'Heeere's Tony!' puts a talk show on stage

The impish, two-ton-talented Tony Braithwaite is an actor who also sings and dances on many area stages, as well as a writer and performer of one-man shows, a three-time Barrymore Award winner, and the dramatics director at St. Joseph's Preparatory School. But he's never been a talk-show host.

Now he is that, too, and in an unconventional way: His talk show, Heeere's Tony!, can be found on no broadcast or cable channel, only on stage at Ambler's Act II Playhouse, where he's holding forth for the next few weeks in a ramped-down TV format that's half rehearsed routines, half improvised talk.

So Heeere's Tony! changes from night to night, with a different special guest and a singer. For the next week, the singer is a similar all-around stage talent, Walnut Street Theatre favorite Jeff Coon, whose rich, unamplified voice gamely commands the compact, 130-seat Act II house.

Braithwaite's show is a nod to the late Johnny Carson, whom he idolized as a youngster, and who is among his comedic role models. Braithwaite's bag of tricks includes mimicry - if he could throw his voice, he'd be able to have a spot-on Mayor Nutter talking to him from the audience. He nails Carson's look, sound, and persona in Heeere's Tony!'s single take-off straight from Carson's long and iconic Tonight Show era: Carnac the Magnificent.

Braithwaite has Howie Brown as his announcer and Alex Bechtel - a fellow player in 1812 Productions' annual holiday news satires - at the piano as the one-man orchestra.

A talk show executed as a theater-only performance is not an odd concept on its face; talk shows are, after all, recorded in front of audiences. Heeere's Tony! gets its buzz precisely because it's not being recorded with an audience standing in for a much larger unseen audience that will watch at home later when the show is sectioned into segments and glued by ads. The only people who matter for Braithwaite are the people in the theater, and everything - including the talk - is in the moment.

At Wednesday's 75-minute opening night, Braithwaite was witty and fully in control. He was spur-of-the-moment funny in a monologue, in his table talk, and in banter with the audience - which was frequently responsive in the old Tonight Show way. They applauded when Braithwaite's Carnac would finally have just one more shot at a one-liner. With no prodding, they shouted "How jammed is it?" when he noted that the parking lot behind Act II is constantly crowded.

Wednesday night's guest was Leo Carlin, who has finished his 51st season as the Eagles' director of ticket sales and client services, and who spoke charmingly about life with the team. He was the perfect guest for Braithwaite, who grew up as his neighbor, and for Coon, a big-time Eagles fan. To end the evening, Coon sang Cole Porter's "It's De-Lovely," whose title neatly sums up the night.

Through Feb. 20 at Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler. Tickets: $27-$33. Information: 215-654-0200 or www.act2.org.EndText