Local comedy troupe Mt. Airy Home Companion is back just in time to stick their proverbial not-so-sharp pins into the sacred cows of the election season.
The group that pokes fun at Mt. Airy’s liberal reputation will take the stage Oct. 5 to 6 with their latest production, "Special Edition: Surviving the Election," at Allens Lane Art Center in West Mt. Airy.
Founded in 2012 by Jim Harris, of Germantown, Mt. Airy Home Companion is bringing back their original skits and musical parodies by popular demand.
"People kept asking me, 'When are you going to have another Mt. Airy …
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Local comedy troupe Mt. Airy Home Companion is back just in time to stick their proverbial not-so-sharp pins into the sacred cows of the election season.
The group that pokes fun at Mt. Airy’s liberal reputation will take the stage Oct. 5 to 6 with their latest production, "Special Edition: Surviving the Election," at Allens Lane Art Center in West Mt. Airy.
Founded in 2012 by Jim Harris, of Germantown, Mt. Airy Home Companion is bringing back their original skits and musical parodies by popular demand.
"People kept asking me, 'When are you going to have another Mt. Airy Home Companion?” said Harris, a former columnist for the Local. “So finally I gave in and rounded up the gang, and they agreed that we need to get back on stage and celebrate our wonderful neighborhood.
The production, inspired by Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," features a cast of 15, with 13 hailing from Northwest Philadelphia. It's staged as a radio show, with news anchors presenting nine skits over two hours. But if you expect to see the kind of biting satire that appears on TV from bona fide satirists like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel or Bill Maher, you will be disappointed.
“We do not name names,” Harris said, “with one exception. Trump's name is mentioned just once, and that is because Crystal Barham, who plays God, insisted on it. Apparently she prayed that she got the part of God, and her prayers were answered.”
Harris, who shares a last name with the Democratic nominee for president, insists they are not related, although he is expecting an increase in his Social Security monthly check and an invitation to dinner in the White House if the current vice president wins.
In the show, anchormen Duane Ramshackle and John St. John will deliver news that is frothy as cotton candy and too light-hearted to be called satirical. If you like the kind of theater where you watch someone get amnesia from a falling block of tofu (as in a previous production) or learn that Mt. Airy is currently experiencing a “bedbug renaissance,” then this is your proverbial cup of Earl Grey tea.
“What we do is a celebration of the community, making fun of our special neighborhood,” said longtime cast member Molly Mahoney.
The idea for the troupe and show started because Harris was such a big fan of Keillor’s program. “I originally suggested to my band, Saint Mad, that we do a 'fake' radio play based loosely on that music and comedy format,” he said. “They agreed, and we ran ads for actors to join us. We got a good reaction from the audience, so we did it again and again, usually for about 100 people, but at the Conkey Center (at Springside/Chestnut Hill Academy), we had more than 300. We have also performed at The Rotunda in University City and as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.”
One of the all-time favorite bits was former cast member Jake Michael as a fruitcake, singing "What Kind of Food am I?" Harris had a line in the last show that he could never get through without laughing. He said to an eco-activist named Plantifa, "So you now live in a shirt dirt skirt yurt?"
Some of the alleged local businesses that have “advertised” on the show were Earl's House of Beauty for Men, The Lazy Boy ejector chair and No Nuts, the store that sells everything but nuts. The last time we checked, they were all failing to turn a profit in “the hippie heartland on the edge of the beautiful Wissahickon Valley.”
There will be two bits about emigrating (north or south) from the U.S. if the wrong candidate wins in November. A Mexican policeman and member of the Royal Canadian Ministry of Politeness are both played by Andy Pettit, a therapist who is type-cast since he was born in Vancouver, Western Canada. (Pettit is also co-host of "Skywave" on G-town Radio with Tom Cassetta, which they say “has a revolving cast of thousands.”)
The price of admission to Mt. Airy Home Companion used to be $25, but it was lowered this year to $20, which some cast members say is proof that “all of this talk about inflation is a total scam.”
For tickets to Mt. Airy Home Companion, call 215-248-0546 or visit allenslane.org/theater. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.