“…and to all a good night!” Why A Tuna Christmas May Be Just the Thing for Your Holiday Blues

I recently was able to catch the limited run of “A Tuna Christmas” (now through January 6, 2008) presented by Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.) at Theatre Asylum (6320 Santa Monica Blvd) in Hollywood. This was THE A Tuna Christmas; the woman who’d set me up with the tickets didn’t want me to confuse it with the other production of the same name going on elsewhere in the Los Angeles area. Not that there was anything wrong with the other production; she just wasn’t repping the other production (and she hadn’t gotten me tickets to the other production!)

This was “A Tuna Christmas,” with Mindy Sterling and Patrick Bristow both alumni of the famous Groundlings Comedy Troupe. The Groundlings of Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Julia Sweeney, Phil Hartman!! Saturday Night Legends (not to dip too deep into the pool of SNL formers; Kathy Griffin, Topher Grace, Lisa Kudrow, and Pee Wee Herman all went to Groundlings as well, hah-ha!) …So these two had to be good!

Not that I should use the success of others from the same institution to judge how good someone or other would be. You need look no further than their own individual resumes to see that Ms. Sterling and Mr. Bristow are able to hold their own.

Mind Sterling may be best known and most easily recognized in a pop culture sense as “Frau Farbissina” the love interest and henchwoman of Mike Meyer’s Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers Trilogy. She has also done a number of other films including The Grinch, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Reno 911 Miami.

Patrick Bristow has done a whole host of television appearances including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Whose Line Is It Anyway, and he created the character “Peter” on the TV Sitcom Ellen.

So these two are not humble pie; they are surely able to hold their own in the comedy arena. And what a legend they are stepping into; this is A Tuna Christmas by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard! The first president Bush and Barbara had this show performed for them by the original company when he was in office! This show has been around for going on 20 years and has been performed time and time again to rave reviews. Enter two experienced comedy hands like Sterling and Bristow, insert some timely pop culture references, and you’ve got yourself a hit!

…sort of.

I had real issues with this production, at first, despite all the hooting and hollering around me. I couldn’t explain it; what did everyone think was so darn funny? I thought most of the humor was crude, explicit, and dated; I thought that the pacing was all off; in the 21st century when you make a joke about an all white cast of Raisin in the Sun…I didn’t even know what to say.

The story in this play centers around a variety of characters and situations; there is a competition going on for the best yard decorations; and a wily phantom is ripping out everyone’s displays; an earnest guy who just wants to get on with his life and get out of Tuna might be denied his ability to finish parole because the theatre where he’s got to go do his last bit of community service hasn’t paid their light bill and they can’t put on the show.

It wasn’t until these stories began to resolve themselves did I begin to chuckle, then chortle, then giggle, then laugh out loud. The thing about A Tuna Christmas that I started in on right away were the finer details, not waiting and allowing their delivery and their tempo to reveal itself to me in due course. What I’d failed to see and what everyone else was able to appreciate more than I was that this town is found in all of our squabbles and all of our fights. It’s one of those places that everyone knows yet no one will admit to. It's the place we grew up, grew out of, and left behind.

So if you are looking for a laugh and you want to revisit some of the repressed memories of your Holidays past, check out A Tuna Christmas at the Theatre Asylum.