unmerciful to the allegedly great and good of Island life.

And anyone who still thinks sarcasm is the lowest form of wit -- well, they may well be right -- but who cares when politicians, who tend to take themselves too seriously anyway, are given a serious roasting by the four-strong comedy hitmen? But -- and this must be said -- I fail to see the humour in jokes about The Royal Gazette , the Island's biggest organ and staffed entirely by people chosen from around the world for their incredible niceness.

That aside, everybody else deserves all they get -- from pompous politicos to doctors to TCD.

And both the new(ish) Government and the former incumbents came in for a bit of bashing, from Chris Broadhurst's Rock and Roll Budget, loosely based on Rock Around the Clock, to Radio Mohawk ads for "PLP Travel -- it's all we do.'' One Broadhurst hit of the show was The People's Holiday, set to the tune of Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy -- which included the line "if you work for The Royal Gazette watch out for your work permit.'' And the sketch set in the Parliament Hill Deli -- offering delicacies like the Ewart Brown sandwich (American cheese and Bermuda onion) complete with side salad (impeccably dressed with just a hint of bitterness) and the Eugene Cox pie (exactly the same as the Grant Gibbons pie -- just sliced a little bit differently) was a delight.

But the visscitudes of the UBP also came under the spotlight -- with talk of a name-change to the DIP (Diminished Influence Party).

The bar scene with a UBP voter and new PLP supporter performing a post-election post-mortem, like all good comedy, maintained a link with reality.

And it explored the funny side of a "them and us'' identity crisis when you stop being one of "us'' and swap to the "them'' side.

On the Pages of The Royal Gazette , once The Cover of the Rolling Stone by Dr.

Hook, offered an insight into editorial policy from the point of view of a disgruntled PLP politician -- "if they see us kissing babies, they'll say that we've got rabies.'' See what I mean? -- not funny at all.

And a tour of virtual reality Bermuda -- a McDonald's on every corner in Swannyland and Premier's car registered QEI and official yacht, yes, you've guessed it, QEII, in former politician's Quinton Edness' version of a virtual Bermuda to BIU leader Derrick Burgess' expat badges and Gestapo surveillance, gave a surreal twist to anyone's view of the Island.

Just in time for the Millennium-um, one sketch offered a get-away-from-it-all celebration for survivalist Rambo Trott, who waits for the end of the world on North Rock.

But Rambo's apocalypse watch is wasted by the arrival of the failed Y2K expert from a bank, a Reverend waiting for his transportation to paradise and a champagne-toting Bermudian trying to escape the crowds on Front Street.

The best advice is on the Not the Um Um Show's own flyer -- "miss it at your peril.'' Raymond Hainey THEATRE THR