Concert review: Whoa Nellie! Over-the-top musical humor

Watching maverick singer-songwriter Nellie McKay in concert must be what it's like to be inside Robin Williams' brain: An overflow of creative ideas bursting forth at 100 mph -- some wacky, some wack -- but who has time or inclination to use a censor button.

On the first of her three nights at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, McKay on Sunday was often laugh-out-loud hilarious, sometime just silly, sometimes off the mark but always highly entertaining. She was smart and smart-alecky, clever and creative, fast and fearless, political and impolitic, proudly unhip and gleefully old-fashioned (she uses words like crumb-bum and louse and mentioned Steve Allen's TV show).

A cult figure in her New York hometown, McKay has done standup comedy, performed on Broadway, acted in movies and written for the New York Times Book Review. Neither her music nor her stage act can be succinctly pigeonholed.

A lovable contradiction, McKay, who turns 26 this month, was both contemporary social commentator and dedicated musical archivist. Combining Dylanesque wordplay with Mort Sahl-like bite, she zapped Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and even Ralph Nader, her candidate in 2004. With Randy Newman-like irony, she dished on feminism and marriage.

And McKay did it with different musical voices (seductive crooner, facile singer-songwriter, tongue-twisting rapper, fluttering soprano, Broadway belter) and different styles of music (from vaudeville to hip-hop, along with some self-styled hybrids such as "Wizard of Oz" tango). The singer-pianist drew material from her three cult-loved albums and the 1999 movie "Election" starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. For the "Election" ditties, she acted out little scenarios with child-like whimsy.

McKay was consistently at her best when she was most quiet, on the blithely romantic standard "If I Had You" (done Tiny Tim-style on ukulele) and her feminist-lampooning "Mother of Pearl." But she was a hoot on the loud New Orleans-flavored "Zombie," which wrapped up with her improvised impressions of various stars -- Bob Dylan, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Obama, McCain, Elizabeth Taylor, Patti LuPone and Dinah Shore -- essaying the refrain.

Her patter was just as free-flowing and off the wall. She explained her face was red, not because she was working too hard onstage, but because she had gone to Target to buy a compact but declined to pay the extra $3 for the puff and therefore did her makeup with her finger, resulting in a Target-red face.

That unplanned bit, like the 95-minute set, dragged on too long. But that's what happens when you're dealing with a free-wheeling genius who is riffing for both an expression and a reaction.

Opening on Sunday were the Tropicals, a 1990s duo featuring Hollywood screenwriter Craig Wright ("Six Feet Under," "Dirty Sexy Money") and Twin Cities musician/teacher Peter Lawton, who had lived in McKay's Harlem home while attending college. Their set was a quirky but delightful combination of Wright's intellectual patter, adult cynicism, child-like wonder and Simon & Garfunkel-like harmonies. Lawton's current group, Kangaroo, will open tonight and Tuesday.

For a set list and fan comments, go to www.startribune.com/poplife

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719