T.S., I love you

PROFILE. T. S. Eliot is rolling over and out of his grave to host ImprovBoston’s “The Wasteland Comedy Hour with T.S. Eliot!” This showcase of seven hour-long talk shows, hosted by T.S. Eliot himself, a.k.a., veteran Boston performer Neil Reynolds, promises to be a multimedia comedy event that combines live music, film, sketches, audience interaction, and even a dance number.

“We thought it would be neat to use this infamous figure from literature who combined obscure referential themes,” says Reynolds.

“T.S. Eliot functions as Kermit in ‘The Muppet Show.’ He’s there to usher things along. He’s the thing that binds the rest of the show together.”

Reynolds, who confesses not to look or sound anything like the uncompromising poet, listened to Eliot’s voice on recordings and modified his mannerisms and cadence for the modern audience. But while he opens the night with a spot of poetry, he assures that Eliot’s purpose is purely comical.

“A lot of the sort of post-modern fear and anxiety is where a lot of friends and I draw our own inspiration about what’s funny,” says Reynolds. “We wanted all of it to have relevance, meaning to issues we felt were important in modern lives.”

With a dead poet as ringmaster, audiences can do less raging against the modernist machine, and more laughing at it.

‘The Wasteland Comedy Hour with T. S. Eliot!’
Every Friday through Dec. 14, 8 p.m.
ImprovBoston
1253 Cambridge St., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Central
$10-$16, 617-576-1253
www.improvboston.com