‘Viva Variety’ Adding in Plenty of Spice

“We could be really, really wrong about this,” says Michael Ian Black.

“I’m not sure we are,” says Thomas Lennon. “I think we might be really right. But if we’re wrong, we’ve missed by a mile. We’re so-o-o-o wrong!”

“Tom and I went to theater camp together when we were 16,” offers Kerri Kenney, “and the slogan was, ‘Dare to Fail Gloriously.’ ”

“That’s us!” crows Lennon.

Right or wrong, they’re discussing their new series, “Viva Variety,” which premieres at 10 tonight on cable’s Comedy Central.

“It’s just the most enthusiastic show you’re gonna find,” Black says, as they take a writing break. “There’s nothing but wide-eyed enthusiasm for everything.”

What could be wrong with that?

“Viva Variety” (don’t forget to trill the V’s) tracks the mishaps of a European TV variety show of the same name as it seeks a new home in the United States, which inspired it--to a fault.

Lennon plays Mr. Laupin, one of Europe’s top impresarios, whose continental ooziness is matched only by his bent for booking knife-throwers and celebrity look-alikes.

Long ago Mr. Laupin was divorced from the love of his life and co-creator of the program, the former Mrs. Laupin (played by Kenney), whose fashion eye is as sharp as her tongue. Their volatile relationship is very much in evidence, inasmuch as each ex retained half of the show and hosting duties.

Their doltish sidekick is the Elvis-pompadoured Johnny Blue Jeans (Michael Ian Black), who wants to be American in the worst way and has succeeded, mostly by taking his cues from American TV.

Add showgirl foursome the Swimsuit Squad, and the result is TV variety that swings--between outrageous spoofing and real. Real daffy.

On the first “VV,” for instance, you’ll see a showdown between an Olympic gymnast and a chimpanzee; an audience guessing game focused on celebrity look-alikes who may or may not be wearing pants; the Bandbaz Brothers, in an act called “The Daggers of Doom” that might have been exhumed from “The Ed Sullivan Show”; and the musical guest, a group called Shudder to Think.

In weeks to come, “Viva Variety” will present They Might Be Giants, the Marshall Crenshaw Band, Cibo Matto and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo also are on deck as guests.

Future variety acts include the World’s Only Contortionist Fiddle Player; Human Torch Ray Wold, who bathes in flames; and Scotland’s Premier Regurgitator.

“But there’s no bile,” Black insists. “Everything comes up dry.”

Garant, Lennon, Black and Kenney are part of the 10-member comedy troupe the State, which got together nearly a decade ago, when all were students at New York University, and went on to produce a popular series for MTV.

Although still alive (its personnel remain best friends), the State has been collectively dormant since fall 1995. That was when the group starred in a special for CBS, then promptly got fired when the “Murder, She Wrote” network realized this wasn’t exactly a comfortable fit.

“We were the smallest possible fish there,” Lennon recalls. “In fact, we didn’t even register as fish.”

“We were plankton,” says Black.

So it was back to cable for this “Viva Variety” splinter group. And, thus far, happily so.

Kenney laughs. “You can look at it like someone who came up to one of the guys on the street and said, ‘Hey! You’re a basic-cable minor celebrity!’

“Or you can look at it this way: We get to write and act our own comedy with our favorite people in the world, then put it on TV.

“That,” she concludes, “is pretty awesome.”