PERFORMANCE ART REVIEW : Alien Comic Tom Murrin Is Caught Speeding at Highways

M anic seems a tame word to describe the Alien Comic, a.k.a. New York performance artist Tom Murrin. He wears a seemingly endless series of ridiculous disguises made of trash and cast-offs, gives new meaning to the throw-away line, and jiggles and prances nearly as fast as his breathless patter.

Seen Thursday night in “Urban Witch Doctor” at Highways in Santa Monica, Murrin managed to work his way through topical themes from rampant consumerism to Jesse Helms’ anti-pornography art crusade while serving up an incredibly inventive, shamelessly corny feast of visual aids.

Who else would think of pantomiming throwing up with a cascading deck of cards under his chin, demonstrating a burgeoning ego with an expandable paper lamp or imitating the roar of the waves by rotating his arms while wearing painted images of propellers? Such images literally fly through this piece, since Murrin uses each prop plucked from a messy pile on stage for only a few moments before tossing it away and seizing the next.

It’s easy to buy the non-sequitur transitions from one situation to the next because the unpredictable tone of casual street encounters with weirdos is established from the beginning. But the piece is far from shapeless.

Set up by a jokey prelude about the mythical tradition of a hero figure journeying through life, the action moves through contemporary versions of hell created by drugs, greed, political expediency and ecological neglect, concluding with a “dance of personal and social responsibility.” After fighting off a final challenge--a huge snarl of plastic wrappings--Murrin jigs happily in his endearingly awkward way as he hefts a big golden globe.

If a few details seem a trifle overworked (like plays on the names of detergent brand names), the joy of the piece lies in its combination of outrageous humor, whirlwind pacing and unpreachy global outlook.

(Repeat performances Thursday and Friday.)