One Week Only

Ricky Martin'sLove Box
Sketch comedy troupe Renob Control is fundraising for an upcoming trip to the Miami Comedy Festival, so swing by, show your support for the local funnyfolk, and help them earn some cash to take their hilarity on the road. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, Fri-Sat 10 pm, $9

Closing This Week

Biglittlethings
Imago's whimsical, crowd pleasing Biglittlethings is back again, with a few new twists on the usual cute skits about hitchhiking rabbits, glowing snakes, and the like. Look for a brand-new ending which promises some serious (and messy!) excitement.Imago Theater, 17 SE 8th, 221-5857, x3, Fri-Sat 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun 1:30 pm, $16-31

Hot Buttered Butt
Local sketch comedy legends the 3rd Floor are clearly amped to be playing a new show in Portland, and judging by the number of people lined up in the freezing cold trying to get into a recent sold-out show, Portland is happy to have them back. Their "holiday" show (which promises to contain only two references to the holidays­—I forgot to count, because of the laughing), Hot Buttered Butt, finds the 3rd Floor in great form, freewheeling through sketches about topics as diverse as bullfighting, weight loss, and the band Coldplay. It's hard to write about sketch comedy, especially good sketch comedy: I want to convince you to attend this show, without ruining any of the jokes. Let's just say that of the thousands of minutes I've spent in Portland theaters, the 90 that I spent with the 3rd Floor last weekend were some of the sweetest, and I didn't look at my watch once. AH The 3rd Floor, at the Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark, 627-9847, Fri-Sat 8 pm, $10

Current Runs

And Then There Were None...
See Review This Issue. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th, 274-4771, Thurs-Sat 7 pm, Sun 2 pm, $12-18

Mars on Life: The Holiday Edition
This review should probably come with a disclaimer: Unlike many of you, I don't hate the holidays, and it is not with an entirely hardened heart that I approached Susannah Mars' Mars on Life: The Holiday Edition, a holiday cabaret show in which the Drammy-winning Mars takes a swing at holiday tunes. My failure to respond to Mars' perky X-mas song and dance schtick, then, can only be attributed to the show itself. Mars on Life suffers from the lack of focus that seems to be a hallmark of the contemporary holiday experience: In an attempt to include everyone (God forbid we call it a Christmas show), the show ends up being a scattershot mess that provides little in the way of actual "holiday cheer." Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 SW Alder, 241-1278, Wed-Thurs 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Dec 31, $15-40