HBO’s ‘High Life’ Makes the ‘50s Fresh

Tonight’s premiere of HBO’s “The High Life” is small-sized, but two subsequent episodes are quite funny.

The Saturday gig is only temporary, for starting Wednesday, “High Life” succeeds “Dream On” in the half hour following HBO’s returning high achiever, “The Larry Sanders Show.”

“The High Life” is shot in black and white, in line with its 1950s setting in Pittsburgh, where coarse Earl (Mark Wilson) and mild Emmett (Robert Joy) operate a small storage business. Just a little bit shady, Earl is always looking for a profitable angle, and tonight he rents the office to a cheerful chap (Steve Mellor) who turns out to be a white supremacist with plans to use the place for a gathering of white hoods.

Although the laughs are spare, don’t give up prematurely, for Wednesday’s episode is sometimes just a howl as Earl and Emmett get involved in the illegal Davy Crockett hat trade.

Episode No. 3 is just as funny, with Earl’s wife (Betsy Aidern) baking a prize-winning cake that somehow brings them to the attention of red-hunting McCarthyites. After making the mistake of lauding Soviet vodka, Earl keeps getting in deeper and deeper.

Ernie Grunwald provides some bizarre fun as Irene’s loopy nephew, the versatile Mellor shines as different characters in the first three episodes, and “The High Life,” though not quite the sight you’ve never seen nor sound you’ve never heard, is fresh and innovative enough to keep you smiling.

* “The High Life” premieres at 10 tonight, then will be seen Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. on HBO.