The scene: a nondescript theater, very definitely off-Broadway. A place filled with average Joes and Janes, weary denizens of the pulsing city looking for a moment of respite from the cruel drudgery of coping with life in the big burg. The crime: brutal and unremitting murder. Not just your average senseless drive-by killing, oh no. This was premeditated, calculated, coldblooded. They killed 'em! Laid 'em in the aisles. On the floor. Imagine. Laughing to death . . .
Eric Jensen's tight script and relentless humor mowed the unsuspecting audience down. Oh, they expected the usual playhouse shenanigans. Some corny and drawn-out song and dance numbers. Wacky props. Silly puns. Shameless mugging at the audience with carefully rehearsed ad-libs.But the Off Broadway Theatre stepped up to the plate and delivered a grand slam homer. A wickedly funny send-up of police shows is what's in store with "Grabnet." And with the timing of a tommy gun - never stopping, never jamming, never missing.
Eric Jensen, Bob Bedore and Russell Peacock. (One can imagine a disgruntled Mike Todd cursing the day these three cuckoos flew away from his Desert Star nest.) Talk about your triple threat!
Jensen is Joe Thursday - deadpan and deadly funny even while delivering groaners like "cereal killers" while holding up a plugged box of corn flakes.
Peacock is Thursday's sidekick, Frank Smith and is his deft accomplice in killing the audience. No more Mr. Over-the-Top: Peacock's evolution as a comedian is pure delight. Imagine Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First?" on fast-forward. That's what Jensen and Peacock achieve with a brilliant wordplay with the names like Wiley and Howie.
Bedore's gangster Tommy Twyce twitches and postures. His Groucho mustache is matched by a caveman single eyebrow. But costumes go only so far. Bedore slips into the skin of a not-so-bright gangster and caroms around like Daffy Duck on steroids.
There's a brilliant supporting cast behind the wacky three. Jenn Porter does a luscious turn as dumb blonde Bubbles. Alexis Owen is the wide-eyed ingenue, Denny Fell who falls for Cody K. Carlson's Will Gannon.
Nefarious Ma Barker-type is Debbie Zeis as Granny T. And Matt Kellogg totally rules as Dween.
Jensen's script weaves running gags (Erin Hutchinson the stage manager who keeps stumbling from behind the curtain) and short, snappy musical number. Scenery changes with maniacal speed. Jokes roll over puns and sight gags. Fast-paced can't begin to describe this split-second hilarity.
Taco Time: dump Dana Carvey. THIS is funny!