Alive!! : Valleyites Have a Place They Can Make Fun of Themselves

Sondra Lowell stepped to the microphone and tap-danced her way through a recitation of Act V, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

“I realize you’re not accustomed to seeing culture in the Valley,” Lowell said as she breathlessly finished her act for “Alive!! In the Valley” at Encino’s L.A. Cabaret. “I studied at the Edwina Crawford Memorial Academy of Shakespearean Tap-Dancing. In Downey.”

“It was so nice of you to come over the hill,” said the show’s co-host, Steve North, as Lowell tap-danced off stage. Then North, a la Johnny Carson, introduced a series of guests, ranging from a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, who answered questions from the audience about construction on the Ventura Freeway, to several comedians who took friendly pokes at the Valley.

By and For Valleyites

The monthly revue is loosely based on a talk-show format, with quasi-famous, obscure and weird guests from the San Fernando Valley. Each show is different, with different guests. It is entertainment by Valley residents for Valley residents, with Valley residents in mind.

During the evening, Steve and Barb North, the 30ish married comedy duo from Tarzana who launched “Alive!! In the Valley,” offered several rationales for their show. The premises ranged from “We’re trying to define the Valley,” to “We’ll make our own damn jokes about the Valley, thank you.”

“The Valley has a different personality than over the hill,” Steve North said. “There’s Moon Zappa and Valley Girl, but there’s more to it than just that. And there are certainly enough jokes being made about the Valley by people who don’t live here. Why can’t we make our own?”

Case of Stage Fright

The highlight of last Thursday night’s show promised to be K. C. Staples, a Valley man who said he could stuff his head into a mailbox. But Staples contracted stage fright and fled the club minutes before curtain time.

However, there was other parochial humor on hand. The Norths opened the show by separating the audience by area code. They discussed the Valley’s latest philanthropy, “Hands Across the 101”--an effort to feed stranded Ventura Freeway motorists--and assured the crowd: “This is the only place where your Gemco card is still good.”

Later, Louise DuArt--a Calabasas resident and a regular performer at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles--came out to do her routine.

“She’s from the Valley!” North cried out in his introduction. “She’s an 818 girl!”

DuArt started with non-geographical impersonations and jokes, but soon zeroed in on the local material.

Garage Sale Expert

“It’s a Valley crowd tonight,” she said. “You folks like garage sales.”

At which point DuArt displayed her prized garage sale purchase, a Cher wig. Afterward, she reveled in the experience of being a Valley performer, performing for Valley people.

“It’s like a cult,” DuArt said. “They’re all inside jokes. We’re all family.”

There was Valley trivia. Barb North asked the question: Which Valley restaurant has changed names four times in the last five years? Answer: Sambo’s-Season’s-Godfather’s Pizza-Baker’s Square in Tarzana.

There were questions to which the answers were “zero.”

How many corners on Ventura Boulevard did not get a new mini-shopping center last week?

How many people over the age of 60 who get prescriptions filled at Longs Drugs in Van Nuys are not named Bert and Esther?

How many black-tie affairs were held in the Valley in 1986?

This routine brought both laughs and hisses from the decidedly hometown crowd.

Hovering Blimp

And there was “Vanna Nuys,” a six-foot-long, remote control helium blimp that flew over the heads of the audience, getting caught in air-conditioning ducts and once coming perilously close to going down in flames from the heat of a spotlight.

Not everything about the show had to do with the Valley. Lowell, the tap-dancing newscaster on KABC-AM’s (790) Ken & Bob Company, was definitely over the hill. Los Angeles comedian Roger Reitzel kidded about obesity and pregnancy. Tom Hatten, who is host of KTLA-TV’s “Family Film Festival,” told a dirty joke and drew a picture of Popeye. Steve Morris, a disc jockey for KRTH-FM (101.1), did an impression of David Bowie singing the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island.”

But the spirit of the night was decidedly north of Mulholland.

“Why not?” asked Angie Secrest of Van Nuys after she’d seen the show. “It’s exclusive to the Valley. Just for us, for a change.”

But what about wisecracks at the Valley’s expense?

“It didn’t bother me,” said Harvey Klein of Woodland Hills, another member of the audience.

May Be Regular Feature

Last Thursday night was only the second time the Norths had put “Alive!! In the Valley” on stage. The crowds have been good, so L.A. Cabaret has booked the show for next month and is thinking of making it a regular feature.

“It used to be that, if someone in the Valley wanted comedy, they had to travel over the hill for it,” said Karyn Blum, a general assistant at the club. “ ‘Alive!! In the Valley’ wants to keep people in the Valley. We’re getting tremendous response, and we think it’s great.”

The Norths are hoping the idea catches on. They’d like to see their comedy show become a local television show.

“The show seems to be growing on its own,” Steve North said. “And we’re letting it go.”

On the other hand, “Alive!! In the Valley” may not be cut out for Hollywood. As North himself put it, “We live in the Valley because we’re just too tired to be hip.”