COMEDY REVIEW : Crazies Troupe Along Well-Worn Paths : Overworked material keeps this promising ensemble from the cutting edge. But when the cast finds new slants, such as burglars who enjoy redesigning homes, it can excel.

It’s telling that two of the best skits in the latest Orange County Crazies show, “Orange on a Hot Tin Roof,” revolve around the feminine furies of premenstrual syndrome and the kookiness of Elvis impersonators.

The routines, directed by Cherie Kerr and performed by a cast that is talented and confident, were funny, all right. Troupe member LizAnne was an eye-popping vision of psychotic bitchiness, and Jonathan Landworth amusingly evoked an Elvis clone teaching other clones at a Presley boot camp.

Considering how overworked both premises are, the good humor in the bits was a little surprising. Making fun of Elvis impersonators has been an anticlimax since Andy Kaufman had the final word years ago. And PMS goofing (you know, when a female comic gets really angry and shouts a lot) has become old too.

This derivative streak is the Crazies’ weakness; it keeps this promising troupe from reaching the cutting edge of, say, the Groundlings (Kerr, who founded the Crazies, was once a Groundlings member). When they find originality, the Crazies excel; when they don’t, it can be a labor for the audience.

“Orange on a Hot Tin Roof” is about a 60-40 split, with more laughs than not. Besides Presley and PMS, the Crazies found new slants in a handful of offerings, especially “Women of Woodbridge,” “A Night Out With Mishi and Betty” and “War Stories.”

“Women of Woodbridge” scored because of its off-the-wall strangeness. A group of women, who seem like the offspring of the Coneheads and Stepford Wives, gather to gossip and drink coffee. What amounts to a riot of clumsiness and bizarre behavior ensues.

Laguna Beach gays with a passion for interior design take some hits in “A Night Out With Mishi and Betty.” Mishi and Betty, played by Michael Lipoma and Bob Harker, enjoy burglarizing homes and redesigning them on their way out. This is stereotyping at its most obvious, but it’s also funny. Nasty comments fly back and forth, such as, “Don’t touch the sofa, it might be vinyl.”

Media coverage of the Gulf War gets lampooned in “War Stories” as the Crazies create a mock-up of CNN’s broadcast studio, complete with on-the-spot correspondent Woof (“no, it’s not ‘Wolf,’ it’s ‘Woof’ ”) Blitzen. Besides Woof, we get to hear a report from “Christine,” identified by the anchor as one of those Barbie doll reporters “who has no pores.”

On the downside, the revue’s opening title routine featuring a spate of bad Tennessee Williams puns and a Gulf War press briefing fails to click.

“Dr. Biscuit,” a takeoff on radio psychiatrists, also falls flat, as do all the near-pointless blackouts concerning life at a shopping mall.

The Orange County Crazies’ “Orange on a Hot Tin Roof” will be performed Saturdays at 8 p.m. through May 11 at the Santa Ana City Hall Annex Auditorium, 23 Civic Center Circle, Santa Ana. Tickets: $12.50 and $15. Information: (714) 840-1406.