O.C. STAGE REVIEW : ‘Orange Trek’ Beams Up New Laughs : The Crazies explore strange new avenues and seek out new material while never forgetting their mission. Technical glitches create a little turbulence.

To contort a phrase, you live by a medium, you die by a medium. Although video isn’t absolutely central to the kind of shows put together by the Orange County Crazies comedy ensemble, it’s a key aspect of the act. Besides, like most sketch and improv groups, the Crazies refer to television almost obsessively.

Consider, for instance, the title of the troupe’s new act: “Orange Trek: The Lost Generation.” Although it may not boldly go where no comedy show has gone before, it is full of the kind of spicy moments--moments that flirt with tastelessness yet seldom fall into its embrace--that this group is increasingly able to deliver.

Consider, too, one of the show’s moments a few weeks ago when the on-stage video monitor malfunctioned. The video image of player Vern Burton satirically mangling the pop image of Billy Ray Cyrus into a homeless guy named Willy May Hyrus was crystal clear. We just couldn’t hear him singing “Achy Breaky Cart” because the audio was on the blink.

The company had to pull off some quick program switches to ensure that the whole show didn’t collapse while the TV repair man fixed the problem. This was the real high-pressure improv of the evening, and the Crazies almost managed to make it look easy.

The glitch shed some light on two realities. First, that a TV-driven show with TV in it is going to eventually get in the way of the live, non-video aspects of the show. If actors have to go into stress hell, it should be because the material is demanding or the improv idea is a real stretch--not because the audio channel isn’t working.

Second, that if the show has enough players trained in improv’s seat-of-the-pants techniques, the show, and the audience, has a good chance of getting through the technical swamp.

That both happened the other night is part and parcel of what makes up the Crazies, who nevertheless do some very old-fashioned things in this act. One is a send-up of “Casablanca” called “Mogadishu,” with the sharp wit Sam Piazza as Rick and a sudden appearance by an, er, expanding Sally Struthers (a funny Patty DeBaun).

Another is the evening’s most inspired bit, a fashion show highlighting couture unique to individual Orange County communities: Down the stage ramp comes everything from the Buena Park berry suit to the Stanton Look (“Nothing works and nobody cares”) to the literally square styles of Fountain Valley.

The fashion show skit, written by Nick Coletto and director Cherie Kerr, also shows how this comedy company, unlike most, has a subject--Orange County itself--that can be played with at will, and in unlimited combinations. The evening’s running bit has Capt. Quirk (a dead-on Russell Towne) and crew of the Free Enterprise exploring the locals and running head-on into freeway culture.

What appears to some eyes to be a formless string of suburbs is a rich comedy source for these performers; they’ve latched onto this place the way the Connection used to latch onto Los Angeles.

The Crazies still have to work on (non-video) mechanics such as ensuring sharp blackouts at the end of scenes so the actors needn’t look silly freezing until the folks in the light booth get their act together. And there’s that TV problem. But they’ve already solved the biggest problem that most groups never deal with--what they’re about.

‘Orange Trek: The Lost Generation’

An Orange County Crazies production. Directed by Cherie Kerr. With Jim Andritch, Vernon P. Burton, Nick Coletto, Patty DeBaun, Drake Doremus, Frances Fitzgerald, Rich Flin, Mary Guibert, Eric Halasz, Tami Lesser, Robert Morris, Sam Piazza, Russell Towne. Keyboards and Musical Director: Allon Sams. At the Pacific Symphony Center, 115 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana. Through April 17. Performances Saturdays at 8 p.m. (dark March 20). $12 to $15. (714) 550-9900. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.