Comedy Intervenes on ‘Bobby’s’ Behalf

If you love horror stories of WASP dysfunction, John Bunzel’s new comedy, “Expecting Bobby,” will make you shiver like hearing nails dragging across a chalkboard might. And Art Wolff directs this tale, presented at the Odyssey Theatre, with a certain hideous glee.

In a Brentwood-adjacent house, Mitchell (Grant Shaud) is hosting a family get-together, coordinated by his sister Carrie (Ann Talman). But unfortunately, this is one social occasion that Miss Manners never mentioned--an intervention aimed at getting drug addict Bobby (Max Hamel) to confront his problems.

No one is quite sure how to behave. For mother Pat (Jenny O’Hara), who has “made a career out of hurting . . . feelings”; compulsive cleaner Carrie; tuned-out, weak-willed golf fanatic father Frank (Eddie Jones); and the booze-guzzling Mitch, the tension of waiting for the guest of honor erupts into “a gross display of family disunity.”

Unlike Justin Tanner--whose comedy “Intervention” was about a sane and newly sober man fighting against his slightly nutty but dimwittedly well-meaning family--Bunzel focuses on the unraveling neuroses of the family members. Bunzel piles the psycho-surprises a little high, but this well-tuned ensemble digs deep, attacking their roles with an evil comedic vengeance.

* “Expecting Bobby,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; except Dec. 22, Jan. 12, 2 p.m. only. Dark Dec. 23-Jan. 1. Ends Jan. 19. $18.50-$22.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours.