By Rick Katschke, Special to OnMilwaukee.com   Published Apr 07, 2013 at 11:03 AM Photography: Andy Tarnoff

Continuing on their recent trend to bring in the talents behind popular cable television series, the Riverside Theater welcomed some of the main voice cast members of the FX animated comedy "Archer" on Saturday night. While the television show is very tightly scripted, the live show was extremely loose with the sloppiness ping-ponging between being charming and distracting.

"Archer Live" kicked off with Lucky Yates, the voice of Dr. Krieger, coming out to warm-up the crowd with some Krieger-specific trivia. The fabulous prizes for those that answered correctly was a Krieger sticker and an Archer Spy Pen (a very cheap pen with "Archer Spy Pen" printed on it). Yates showed great command of the crowd as he shut down several potential disruptions with his quick wit and aggressive attitude. The additional cast was then introduced and walked out on stage.

Those appearing on Saturday were Amber Nash (the voice of Pam), Chris Parnell (Cyril), Aisha Tyler (Lana) and H. Jon Benjamin, the voice of the series main character Sterling Archer. However, when Benjamin was introduced, he didn’t appear on-stage but instead an actor who could pass for a live-action Sterling. With the actual Benjamin dubbing for the actor (who often forgot to move his mouth to match the words), he explained that he had been focusing on getting in great shape and was looking for someone to kiss. After pulling up a woman from the crowd, the real Benjamin switched places with the actor and planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek. The cast was then joined by producer Casey Willis, who also served as the moderator for the evening.

The show featured unconventional recreations of scenes from the show. In one case, the cast searched the audience for the person that could do the best Cyril impression and had him play the character, while Parnell gave him notes on his performance. Later, they found someone who could do a good Pam voice, but ultimately this audience member shined with her physicality in the suggestive scene that she was presented with.

In-between these scenes, the Kenny Loggins song "Danger Zone" (a running gag on the television show) played and each member of the cast took turns with a high-powered t-shirt gun, shooting souvenirs out into the crowd. One fan got himself noticed by removing his own shirt and demanding that he receive a t-shirt. This drew the ire of Benjamin and Yates, who both hilariously mocked the attention-hungry man. Later, when Aisha Tyler had her turn with the gun, she called this fan on-stage and took turns shooting him in the chest and then capped it off with a shot to his crotch after he insisted that he felt no pain. Ultimately, the man was happy to have a t-shirt but liquid courage might have contributed to his behavior.

The night also included a few videos that were special features for the DVDs of the series, as well as a brief Q&A culled from questions fans texted in. During the pre-show, a screen presented an active feed of these texts, which showed how little Willis had to work with as a moderator. Most of the texts were just quotes from the show and ultimately each cast member was just asked one question. This was far from a PaleyFest style panel, as the questions barely received an actual answer, but instead were met with tangents and asides.

One thing that was pointed out early in the show is that the cast members never record Archer together, instead the show is recorded with each individual actor alone in the recording booth. The lack of cohesiveness as a unit was apparent as there wasn’t much give-and-take throughout the night, but rather a lot of moments where everyone was talking at once, meaning the audience only heard bits and pieces of what was going on. Yates and Benjamin were the stand-outs because both knew how to take charge and say their funny thing the loudest. Benjamin in particular showed a lot of brilliance and commitment in his efforts to turn anything into a funny situation, often succeeding at this. Chris Parnell was inaudible at times as a combination of his low audio level in the mix and his lack of projection.

At the end of the evening, a preview was presented for this Thursday’s episode which is the season finale. After teasing that Jon Hamm will be a guest voice for this episode, Hamm was then introduced for the Riverside Theater crowd. Once again, the same actor who pretended to be Benjamin walked out with the actual Benjamin once again providing the voice, claiming that he had flown straight in to Milwaukee from the set of "Mad Men." As had been done earlier, an audience member was pulled up on-stage for a kiss, but this time it was an intoxicated male fan and Benjamin decided to bail on the switch-out, leaving the Hamm impersonator twisting in the wind.

"Archer Live" was a fun, but disjointed show over the course of its 90-minute running time. While it was fun to see the voices of these characters performed live, there was a lack of organization that was a bit of a disappointment with tickets costing $35-$45 each. Still, that same chaos allowed for some of the funniest moments of the evening, but for fans looking for a more in-depth look at the show, they were left in the cold in favor of the party atmosphere.

Listen to Andy Tarnoff's interview with Aisha Tyler here.