Comedic taste of 'Almost Live' comes to the Auburn Ave Theater

Big-time comedy comes to the Auburn Ave Theater on Friday with Brooks McBeth and John Keister taking the stage for a one-two punch.

The show reunites some of the comedians who were part of the Northwest's own iconic television sketch comedy show, "Almost Live", which ran from 1984-99.

"It's super enjoyable to come back (to the Northwest)," said McBeth, a Green River Community College graduate who lives in the Los Angeles area. "I'm always thrilled by the fact that I know all the quirky details of the Northwest and can make fun of them."

According to McBeth, the tone of Friday's show is similar to that of "Almost Live!" which poked fun at regional stereotypes.

"If you saw something made fun of on 'Almost Live', you'll see it made fun of at the show," McBeth said. "We know what we're talking about when we talk about Auburn or Kent. That's what was great about "Almost Live!" The thing I loved about it was that it wasn't people who were out of their element. All of them were people who grew up here."

McBeth, a national headlining comedian who recently appeared on "The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson", welcomes the chance to take the stage again with Keister, who hosted "Almost Live!" from 1988-99.

"He's great," McBeth said. "We're both old now. Of course, he's older than I am. It's great, though. We've always had fantastic rhythm and play off each very well. I think it's going to be a tremendous show. It's going to be a huge holiday show. We've got a band playing before, and we're just making it a huge blowout."

McBeth continued:

"We had the option of doing it in Seattle, but we felt that had been done. I really wanted to focus on doing it in the smaller communities."

The Fabulous Murphtones perform at the show.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. at the theater, 10 Auburn Ave. Tickets are $17 regular, $15 students and senior. Call 253-931-3043, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or online through Brown Paper Tickets at www.auburnwa.gov/arts.

A small number of tickets also will be available at the door.

Contact Auburn Reporter Sports Reporter Shawn Skager at sskager@auburn-reporter.com or (253) 833-0218, ext. 5054.

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