"Our Show of Shows' by 1812 Productions

1812 Productions is currently engaged in an ambitious but ultimately misguided exercise. On a rotating schedule, this all-comedy Philadelphia troupe is performing two homages to "Your Show of Shows," the legendary 90-minute live TV variety program that showcased Sid Caesar and his comedy troupe from 1949 to 1954: Laughter On the 23rd Floor, Neil Simon's 1993 memoir about the zany writers who created the Caesar show; and Our Show of Shows, Jennifer Childs's attempt to revive for modern audiences the spirit of the Caesar show itself.

In tandem, these two productions address an intriguing question: In comedy, who's more essential— the writers, or the performers? 1812's experiment leaves little doubt as to the answer. It's the writers.

Jennifer Childs and her regulars— Anthony Lawton, Dave Jadico and David Ingram— are indeed marvelously versatile comic actors. In Our Show of Shows— which mixes actual skits from the Caesar show with faux skits in the spirit of those early TV times— they persuasively demonstrate that they may be every bit the comic equals of Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. (Childs's portrayal of "Irish Anne Bonney," the Hollywood pirate queen, or a corporate wife who has accidentally taken an overdose of valium, are to die for.)

But where Laughter On the 23rd Floor provides a coherent script for their talents, Our Show of Shows suffers from a fatal conceptual flaw.

Tina Fey, for example

Childs, unlike Sid Caesar's gang, seems unaware that parody works effectively only when its targets are (a) important and (b) current. Tina Fey made her mark on "Saturday Night Live" by impersonating Sarah Palin, not Jackie Kennedy or Eleanor Roosevelt.

Our Show of Shows, on the other hand, pokes all of its fun at that already-beaten-down whipping boy, the Eisenhower '50s (with one exception: a clever pantomime by Childs and Jadico tracing teen dating patterns from the "'50s to the present, when boy and girl alike are preoccupied with their iPhones).

Amid the rampant conformity of the post-World War II years, Caesar's gleeful lampoons of suburban dinner parties, corporate board meetings and pompous professors constituted a welcome blast of fresh air. But what's the point of skewering these targets— not to mention Hollywood pirate films and barbershop quartets— in 2011?

Wisdom from "'Sex and the City'

Many of the show's skits are funny nevertheless, but what's missing is a sense of originality. It's more like a copyist demonstrating how faithful he can be to the original. The opening parody of "This Is Your Life" is an exact recreation of Caesar's original parody, down to the set and the blocking. But why go to the theater to see an imitation when you can watch the original version on YouTube? (Click here.)

Our Show of Shows made me think of my daughter Julie, who relinquished her dream of a stage career to become a TV comedy writer and somehow wound up on the six-person writing team for "Sex and the City." The first time I visited the set, I approached two of the show's stars, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, during a break to express my appreciation for my daughter's opportunity to work with them. Almost in unison, these consummately professional comic actresses replied, "Without good writers, we're nothing." Just so.♦


To read Dan Rottenberg's review of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, click here.