God Said, "Ha!"

Written and directed by former Saturday Night Live cast member Julia Sweeney, with Quentin Tarantino as executive producer, God Said, "Ha!" offers no sexually ambiguous Pat, no hit men in suits, only Julia Sweeney alone on stage telling the story of how her brother was diagnosed with cancer and how both he and her off-kilter parents moved into her brand new bachelorette bungalow in LA. Although her shtick is sometimes stagy, Sweeney paints her quirky family members with warmth and humor. Her father, who wears a walkman at all hours (even in bed) so he can be up to date with NPR news, tells her of an earthquake in Japan. "Oh my God," she gasps, "when did it happen?" He answers, "About 30 seconds ago." When Sweeney too is diagnosed with cancer and has to undergo a hysterectomy, she starts wondering about cancer of the fat. Would emergency liposuction be so bad? And at her doctor's suggestion that she find a sperm donor (as many as six) in case she wants to have children of her own someday, she does the natural thing: she gets out her address book.

-- Rachel O'Malley