Published: Dec. 30, 2010 | Updated: 4:38 p.m.

Naughty Muppets offend and charm in IrvineBy PAUL HODGINSTHE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

These aren’t your daddy’s Muppets.

That much is clear from the first moments of “Stuffed and Unstrung,” an R-rated, improvisation-filled live show invented by Brian Henson, son of the beloved puppets’ creator. The off-Broadway hit, now on tour, is playing at the Irvine Barclay Theatre through Jan. 2.

On two large screens, a scholarly explanation of the history of pup-petry quickly disintegrates into a naughty and hilarious skit. Two Ne-anderthals mourning the death of their companion realize that he was actually a jerk. They merrily puppet-ize his corpse to mock him.

That’s just a taste of what’s to come. If you balk at the thought of watching Muppets curse, smoke, carouse and get their puppet-y freak on, then steer clear of “Stuffed and Unstrung.”

If, on the other hand, you appreciate a little irreverence and enjoy watching talented performers find ingenious solutions to seemingly impossible challenges, then this is your kind of show.

“Stuffed and Unstrung” evolved from “Puppet Up! – Uncensored,” which made its debut at the 2006 Aspen Comedy Festival as a modest improv session and slowly developed into a full-length production.

The audience is encouraged by host and director Patrick Bristow to help the six performers by yelling suggestions. The puppeteers sit upstage, awaiting the crowd’s instructions as interpreted by Bristow. Nearby, a huge collection of Muppets hangs on a wall. (Rest as-sured that none of them bear any resemblance to your favorite Muppets of old. You won’t witness Big Bird dropping an F-bomb in this show.)

Bristow sets a few simple rules, which differ for each sketch. He asks the audience to give him some parameters – an activity, a situation, a character or a title (at one point he requested a name for a fictitious James Bond movie).

Bristow chooses the performers, cues the onstage musician, and faster than Miss Piggy can chase Kermit they’re diving head-first into a little comedy scene.

The performers watch onstage monitors so they can correctly frame their puppets, which are captured by a video camera and projected onto the two upstage screens. Audience members enjoy the dual pleasure of watching the performers work and seeing the result. It’s a bit like peeking behind the curtain – something I always wanted to do when watching the Mup- pets as a kid.

The results are uneven, as any unscripted live show usually is. The per-formers undoubtedly have certain grooves that they easily fall into, and one senses when that happens.

There are times, though – usually when mayhem threatens to take over or something unexpected happens – that inventiveness triumphs and the performers hit a goldmine of humor.

In one skit, a messy-looking monster who speaks only Dutch is being questioned by a store detective for loitering. The scene transformed from merely amusing to brilliant when the jabbering creature started to lose its teeth. All three performers milked the unfortunate dental malfunction to the limit. The audience loved it.

In another sketch, a woman who struggled her entire life with men who texted instead of listening to her gets a heavenly vision while on her death bed. God and Jesus come to her. The Lord is a large, gentle-voiced gorilla. Jesus, of course, is texting. It was insanely in-spired.

It’s hard to keep the performers straight in a show where the puppets are the stars, but I tried. Some kudos:

Victor Yerrid improvised a hard-charging, obscene rap as an overly caffeinated rodent. Peggy Etra portrayed an officious but lonely DMV official who falls in lust with three confused space creatures trying to get their license. Michael Oosterom came up with some hilari-ous lines as one of the aliens and, in another skit, as a part of a team of scruffy urban bunnies carjacking a Prius. Alan Trautman has mastered a device that manipulates an animated onscreen head, which is superimposed on an actor’s body to create a weirdly realistic puppet.

Music director Willie Etra has one of the trickiest yet most fascinating jobs in the business, inventing appropriate music to undergird each situation. Whether it’s a country tune, rap rhythm or James Bond theme that’s needed, Etra finds the necessary notes on the spot. He’s especially good when a song is called for. I’m not sure what’s more astonishing – Etra’s music or the performers’ ability to improvise rhyming couplets.

Bristow and Brian Henson, who created the show, thoughtfully include a few classic Jim Henson bits, some of which haven’t been seen since they aired on TV more than 50 years ago. It’s a touching reminder that this night of silliness owes a debt to the Muppets’ late, great creator – and that the magic of his invention lives on.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com

A video camera projects the puppets’ actions onto a large upstage screen during “Stuffed and Unstrung.” Photo by CAROL ROSEGG

Jim Henson appreciated blue humor and could delve into the Muppets’ naughty side, but never on camera, his son said. It was that talent that partly inspired Brian Henson to create “Stuffed and Unstrung.”

Photo by CAROL ROSEGG