Here come the unbridled laughs

No one could accuse comic thespian Tony Braithwaite or his acting/directing buddy Jennifer Childs of being lazy.

Braithwaite is in high gear in 2009, performing in and directing shows at Kimmel Center's Innovation Studio (The Odd Couple and Give My Regards to Broadway), acting in Act II Playhouse's Iron Kisses, and directing St. Joseph's Prep's version of Urinetown, while 1812 Productions' artistic director Childs and her crew churn out long-form funny fare five times annually with smaller cabaret events throughout the year.

Yet here are the tireless Braithwaite and Childs at the Prince Music Theater, together again after several Big Time Christmas vaudevilles, doing 1812's Let's Pretend We're Married, a mix of self-penned material, classic comic bits from the Burns and Allen joke book, and songs of bliss from Irving Berlin to Prince.

"My favorite moment in Pretend is the lounge act Tony and I do honoring marrieds like Captain & Tennille and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme," Childs says. "That's my favorite too," Braithwaite agrees. ". . . I can barely get through it without cracking up."

Making each other laugh has been this pair's raison d'etre since they met in 1998 when cast in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Arden Theatre.

"I don't remember ever not being friends," Childs says. "It was like we met and instantly started doing routines. So when I was putting together the first of 1812's vaudeville shows, it was a no-brainer to ask him to be the Burns to my Allen."

Though Childs has her own wild style, she's got old-school blood: Her decision to bring Braithwaite into 1812's fold in 2000 came down to the fact that - despite having done modern dramedy (Michael Ogborn's Baby Case, Steve Martin's buttoned-up Picasso at the Lapin Agile) - he's renowned for his adoration of past comic forms.

His ripping-yarn manners, vocal comedic attack, and masterful dedication to impersonation made him magically apt for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Arden in 2006, George Burns in Act II's Say Goodnight Gracie in 2007, and multiple collaborations with 1812.

"Growing up, I always emulated that comic sensibility found in vaudeville and Broadway," says Braithwaite, then tacking on the borscht belt, Catskills resorts, and Johnny Carson's pre-L.A. Tonight Show. He has the laughing DNA shared by Eddie Cantor, Phil Silvers, Zero Mostel, and more recently Martin Short and Nathan Lane - the ability to pull off the funniest line with the driest eye or the wryest reading with the zaniest face.

"I've yearned to have the ability the great ones had to play comedy of a certain size with credibility," he says - "to remain truthful to whatever scene you're playing, to try to truly act the scene, but to fill the theater and hit the back row of a large house."

Adds Childs, "We share a retro sensibility, decidedly contemporary yet intrigued and sometimes confused by pop culture. We're nerds about comic history." Braithwaite credits more than good study habits: He, like Childs, has a grandfather who once trod vaudeville stages.

The two, born a day apart, are 40ish type-A Virgos with immediate shorthand about their shared neuroses. "That'll lead to comedy," Braithwaite says, laughing.

The first Big Time holiday production was a great beginning to Braithwaite's relationship with 1812 - being Burns to Childs' Allen, learning barbershop harmonies, figuring how to be a "living xylophone." When the audience laughed, the first thing Braithwaite thought was, "I feel very secure on stage next to this adorable redhead."

Which makes Let's Pretend We're Married an exquisite opportunity for him to spin his comic web with her. "I've written more with 1812 than with any other company, which informs any acting and directing work I do," he notes.

"Tony is better with writing actual jokes than I, and I'm better at comic choreography," Childs says. "We play to those strengths."

Some marriage of true minds, right? - except these two aren't the ones who are married. Childs is the spouse of 1812 member Scott Greer; Braithwaite is not married. The Pretend part is real.

"I can't help but wonder if part of the fun is that we aren't married and that Scott is one of my dear friends," Braithwaite says, at which point Childs picks up: "I thought of the story because Tony and I pretend to be married onstage all the time.

"I didn't really know it was going to be about marriage until Tony and I started talking and thinking about what kind of marriage we'd have if we were married - sweet like Burns and Allen or abrasive like the Bickersons."

Braithwaite, who attended two Jesuit schools - St. Joe's Prep and Georgetown University - now finds himself an ordained minister, happy to renew the vows of any Pretend audience members who feel so inclined.

"I often think of what those great Jesuit men would quip if they found I became an ordained minister online in under five minutes," says this new member of the Universal Life Church ministry, happily possessed of the certificate of ordination, parking permit, and bumper stickers to prove it.

That's commitment.

Being pretend married is one thing, but Braithwaite's next venture - at Souderton's Montgomery Theater - will find him even more committed: Fully Committed, in fact, and playing more than 40 characters in Becky Mode's manic 1999 one-man Broadway farce about a reservationist at a wildly popular Manhattan restaurant.

His childhood pastime of doing impressions is part of what makes Fully Committed so rewarding as he painstakingly invents characterizations and finds unique vocal tones and tics for each maitre d', chef, waitress, diner, and passerby. "Plus, a one-man show really appeals to me because of having a stand-up background," Braithwaite says.

"Still, the differentiation between each character is tricky. Making clear, distinct vocal and physical changes on a dime is fun but challenging. The worst thing impressionists can hear is something like, 'Your Bob Hope sounds like your Jack Benny.' And mine does."

Braithwaite's fake wife has every confidence her mock husband can pull it off.

"Actors with specific abilities like Tony's insane understanding of comedy are hired to do the same things, so opportunities that ask you to take the work you do deeper are thrilling," Childs says. "There's a lot of what he does naturally that lends itself to this and - because of the sheer size of the show and amount of characters - a lot he'll need to dig for. He'll find it."

1812 Productions' Let's Pretend We're Married runs through June 14 at the Independence Foundation Black Box at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. Tickets: $20-$32; 215-592- 9560 or www.1812productions.org. Couples who wish to renew their vows (choice of three styles: traditional, Vegas or Hawaiian) should call 1812 at 215-592-9560.

Fully Committed runs from June 18 to July 11 at Montgomery Theater, 124 Main St., Souderton. Tickets: $19-$35, 215-723-9984, www.montgomerytheater.org.

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