LA Weekly Theater

Recommended

review
GOOD NIGHT: A SKETCHY PLAY AND TRIBUTE TO DUDLEY MOORE AND PETER COOK
  
Without overtly imitating Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, British writer-performers David Beeler and Tom Konkle capture the geniality and goofiness of the late, great masters of the "twitty old bean" style of English comedy. For, in this collection of gleeful and quick-witted skits, Beeler and Konkle pay homage to the buddy comedy of their predecessors. The show is sometimes too clever by half, with the situations that prime the breakneck parade of one-liners, double takes, eye buggings and funny noises being too feather-light to sustain attention. Still, the prattle is often diverting. In one skit, Beeler, portraying a biblical-era journalist, interviews Konkle, playing one of Jesus' caterer friends who's just written a book entitled, Christ, Could He Cook! In another vignette, Konkle essays an oafish British bobby called on the carpet for handing out tickets for "looking at me in a funny way" and "loitering with intent to use the crosswalk." The arch comic timing established by director Michael Neill provides an intense and tightly honed production of fluff.       Written 4/10/03 (Paul Birchall)