8 pm: Cabaret

Just when you thought that cabaret had been stretched and spoofed to its outer limits, in comes New York duo Kiki & Herb. As created in the mid-’90s by Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman, Kiki & Herb are drunk and disappointed, and they’re going to sing about it. They’re known for blending “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and crafting other such unpredictable medleys. For their new show, “Kiki & Herb: Stop, Drop & Roll,” they give piano-cabaret styling to “Fire & Ice,” “I’m on Fire,” “Putting Out the Fire With Gasoline” and others. * “Kiki & Herb: Stop, Drop & Roll,” Atlas, 3760 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Thursday-Sunday, 8 p.m. through Oct. 21. Dark Oct. 18. $20. (213) 380-8400. Tickets: (800) 965-4827.

all day: Art

A recent exhibit at the Bowers Museum examined how Frederic Remington and Charles Russell shaped the mythic image of the American West. Now you can see what their peers were up to as well. “Lure of the West: Treasures From the Smithsonian American Art Museum” features 64 paintings and sculptures done between 1802 and 1940 by George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran and others.* “Lure of the West,” at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Tuesday-Friday, noon-4:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Adults, $8.50; seniors, $7; students, $5; children, free. Ends Dec. 16. (626) 405-2100.

all day: Museum

The Middle East is particularly on Americans’ minds right now, but as the new exhibit “Exploring the Holy Land” documents, the region has long fascinated scholars, religious pilgrims and tourists. The show, at the Skirball Cultural Center, features late 18th and early 20th century photographs and films, as well as artifacts. At the Bowers Museum, the related exhibition “The Holy Land: David Roberts, Dead Sea Scrolls, House of David Inscription,” opens Saturday. The Dead Sea Scrolls, believed to be the oldest written copies of the Old Testament discovered in caves in the 1940s and ‘50s, haven’t been seen in California in 30 years. The House of David Inscription is believed to have been carved in about 825 BC, and is one of the few artifacts to indicate that the real existence of the Davidic dynasty. The show also includes work from Scottish artist David Roberts, who made drawings of historical Middle Eastern sites in the 1800s.* “Exploring the Holy Land,” Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. $8; seniors/students, $6. Through Dec. 2. (310) 440-4500. Also, “The Holy Land,” Saturday through Jan. 9 at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $16; $13 seniors/students; $10 children ages 5-18; children younger than 5, free. (714) 567-3100.

8 pm: Theater

East West Players opens its 36th anniversary season with “Red,” Chay Yew’s drama about a star of the Beijing Opera and his young protegee caught up in Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The Los Angeles premiere stars Emily Kuroda, Page Leong and Jeanne Sakata. * “Red,” David Henry Hwang Theater--Union Center for the Arts, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St., downtown L.A., Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. No matinee this Saturday. Ends Oct. 28. $25-$30. (213) 625-7000.

8 pm: Movies

The fifth annual Los Angeles International Short Film Festival starts a five-day run tonight at the Los Angeles Film School. More than 250 films from around the world screen in 40 programs culminating with Monday night’s awards ceremony. * Los Angeles International Film Festival, Los Angeles Film School, 6363 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, tonight, 8 p.m.; Friday, 7:30, 9:30 p.m. and midnight; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m., 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m.; Monday 11 a.m., 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. $8 per program; $80 to $200, festival pass. (323) 663-0242.

Freebie

* Oil painter D.J. Hal discusses “My Life As a Painter” at the Artists Gallery, 2903 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, 7 p.m. (310) 829-9556.