Satirist amuses Innes own way
By Dean Johnson - Boston Herald
Friday, October 8, 2004

Walk softly and carry a big shtick.

That was how Neil Innes (rhymes with Guinness) approached his first American one-man show at Arlington's Regent Theatre Wednesday.

The two-hour performance included nearly 30 songs in various bits and pieces that touched on Innes' long career as a musical satirist.

Innes also tucked in stories from his colorful past, silly props, music hall humor and bad one-liners. He needed more of his stories and less of the other stuff.

It was an amusing night, hardly a riveting one, and meant for the hard-core fans of his work in groups that include the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, the Rutles and even Monty Python's Flying Circus. He got a couple hundred fans to show up, and they gave him a standing ovation at show's end.

There was an acoustic ``I'm the Urban Spaceman'' from his Bonzo Dog days, the ballad of Sir Robin from Monty Python's ``Holy Grail''and his own ``How Sweet to Be an Idiot.'' No one else in the commonwealth this year will likely perform ``My Brother Makes the Noises in the Talkies,'' a 1930s tune he discovered while in the Bonzos.

Innes' Rutles medley deftly ripped off . . . er, was inspired by Beatles tunes such as ``Penny Lane,'' ``Martha My Dear'' and ``Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,'' and included lyrics about drum majorettes, swastika nightingales, and cheese and onions, as well as the unforgettable line ``you're so pusillanimous.''

Innes is a gifted musician and songwriter. He seamlessly jumped from blues to pop to folk to country. His Bob Dylan send-up featured hysterically bad harmonica, and hisElton John parody included lush piano chords and perfect faux lyrics.

But Innes did that latter song wearing hugely oversized sunglasses. He walked onstage wearing a plastic duck on top of his head, and he performed what he called a serious song in Groucho glasses.

So it was important to consider the night's final average, because along with good music and musical humor there was a heady dose of ``comedy'' from the Benny Hill school of laughs.

Not all of Innes' humor was that sophomoric. He noted the success of the Bonzo Dog Band led to far more gigs than the group's members ever expected.

``Being art students,'' he noted, ``we were complete strangers to work. It was awful.''