Most people try to avoid getting into a sketchy situation. But for a local comedy troupe, it's a good thing.

The Baby Seal Club, a sketch comedy crew from Auburn, will try and show audiences on Friday just how good it can be. The recently-formed group will perform skits and sketches at the Auburn Public Theater as part of “The Freudian Clambake.”

According to Baby Seal Club co-founder Jason Manning, this will be the second performance at the theater since March. However, the club has been performing short numbers at the venue's open mic nights for quite a while, Manning said.

“People really liked it, so we decided to put together a full show,” Manning said.

The four-person troupe first formed in November as a way for the local actors to write comedy. All the sketches are original works, Manning said, and they are usually put together in a collaborative fashion.

The resulting skits range from the political to the absurd. In one performed at the theater, they give a public service announcement against mime abuse.

In another skit, a stage full of super villains converts one another to various world religions.

And what comedy repertoire in New York would be complete without lampooning former Governor Eliot Spitzer in the wake of the sex scandal?

“We don't really want to do all political stuff, even though this is a prime year for political humor,” Manning said. “We really do have quite a variety.”

Manning said the Baby Seal Club draws from a lot of different influences. The Muppets, Looney Toons, Saturday Night Live and Monty Python are just a few. Performing in the club often proves to be a rush, he said, as their comedy style makes it seem as if a sketch could fall apart at any time, he said.

That's the way they like it.

“If you can't find your way out of a joke, blow something up or throw some penguins in the air,” Manning said. “We're short on explosives, though.”

Auburn Public Theater Managing Director Carey Eidel said the theater has put together an affordable arrangement to allow the Baby Seal Club to organize and produce its own shows on a local stage.

“We are very proud to produce a home for this creative group,” Eidel said.

Manning warned that families with small children might want to find a babysitter. Not only are there occasional adult-themed sketches, but a good number of jokes will fly over a young children's heads, and they will be bored, he said.

“You can bring your kids,” Manning said, “as long as you have no standards for what they watch.”

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.

If you go

What: The Baby Seal Club presents “The Freudian Clambake”

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Auburn Public Theater, 108 Genesee St., Auburn

Cost: Free

Info: Call 253-6669