Hbo Comedy Hour Kathy & Mo: The Dark Side

 ((Sat. (8), 10-11 p.m., HBO))

By TODD EVERETT

Videotaped at the Henry Fonda Theater, Hollywood, by Paula Mazur Prods., Good Dog Prods. and Big Fat Liar Prods. Executive producer, Kathy Najimy; co-executive producer, Mo Gaffney; producer, Paula Mazur; line producer, Tom Sherren; director, Dean Parisot; editor, Suzanne Pettit; production designer, Naomi Slodski; lighting designer,Simon Miles; sound, Dana McClure; music, John Boswell. #Cast: Kathy Najimy, Mo Gaffney. The transfer from stage to HBO videotape of Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney's long-delayed follow-up to their 1991 "Parallel Lives" runs smoothly. Current show features Najimy and Gaffney portraying a variety of characters, including elderly Maddie and Syvvie, holdovers from "Parallel Lives." The two are introduced as ushers for "The Kathy & Mo Show."
 

In one of the hour's more successful pieces, Maddie (Najimy) talks to an unseen friend, relating her experiences with gay nephew Philip, who now has AIDS. It's a wise and touching monologue.

Gaffney's strong solo piece features her as an anti-abortion picketer in front of a clinic.

Compared with those, many of the rest of the pieces are rather lightweight, though often amusing, like the one featuring Najimy as a cabaret performer and Gaffney as the boite's gay bartender.

Show has been resequenced somewhat from the live version, with a few sketches dropped to fit the hour format. Cameras under direction of Dean Parisot find some interesting perspectives, and televised sound allows audience better grasp of exaggerated (and sometimes mush-mouthed) East Coast and Southern accents affected by Gaffney and Najimy.

The show closes effectively with Maddie and Syvvie meeting real-life Gaffney and Najimy after the performance; it demonstrates how an actor can play two roles simultaneously without any fancy-schmancy special effects.