Yup, it's men, those pesky varmints, who always hold the remote. Performed by the six-gal troupe Tomboys in Fishnets, this production's 19 sketches in 47 minutes skewer the world's most repulsive Y-chromosome hogs. The sketches, written variously by Edie Magoun, Wendy McCulley, Lori Mathison, Linda Abbott, Tara Ciabattoni, and Nova Sheppard, show oversexed, undereducated, spineless men falling all over, and under, women. To be fair, the women ain't so splendid, either.
On the night reviewed, the house opened late, at 8:15, so the producers could "hold the curtain" for late arrivals who never seemed to arrive. It was, however, a splendid opportunity to sell beer and wine to the theatregoers standing in the Zephyr's narrow entryway. Those who partook were undoubtedly the ones yukking it up during the show, which began at 8:30. The writing here relies on easy laughs from juvenile utterances of dirty words, a disproportionate number of white trash characters, and those omnipresent "size matters" references.
Cynthia Sanders, Hope Taylor, and Emilie Jo Tisdale join Ciabattoni, Magoun, and Sheppard onstage. For the most part, all are competent and hardworking performers, with good comedic sense, physicality, accents, and voices at the ready. With a massive collection of massive wigs, the sextet plays the orphans from Annie—all growed up and hooking—in "Dirty Annie"; a rock star who changes his name to the sound of a Bronx cheer in "Crank Nugent"; denizens at a strip club where the terry-robe-and-fluffy-slipper-clad girls are institutionalized and medicated in "Crazy Girls," and a trailer-park cooking-show host and her incestuous family in "Y'all R' Cookin." At its most intellectual, the show features "The Poet," who, introduced by the theme song "Sesame Street" and sponsored by the letter "P," rages against men and "the man." At its most visual, the show offers "Yoga Time," in which the teacher springs a giant boner while his stretchy student assumes the postures.
With all respect to the sketch comedy genre, it would be interesting to see what the writers could do with longer-form theatre and the actors with fully fleshed roles. Meantime, they're getting away with the kind of humor for which an all-male troupe could be picketed, if not sued.
"Who's Holding the Remote?," presented by Tomboys in Fishnets at the Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. Thurs. 8 p.m. May 10-May 31. $7. (888) 208-9868.