Unemployed TV writer Murray Burns (Matt Thompson) and his 12-year-old nephew Nick (Henry Metcalf) share a Manhattan apartment and a freewheeling attitude that is the basis for a visit by the Bureau of Child Welfare. Nick’s attendance at “genius school” has been spotty, and numerous attempts to contact Murray have been unsuccessful.

Murray is a sort of male Auntie Mame, more likely to fly a kite than find a job, ride a bike than deal with the exigencies and responsibilities of everyday life. After years writing jokes for the desperately unfunny Leo Herman (Mark C. Petrich), a.k.a Chuckles the Chipmunk, Murray up and quit.

It’s this and the fact that Nick has never been legally adopted that have drawn the concern of the child welfare agency. They try to tell Murray he is in danger of losing custody of the kid.

It’s Herb Gardner’s 1962 A Thousand Clowns, directed by Ralph Elias, and on the boards through April 3 at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

Gardner has a gift for endearing (if exaggeratedly stereotypical) characters and a way with dialogue that holds the viewer’s attention. Nick, for example, is another 12-year-old going on 40, and too smart for his own good.

Child welfare official Albert Amundson (Randy Howell) is an uptight pencil-pushing social worker, while psychologist and recent Ph.D. Sandra Markowitz (Kathryn Venverloh) is the cookie-cutter overemotional social worker.

Also flitting through the show are Herman, the chipmunk in question; Elias as Murray’s brother; and agent Arnold (Ralph Elias), who brings a box of fruit every morning and despairs of Murray’s dismissive attitude toward work.

There was something about the “turn on, tune in, drop out” attitude in the ‘60s that made the freedom vs. responsibility theme resonate more than it does today. Workaholism has become so prevalent that it seems downright nostalgic to hear Murray say, “You’ve got to own your own days or else the years go right by and none of them belong to you.” Sadly, Gardner’s point seems dated today. We’ve lost the notion that time is all we have and we’d better use it well.

It doesn’t help that Thompson, who needs to carry the show, lacks the expansiveness and exuberance needed for the role of Murray. Thompson has all the depression of the unemployed, but little of the irrepressible charm and goofiness of, say, Jason Robards, who played the role on Broadway and in the film. The lines are there, but the attitude is missing.

The supporting cast is fine. Metcalf’s Nick is at once knowing and kidlike; Howell is terrific as the kind of bureaucrat everybody loves to hate; Elias is properly filial and exasperated; Petrich definitely humorless.

Venverloh provides a good feminine counterbalance for all the testosterone.

And Marty Burnett’s cluttered set is, as always, perfect.

This A Thousand Clowns isn’t a perfect production, but the play’s “smell the roses” philosophy is worth a thought.

A Thousand Clowns plays through April 3 at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Shows Wed.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sat. at 2:00 p.m.; Sun. at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. For tickets call (858) 481-1055 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the Rep’s website.

What’s better than a queen in an evening dress?

Why six of them. Especially these six lovely, lissome, leggy and occasionally bitchy ladies.

They sing. They dance. They wear evening gowns and swimsuits, display talent (so to speak), hawk personal products, display their physical fitness and try to solve questions for callers to a beauty crisis hotline.

They’re the ladies of Pageant, competing for the Miss Glamouresse title, and they’re all male.

Yep, Bill Russell’s satire on beauty contests, which played to sold-out houses in 2002 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, is back through April 17 at Cygnet Theatre. Russell’s whacked-out sense of humor is also responsible for Lucky Duck, a musical take on Andersen’s ugly duckling story that played at the Old Globe last summer, and the off-Broadway hit The Texas Chainsaw Musical.

Pageant offers six lovely contestants and emcee Frankie Cavalier (Steve Gouveia) to keep things moving. It’s a big, splashy tongue-in-cheek musical that provides more hilarity per line than anything out there.

Two of the original cast members are back, but all are a scream as they go through the familiar beauty pageant paces in evening gowns and swimsuits.

But it’s the original categories that will have you in stitches, particularly the spokesmodel category in which each girl does a spot for such questionable Glamouresse products as Smooth as Marble facial spackle (for those too-big pores) and a hairspray that also repairs the ozone layer.

This is a particularly talented and accomplished group of ladies, as the short interviews accompanying the evening gown competition reveal. EST graduate Miss West Coast (James Vasquez) does tie-dye fashions for Malibu Barbie; Miss Great Plains (Andy Collins) has written a swell cookbook called Let’s Get Creative with Marshmallow Fluff.

Of course, all the ladies are beautiful, and this contest may come down to talent. It’s difficult to choose among Miss Texas, who does a “Home on the Range” tap number, Miss Great Plains’ dramatic recitation on dirt, Miss Industrial North’s accordion solo on roller skates, Miss West Coast’s “Seven Ages of Me” modern dance and Miss Bible Belt’s rollicking number whose first line is “I don’t need no Wall Street Journal, I’m bankin’ on Jesus.”

But when Miss Deep South (David McBean) takes the stage for her salute to Dixie with two puppets, the talent contest is over. McBean’s head-spinning three-way song/conversation is a phenom unto itself.

Bravo to emcee Frankie, all the girls and especially to directors James Vasquez and Sean Murray for bringing this fabulous show to Cygnet. These queens rock! Don’t miss them.

Pageant plays through April17 at Cygnet Theatre. Shows Thurs.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sun. at 2:00 p.m. Also Sun. at 7:00 p.m. shows on April 3 and 17. For tickets call (619) 337-1525 ext. 3 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to Cygnet’s website.