The Steamboat Pilot & Today

For the past week, I have had a song about moose stuck in my head.

Unfortunately, it’s not the entire song. It’s about four lines that aren’t in order and might have gotten jumbled as they play over and over, randomly repeating themselves at bizarre times.

Every so often, a little bit of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” slips in. Again, it’s just a few misplaced snippets, cycling through on a hamster wheel that’s just a little bit off center.

And then without warning, the chorus to Andy Pratt’s Cabaret 2008 “Banjo Lesson” makes an appearance, and I giggle like a fool.

All this is the result of my first experience with the Steamboat Springs Arts Council’s annual sketch comedy fundraiser, a mash-up of song parodies, satirical skits and joke video segments.

It might be that I saw the show twice, or that all of Billy Joel’s songs are insanely catchy, or that Kelly Anzalone broke out in bits of his way-to-kill-time song “Moose on the Loose” during an interview about Steamboat Mountain Theater closing, but nothing from Cabaret seems to want to leave my head.

A better explanation for the show’s stickiness, though, is its sentimental hilarity. Interpretive dance never fails to be a ridiculous concept, but interpretive dance set to reports of animals on the loose in the police blotter (the idea behind “Moose on the Loose”) is out-of-control funny.

Jokes about 95 percent of the things that happen in Steamboat Springs easily can end up as cheap shots, but jokes about 95 percent of the things that happen here also are necessary to grasp their odd, but undeniable reality.

As someone who still is settling into a town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, Cabaret is a comfortable reminder that for the most part, that closeness is a good thing. It makes the jokes ring truer, it makes the audience rowdier, and it makes the closing of a venue the cast, crew and spectators hold dear sting so much less.

At some point, I’m sure “The Final Countdown” will win back its spot at the top of my “songs to cycle through during meetings” mental playlist. For now, “Cabaret 2008: The Triple Remix,” is a welcome replacement.