My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm Still in Therapy!

When the lights come up on "My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm Still in Therapy!," a "Happy Birthday" banner hangs overhead and gift boxes are piled up to one side. When writer and performer Steve Solomon enters, he tells us he's waiting for his parents and guests to arrive at a surprise party at a senior clubhouse for his father's 85th birthday. The one-man show, directed by Andy Rogow, is billed as a sequel to an earlier piece of Solomon's that carried the same title except for the word "still." It opened a healthy run in New York nearly five years ago and has played internationally as well. But both the framework and new title serve only as a starting point for 90 minutes (plus an intermission) of adroitly put-together standup comedy.

Solomon begins by enumerating a few differences between Jews and Italians but quickly moves on to a patchwork of everyday topics, filled with bountiful one-liners and extended jokes. There's nothing to be heard about how the mixed makeup of his parents' marriage has kept him in therapy. (You were expecting maybe Edward Albee?) When toward the close Solomon sits down in a spotlighted corner of the darkened stage to read a letter his father wrote to him on the day his son was born, it seems like a revelatory moment is at hand. But no, the letter ends with his father telling him why life is like a toilet seat. (Blame it on reviewer integrity, but I'm not revealing the punch line). Indeed, a lot of the patter has to do with bodily functions, with breaking wind a favorite. Here Solomon's knack for sound effects is given a workout. But all other such functions get their due as well, as when he riffs on a proposed plan by an airline to charge for using a plane's toilet and describes a possible price list.

In a more genteel time, much of Solomon's humor might be described as tasteless, but in this age of Judd Apatow movies and cable comedy, Solomon's gags, helped by his affable, nonabrasive manner, seem almost clean-cut. And despite the obviousness or familiarity of some of the material, Solomon has the knack for making the audience feel that even though he's just one of them, he's letting them in on some marvelously fresh observations.

Presented by Steve Solomon and Abby Koffler, in association with the Midtown Theater, at the Midtown Theater, 163 W. 46th St., NYC. Aug. 10–31. Wed.–Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 5 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 8 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.stevesolomon.net.