On Theater: Show cuts down to the funny bone

Orange County in general, and Laguna Beach in particular, are quite ripe for satirical comedy thrusts on the order of the long-ago TV show “Laugh-In.” They just needed someone sharp enough to come up with an evening’s worth of zingers.

Enter the Second City troupe, based in Chicago but with representation across the country. Six of these zanies have taken up residence at the Laguna Playhouse for an evening of fun and games titled “Can You Be More Pacific?”

Sketch comedy, even by those as gifted at it as the Second City crowd, is tricky stuff. Sometimes it strikes at the heart of its audience, other times it misses the mark.

Laguna’s version thankfully includes more hits than misses. There’s a little something for every taste here — blackouts, improvisation and extended comic sketches. Two of the latter variety take top honors here, one closing the first act and the other opening the second. In the former presentation, Laguna’s Art Colony image comes in for some gentle jibing as an artist unveils his latest work — the audience — for a handful of admiring visitors who choose to step out front and “be art.”

If you’re sitting far enough to the front of the theater, you could receive individual attention. Launching the second act is a lengthy skit depicting what might happen if the Mexicans among us started a “counter-revolution” and left us without waiters, parking attendants, gardeners and nannies. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s a funny one.

Plans for the Orange County Great Park, which will transform the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into one of America’s largest metropolitan parks, come under withering fire at the hands of the Second City comics. Another skit involving two performers inhaling helium from balloons and chirping their dialogue proves a bit of a clunker.

One of the funniest segments of the evening involves the time-honored South County tradition of “mooning the Amtrak” as the train rumbles down the coast. One participant is mortified to find that her son, mother and grandmother are joining in the fun.

Showing their comedic sharpness, the six performers take topical suggestions from the audience, which they transform into a “Gripe Symphony” about life in what has become known as “The O.C.” Another improv segment comes later in the form of a developing story with key elements supplied by the patrons.

Director Marc Warzecha, who created the Laguna segment with writer Andy Cobb, has developed a tightly knit Second City cast consisting of Craig Cackowski, Frank Caeti, Molly Erdman, Brian Gallivan, Niki Lindgren and Claudia Michelle Wallace.

The Second City players are guaranteed to hit one into your back yard. And if you don’t care for one segment, another will be along momentarily — and it’s all local humor.

If You Go

What: “The Second City: Can You Be More Pacific?”

Where: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays until April 11

Cost: $35 to 65

Call: (949) 497-2787

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.