We’ve all been there.

Celebrating at a parade, jumping up and down as we cheer on the passersby and then all of a sudden, our underwear decides to take a trek down south. Instantly, our modesty is revealed for the entire world to see.

OK, well maybe not all, but most of us? A few? Any?

Louise may be hopeful for a little trauma bonding because her bloomers chose to create an international incident at the royal parade she and her husband were attending. Immediately, her 15 minutes of fame are activated, a slew of Düsseldorf gawkers putting those bloomers on their radar. To make matters even more awkward, the room she has for rent immediately becomes the hottest piece of real estate in town.

San Jose Stage’s “The Underpants,” with impeccable farcical-styled timing led by director Kimberly Mohne Hill, is all kinds of funny and presently relevant. The script, adapted by Steve Martin from the 1911 German play “Die Hose” by Carl Sternheim, does plenty of great things despite its relatively light plotting and jokes that don’t always possess much variance.

The woman who is dealing with the literal fallout from the incident is Louise Maske (Lyndsy Kail), insisting that hey, no big whoop. Yet her mysogynistically-driven husband Theo (Will Springhorn, Jr.) is convinced that this will ruin his run as a very mid-level civil servant.

But what this incident has not ruined is Louise’s desirability, despite her marital status. Among those who are aware of this is the poet Frank Versati (Nick Mandracchia), who sees Louise more as a muse for his poetry than someone to snag in the sheets. Then there’s the pipsqueakish Benjamin Cohen (Keith Pinto), a timid fellow who just likes the idea of Louise.

One who isn’t shutting down this idea of a torrid affair for Louise is neighbor Gertrude Deuter, a woman whose arousal around these men who float and flit around her is palpable. Later still, the senior citizen scientist Klinglehoff (Garland Thompson Jr.) has his own eyes on the room that’s now shared by Versati and Cohen, a space that may be opening up soon. Turns out that Versati is ready to prove his manhood by taking care of a prostitute elsewhere, ensuring a stirring amount of poetry to be crafted in his imminent future.

Mohne Hill ensures that her cast is able to do what they have often done in past Stage productions on the quaint three-sided stage. Pinto, who played Theo along with Kail as Louise at Center Rep back in 2012, possesses masterful dexterity challenged only by the limberness of his hair inside a largely sympathetic portrayal. There is a ripe contrast between the smarm of Springhorn Jr.’s Theo and the squeak of Pinto’s Cohen.

The conviction of Theo is hilarious regardless of what he states. Whether exploring the inanity of why a man should be allowed to cheat, or declaring how he will engage in sexual activity by booming, “I will take off my pants!,” Springhorn, Jr. offers plenty for others to work with.

Kail’s Louise presents a more honest style, a more reactionary and straightforward approach to the zaniness that envelops. There is also some melancholia into becoming the early-20th century version of being caught in an undesired viral moment.

Other support characters bring forth veteran presence on top of a highly functional scenic design by Heather Kenyon that leaves lots of open space for the cast to bound in and out of doors that fly open on a dime. Miller is delightful as the seasoned Gertrude, a matriarch who is quick to offer advice that might not be great, but is certainly jubilant. And a truthful portrayal by Thompson Jr. brings forth the tidiness of the denouement inside the very efficient, tight, and uninterrupted 90-minute runtime.

Inside the sight gags and storyline that is big and broad, with performances that are even bigger and broader, “The Underpants” provides lots of laughs that are borne of humor and heart. The storyline may be plenty of funny, but the nature of modern society’s obsession with trivial matters and how it can affect humans in perverse ways has a say here as well.

And, if you are going to a parade, tighten up them undies.

David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (’22-23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social.