My companion for opening night at "The Whale Fat Follies" mused that this is the only show that's "the same from year to year, but is still funny."
She's right: Audience members seemed to know a lot of the numbers by heart yet still howled at punch lines they were themselves reciting. The two-hour show was nonetheless fresh thanks to some new routines and the injection of current news events (the legislative impasse, pot legalization, Don Young's recent marriage) into recurring "Whale Fat" bits.
Despite problems with the slide projector and at least one flubbed song lyric, Mr. Whitekeys and his crew rocked a sold-out crowd on Wednesday evening. "Whale Fat" can't seem to miss, thanks to its combination of snide political humor, funny photos, sight gags and, most important of all, performers who will do anything for a laugh.
That includes pretending to be a moose nugget, doing a reverse striptease with fishing gear, donning a fake six-pack chest to portray Vladimir Putin ("I can see my house from where Sarah sits/Putin on the ritz") or dressing as an "unnaturally blond Hispanic fish" (for the "Fishita" routine).
Cameron Morrison and Regina MacDonald played 15 specific characters along with their basic stage personas, so props for the super-fast costume changes. One of the funniest new bits was Morrison as the cowboy-hatted "Moonbeam" Worthington, who was opening a new kind of business.
"If you wanna buy some weed, go see Cal
If you're down to stems and seeds, go see Cal
Get as high as Charlie Sheen, quit your job like Charlo Greene
Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal
If you want a better deal, go see Cal
All the laws have been repealed, go see Cal
Don't buy a car or truck, buy Matanuska Thunder--(Hey!)..."
Oh, and Moonbeam will open a second franchise outside Anchorage -- in Tok, naturally.
He was delightful in a sendup of the "breastaurant" craze; no one shakes the sausage better than the scantily clad Weiner Boy. Morrison was also quite amusing as Martha Stewart and did a spot-on Elvis, too. The audience roared when the King noted, "I've been dead for 38 years and I still get more done than the Legislature in this state."
The Legislature took a couple of other jabs, as did Don Young (Morrison again) and Obamacare. But it was Sarah Palin and her family who provided the most material for the cast, with at least 10 references to or photos of the former governor.
The other best bit of the show was MacDonald and Morrison as Palin and daughter Bristol, played against a backdrop of news coverage and police photos of last year's infamous birthday party brawl. They sang fast and furiously funny parodies of Queen's "We Are The Champions" ("We are the Palins, my friend/And we'll keep on fighting to the end …") and the Bee Gees tune "Stayin' Alive" ("Whether you're the father or whether you're the other we'll be startin' a fight, startin' a fight …").
A willing suspension of disbelief -- and taste -- is key to enjoying the show. Drawing-room comedy this ain't. The sight of Elvis doing a tango with Fishita might not make sense anywhere else. It scarcely makes sense at the Tap Root, but it's still funny.
On her way out the door an audience member told 'Keys, "You should charge more." A cost analysis -- ticket price divided by number of laughs -- would have proved that the humor was pretty cheap indeed. In a good way.
THE WHALE FAT FOLLIES plays at 6:45 p.m. Monday-Wednesday through Aug. 19 at the Tap Root Public House, 3300 Spenard Road. Tickets are $8 to $26, available at centertix.net. (907-263-2787)
Donna Freedman is a staff writer at Money Talks News and blogs at DonnaFreedman.com.