[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 6 2004, 02:43 PM\']Surely somebody in this group has been to see it?
[/quote]
(If this belongs in Show Summaries, my apologies.)
I finally got there last night. There were about 45-50 people willing to pay the $12 for a ticket on that occasion, so the theater was at about half capacity. To my surprise, median age of the crowd appeared to be around 30. I saw quite a few young people laughing very hard at the proceedings. (But of course, today's youth will only watch something if it's "edgy". Sigh.)
Panel was Patt Morrison, Paul Goebel, Jimmy Pardo, and Barry Saltzman (filling in for no-show Nikki Ziering). Show was three civilian guests, then a mystery guest, but extended to take up slightly over an hour. Not rushing it to fit into 30 minutes was a *major* plus.
The show started with J. Keith coming out and explaining the game (same WML? we know and love), introducing fine keyboardist Adam Chester, the model (who would be holding up the magnetic board stating each person's line), then the first member of the panel. (Each panelist then introduced the next.) After each panelist came out, J. Keith chatted with him/her for a couple of minutes, with in-context humor applied liberally.
J. Keith did a fine job as moderator, making the role his own, but still channeling John Charles Daly on several occasions, including a couple of Daly-esque answer explanations.
For those concerned about him being smug and self-possessed, I certainly didn't see it.
First guest was a baseball card dealer (for whom J. Keith worked in his teenage years, and who Jimmy Pardo tried to convince that he sold dreidels). He stumped the panel, despite their reasonble questions.
And as luck would have it, the second guest... makes dreidels. Strangely enough, he got seven noes despite the crowd's laughter as his line was revealed. Afterward, the lovely assistant brought out some of his items, and dreidels were thrown to the crowd.
Next up, Joe Alaskey, voice of many Looney Tunes characters (among others), who signed in as Mr. X. Unfortunately, his questioning was cut short. While Goebel recognized him and recused himself, Saltzman didn't. Oh well, we still got to see what it *really* looks like when Bugs and Daffy talk.
Finally, the mystery guest, for which the panel donned their blindfolds (identical to the '70s version, down to the pearl border for the ladies'). When the blindfolds were all in place, out walked... Nanette Fabray. Even though she barely disguised her voice, she stumped the panel, including Paul "Everyone I'm thinking of is dead!" Goebel. She then talked about how she changed the spelling of her name (from Fabares) the day after Ed Sullivan introduced her as "Nanette Fa-bare-ass", and asked J. Keith how old he thought she was.
J. Keith: (hesitating) It would seem uncouth to guess.
Nanette: Why?
J. Keith: Oh, I don't know. 29? Is that safe?
Nanette: (gives incredulous look) Let me teach you some sign language. (Smiles and puts right index finger and pinky to cheek) That means bullshit.
All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time. Being just nine days removed from major abdominal surgery, I was laughing so hard throughout the show, I thought I was going to rupture something. I definitely want to go back next week; my only regret is that I missed the first four.
