Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
recycling kinda guys. Also cheap.” The move up the street came in 1984, the Whale Fat
Follies debuted in 1986. Why a show? I ask. “Either that or go broke,” Keys says.
Meanwhile, back up on stage…Keys in top hat, tails and aloha shirt at the keyboard is
joined by Alice Welling on the lungs, Mike MacDonald on the drums, Ed Bourgeois on
the channeler, and Jelly Roll Jim on the bass. Also Martha Stewart (
And you're not, which
must suck
), Sourdough Mike from Egegik, Yukon Jacques, Katherine Hepburn, Johnny
Cash (rhymes with cache), Elvis (
The most fun I've had since I died from drugs and
booze
), the Sentimental Sisters (
I'm Senta! I'm Mental!
), Fishita (
Don't fish for me in Tal-
keetna, the truth is I've never been there
), and the Devil With a Blue Tarp. Whoever is the
current governor of Alaska and a few who were before make cameo appearances, along
with other deserving elected officials. From the opening number, two things are immedi-
ately apparent: Nothing is sacred
We've got an official state congressman
Whose mouth is the official state sewer.
and these people will do ANYTHING for a laugh.
And tourists buy moose nugget jewelry
Made from the official state turd.
Keys demands to know how many people are there tonight with Houseguests from
Hell, and half the people in the room raise their hands, whereupon he sings them their
very own song (
Welcome to Alaska, now go home!
). Scenes shift from Skinny Dick's
Halfway Inn to the Jungle Room of the Mush-Inn Motel, from a Winnebago convoy on
the Seward Highway to combat fishing on the Russian River. There are slide shows, one
of Alaskan scenes while Mike sings “The Alaska Flag Song,” another of Alaskan bumper
stickers (
Let the Bastards Freeze in the Dark Without Alaskan Oil
), another of the Ken-
necott Copper mine while Mike sings “Sixteen Tons” in a bass that rumbles like a 747, an-
other of people holding cans of Spam next to the Sphinx, the Great Wall of China, the sign
outside of Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
