Theater Review : The Groundlings: Still Crazy After All These Years

Happy birthday, Groundlings. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this week, the comedy/improv troupe that spawned Laraine Newman, Jon Lovitz and Paul “Pee-wee” Reubens, among many others, showed off its history with a raucous celebration featuring some of its illustrious alums. While Monday--the evening that was devoted to the 1970s--was more of a nostalgia trip than real comedy, it managed to be funny just by osmosis. In fact, several people in the back of the theater were laughing so hard that it sounded as if they needed medical attention.

Tuesday, the ‘80s celebration, was funny by anyone’s standards. In one improv, audience members were asked to supply the occupation of a woman, to whom Phil Hartman would then perform a rock love song. Someone yelled out “dog clipper” (we trust this was not a plant). Amazingly, Hartman came up with a lyric that rhymed “Doberman pinscher” with “10-incher.” That might have taken Stephen Sondheim several hours.

As for the written routines, two were close to brilliant. One featured an automated Abraham Lincoln (Jim Jackman) from the Hall of Presidents speaking about the Constitution. When his technology goes haywire, Jackson goes into a hilarious, sputtering dance that’s choreographed with the exactitude and weird modernism of Robert Wilson, with a touch of Michael Jackson (at one point, President Lincoln grabs his crotch).

The second routine, “Barflies,” starred Melanie Graham, Deanna Oliver and Deryl Carroll as three of the sorriest drunks this side of Charles Bukowski. This skit, too, went far beyond comedy into some exhilarating, heightened reality where stock characters overflowed with unexpected humanity.

Graham was also terrific as a white trash litigant on “People’s Court” and as one of the always dependable waitresses at Dupars, who flies to the rescue of diners at the mercy of trendy Melrose Avenue waiters more concerned with Madonna gossip than service.

William Schreiner directed the ‘80s evening, and Gary Austin, the company’s original artistic director, showed up to commandeer the ‘70s alums. Perhaps in a tribute to that decade, Austin looks as if he has preserved his hairstyle with meticulous accuracy.

While the improv under Austin’s direction never took flight, some of the routines were funny. Phyllis Katz was fascinating as a parakeet trapped in a woman’s body, and Lynne Stewart figured out that a killer imitation of Leslie Caron in “Gigi” comes off even better if it’s delivered by a second-rate, Middle Eastern belly dancer who can barely speak English.

Not one to let a good idea go fallow, the next night Stewart played a Mexican entertainer who did a phenomenal Judy Garland. Most of the abundant show-biz jokes worked, with the exception of Sandy Helberg’s hostile telethon host, Jackie Muldavin. The character’s Jerry Lewis-like combination of self-pity and rage would have been interesting if he hadn’t enlisted audience members and then mercilessly insulted them.

Julia Sweeney performed “Pat,” the one-joke androgyny she made famous on “Saturday Night Live.” She was charming as Mea (Culpa), a character so submissive she apologizes for surprising a robber.

Finally, Cathy Shambley had a lovely moment in “Too Much Time,” as a woman whose date calls to say he will be late. Sitting before the mirror with an unexpected couple of minutes, she glances through a fashion mag and begins to make up her face to look like one of the pouty nymphs in an advertisement, transforming from an attractive woman to a horror.

The audience seemed familiar with these routines, but to this first-time visitor, many of them were a revelation. Are today’s Groundlings carrying on this noble tradition? I couldn’t say, but, if you’re curious, the troupe’s new show, “Good & Twenty,” has its premiere on Friday.

* Groundling Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Tonight and Friday at 8 p.m. $35. (213) 934-9700. Running time 2 1/2 hours.