartment that the two of them apparently shared.
"So, what's it really like to be on tour?" the blonde asked him, holding her third empty glass in her left hand while she put her right on his shoulder. She was wearing a short dress which rode up, showing off her pantyhosed, crossed legs.
"I bet it must be so much fun!" the brunette said to his right.
He was sandwiched between them on the couch in their apartment, one aspiring female comedian on either side of him. "Just play cool and mysterious," he thought to himself, a strategy he had perfected over the years.
"Sure, it can be fun. You meet a lot of interesting people." he said, not mentioning the numbing hours on the road, the hopeless local managers, or the endless lack of sleep.
"Mhmm... I bet you party a lot!" Emily said, and the girls giggled.
"It happens." He smiled calmly.
The brunette, Kylie put her hand on his leg, stroking it slowly. "We've heard some stories," she continued, "about your parties".
"Oh, is that so?" Joe was slowly catching on. "Yeah, I guess it's true that I did have some crazy nights in my younger years," he added, looking into Emily's warm eyes.
The busty blonde crawled a bit closer to him. "Hey, you're not that old," she said. "What, like 35-36?"
