COMEDY REVIEW : Crazies’ Sting Lacks Venom, Shows Promise

The fledgling Orange County Crazies are in the midst of their second show, “Behind the Orange Curtain.” Their inaugural effort, “This is Orange County,” was flawed--another Times reviewer thought the writing could have been fresher, among other things--and this latest effort also has problems.

The inspiration for the Crazies is clearly the Groundlings of Los Angeles. The Crazies’ founder, Cherie Kerr, is a former groundling, and the Orange County troupe’s comedy follows the same lines--short, irreverent skits with a smattering of improvisation.

The Crazies have something else in common with their role model: They, too, were slapped with bad notices early on. Of course, the Groundlings now tend to please more than displease with their antics and have become something of a Los Angeles cultural landmark.

So there’s hope for the Crazies, especially when considering how fertile this county is for satire. Reactionary politicians, a brew of conflicting lifestyles marinating under a mind-bleaching sun, greedy land development and blatant materialism, silly surfers, pistol-waving motorists.

A bounty. That’s really why the Crazies have been disappointing. Expectations run high; just read the local newspapers and you’re cracking your own jokes about this peculiar region. Go to a show that puts Orange County in the spotlight and you’re anticipating a stinging combination of jabs, hooks and knockout uppercuts, maybe a few below the belt.

The Crazies did get in several punches at a recent performance of “Behind the Orange Curtain,” but they were light, almost feints, that rarely finished the audience off by finishing off their targets.

Take, for instance, their routine on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, renamed the “Dupervisors.” A few of the characterizations by the performers (Martina Algin, Jim Bogner, Jon Cianci, Matt Liffreing, Lenny Fox, LizAnne--yep, she goes only by her first name--and Ron McCaw) were on, especially the mean working over of Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, but the premise wasn’t plumbed to its potential.

The skit didn’t evolve from mere smiles to major laughs. It needed more venom, and an expansion of ideas building off ideas.

Ironically, the Crazies were stronger when they didn’t restrict themselves to the county or feel compelled to tie generic notions to the region by tossing in a local town like, say, Newport (dubbed “New Porsche”) Beach. Forcing the connection was especially apparent in “Dinah,” a decent spoof of celebrity talk shows that suffered by the gratuitous inclusion of John Wayne as a corpse.

However, “The Big Three,” a riff dealing with the pressures felt by three career women and featuring Dee Dee Hanson, Lori Sidwell, Algin and Bogner, had both humor and relevance. One of their last routines, “Dinner at the New-Agers,” was a little convoluted, but it did show sprouts of imagination.

The Crazies have a way to go if they want to emulate the Groundlings and tap into the area’s gestalt, but the early shakiness has not discouraged founder Kerr. She said the group plans to become a local fixture and is currently developing its next show, which, among other things, will take on comedy critics. Say what?

The Orange County Crazies will next appear Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Orange Coast College’s Fine Arts Room 116, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $10 and $12.50. Information: (714) 840-1406.