Friday, June 21, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.
What: "Whoops! Or How to Age Ungracefully."
When: 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., through Sunday.
Where: UNLV's Judy Bayley Theater.
Tickets: $30 general admission, $25 senior citizens, $20 groups of 10 or more. Friday, $13 for local residents.
While many countries revere older citizens, the United States seems to revile them.
Instead of respecting the age and, perhaps, wisdom of seniors, many older Americans say this country's youth-oriented society wants to retire them, hide them in nursing homes, and pretend they don't exist.
Aging is almost a sin, certainly nothing to laugh at.
Or is it?
Veteran Hollywood writer Ted Bergman, who witnessed age discrimination firsthand in the Glamour Capital, has penned a comedy revue that should have young and old alike in stitches.
"Whoops! Or How to Age Ungracefully," is playing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Judy Bayley Theater. It is being touted as an older version of a particularly popular network satire and skit show.
"It has that kind of topical, sharp humor you see on 'Saturday Night Live,' " Bergman, 62, said.
And when it comes to humor, Bergman is an expert.
His comedy writing career began in 1965 when he wrote jokes for "'Hollywood Squares." He progressed to writing for the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS in 1967 and eventually became head writer for the NBC series "Sanford and Son" for two years in the early '70s.
Bergman has written for several of the top programs in television, including "All in the Family" (CBS) and "It's Garry Shandling's Show" (HBO).
But, he said, after a writer loses his youth in Hollywood, he (or she) is going to be replaced no matter how good they are.
"What happens in Hollywood is, if you don't reach the status of executive producer by your mid-to-late 40s you're washed up," Bergman said. "It's almost like professional athletics. (In your later years) you better be a coach or an owner."
In 1994, at age 54, Bergman decided to leave Los Angeles and moved to Sonoma County in Northern California.
Bergman said after a couple of years he began getting bored and started talking to some local amateur actors and writers about a variety show. A group of 15 people, in their 50s and 60s, wrote a revue that eventually became "Whoops!"
"We were finding comedy in things that related to our lives -- and it didn't always have to be health related," he said.
On tap are sketches about older people dealing with the modern world, and some song-and-dance parodies.
"We have a 'Riverdance' reject number in which this guy pushing 60 comes out with his open shirt and dances like Michael Flatley and has to stop and take a hit off an oxygen bottle," Bergman said.
The show debuted in 1997 in the 150-seat banquet room of a Chinese restaurant in Sebastapool, Calif. For four months, Bergman said, there was never an empty seat.
"It's a combination of sketches and production numbers," Bergman said. "There are senior cheerleading champions and acrobatics. There is a lot of silliness. Everything is comedy."
The original cast was made up of amateur actors, singers and dancers from Sonoma County. The sound man was a Pacific Bell Telephone Company lineman. The lighting man was an electrician who worked in a local store.
"After a couple of years, we went to an Italian roadhouse with a 250-seat room," Bergman said.
The show ran for two years.
"We weren't making any money and we were getting to the point where expenses were coming out of my pocket," Bergman said.
He decided to find a venue where he could produce the show on a professional level, so he came to Las Vegas.
"I think the show belongs here for a number of reasons," Bergman explained. "Vegas has a huge older population that in my opinion is kind of being ignored by entertainment directors.
"And, Vegas is a tremendous crossroads for tourists."
In an effort to find the right venue in Las Vegas, Bergman is showcasing the production for four days at UNLV, in the hopes that someone with a showroom will see it and pick it up.
Bergman said there are a couple of misconceptions about the show.
"Some people perceive it as a strictly senior citizens show," he said. "It is not. It includes seniors, but also people in their 30s and 40s. Age is relative.
"And some people think it is an amateur senior show. It is not."
Bergman said some cast members, who are locals, are as good as some of the best people he has worked with in Hollywood. He has a small part in the production, playing a character similar to the 2,000-year-old man created by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.
"I play the 20th Century Man who believes everything in the 21st century went into the Dumpster," Bergman said.
Bergman said he has heard there is not enough entertainment for seniors in Las Vegas, and he hopes enough seniors will attend "Whoops!" to prove to entertainment directors that it is something worth putting into a local showroom.
"If the show doesn't get a response from the older population in this town, we aren't going to be able to stay around," Bergman said. "This is my one shot. It's time for seniors to step forward, because there probably won't be a second chance."
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