Stage Light

L. A. Connection, the Valley’s oldest comedy group, has been around for 22 years and proudly notes such past Connectionites as syndicated talk-radio host Stephanie Miller, “Friends” star Matthew Perry, actor and “Simpsons” voice Hank Azaria, veteran L. A. comic Taylor Negron, “NYPD Blue’s” Sharon Lawrence and such “Saturday Night Live” stars as Jon Lovitz and Chris Kattan.

With this background, one might think that producer Kent Skov’s outfit could come up with a night of written sketch comedy a tad more effective--and funny--than “Unnatural Selection.”

To be sure, scripted sketches have never been L. A. Connection’s strength. This is the place you want to go for a live version of “Mystery Science Theatre,” in which bad movies are played sans soundtrack and with actors improvising wacky rejoinders. The group’s busy schedule is filled with these and non-movie improv shows, so the demands of written skits may be somewhat foreign to director Tom Mackendrick’s writer-actors.

The (nearly) constant problem here is starting a scene and finding no good way to end it. The signs are there in the first skit by John Foley, about a HAL-like computer that controls every function in a house, which grows tasteless by the end. The running gag in Christian Roman’s spoof of game shows--contestants don’t know the rules--runs out of gas. So does a spoof of improv comedy shows, by Dena Hysell, which loses track of a good idea.

Other skits are just pointless, such as one by Foley and Riley Bowman depicting a schizophrenic (Gregory Spillman, one of the group’s better actors), who thinks he’s God and Jesus, and another (by Andy Forrest) about an FBI witness protection program gone haywire.

There’s hope, though. Roman’s cleverly written Sam Spade spoof “Inner Noir” combines several sharp ideas at once, including the notion that the characters are the puppets of the onstage narration. Forrest hits a double with, first, “Civil War,” about how Gens. Lee and Grant fall in love with each other during the height of battle (with, for once, a real ending), and a funny bit about a nerd (Forrest) surveying his pretty date Bowman (again, a dud ending). And Sean Gregory’s dig at a “Candid Camera” setup is the evening’s best stab at black comedy.

“Unnatural Selection” doesn’t evolve, though, but devolves with a sorry skit by Scott Sackett imagining DVD players that play underwear (don’t ask) and a limp closer poking fun at “Riverdance.” Whatever happened to the idea of leaving ‘em laughing?

“Unnatural Selection,” L. A. Connection, 13442 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Fridays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 26. $10 (includes “L. A. Connection’s Spike” at 9 p.m.). (818) 784-1868. Running time: 50 minutes.