(P)2004 L.A. Theatre Works
"Wordy, astonishing, laugh out loud funny"
If you like to relax, sit back, let a story breeze past your mind, smiling a distant smile every few minutes, stay away. This takes your entire mind. If you're driving, you will go over the curb.
There are no two successive lines in Gelbart's play, that aren't funny. And if it fizzes out a little towards the end, it's because you are exhausted from all the wordplay, and from the pure radio presentation, that can't make up for it in stagecraft, than from any fault on the side of the writing.
Prepare to be amazed, amused, and quoting it for years to come. Love it!
"Classic and still timely"
Technically a political satire set during the Reagan era, the play is actually a parody of the misuse of language by media and politicians which makes it even more relevant (and funnier) after the last eight years. Partisan bickering, stonewalling, political double-talk and media inanity are all sent up hilariously by an excellent cast recorded in a live performance. Painful and painfully funny.