Midnight in a city that makes you sleep. Bursting through your restive dreams are voices, laughing , singing, cajoling, making sophisticated dick jokes. My God—you left the clock radio tuned to It Is To Laugh!

This is your Effing Cable…slutty, airheaded tv hosts. Ads for Banker’s Life and Animosity. Psychic detectives hunting down chess gangsters. Bin Laden cozy in his cave, enjoying Al Qaeda standup Jonny El Turbani. The Republican Guard dickering and selling at the Mall of Weapons of Mass Destruction—hello, I’m Donald, I’ll be your waiter. Songs that take you back to that uncomfortable feeling you get when you watch real tv, except this time, you’re laughing. Jesus appears on radio to clarify who’s right and who’s just a faggy Democrat. Fashion shows for the coolest new prosthetic limbs. Lose Weight by Phone! Get Hooked on Consonants! Drink Bully Ale. And as always, feel safe in the odd hamlet of Effing, Maine, where the outré locals specialize in weird and funny hijinx. Maybe go down to the Effing Bijou and catch that new movie, “Sequel.”

Our program began in 2000 after the dissolution of Portland Radio Group. Originally known as "Program Already in Progress," IT IS TO LAUGH features the same crew of actors, improvisers, comedians and assorted other misfits that it's always had, streaming madness, comedy, wit and just a hint of patchouli to the entertainment-hungry hordes. 

We split our time between improvised stories recorded live to tape, structured around a loose story skeleton. TALES OF EFFING, THE STARSHIP MAJORA, OLD '99 are continuing series in this veinalong with MR. GILL'S STORYTIME.

Our scripted presentations have focused on political satire and parody, and include the award-winning SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN and numerous sequels and spinoffs, including IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE FOURTH REICH, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FOURTH REICH and more.

"MIND CZAR" Michael Townsend handles the production arts and sound wrangling.

"THAT GUY" Dan Bernard, goaded by Townsend, helms the improvised shows and scripts and directs the scripted ones.

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