Page 17 - Toast of the Remote Hosts

Another scheme for keeping the herd fascinated is a theme party. Sure they’re corny, but we’re hungry for any distraction. And to start the cornball rolling, some suggested themes:
An Old West atmosphere will spice up Happy Hour. Use a still from your favorite Sergio Leone horse opera as your virtual background. Rustle up a bottle of whisky and label it “Old Rot Gut.” Drink from a shot glass. Costumes should be easy for this. If you can’t go full Miss Kitty dancehall floozie, everybody has
a bandana, and some of you just might, quite by chance, have
a leather vest and matching chaps — oh, and a bullwhip, as it turns out!
Ernie Kovacs night! For a party of three, each acquire a gorilla mask and have a Nairobi Trio jam session. See who can come up with the best Kovacs-inspired video sight gag. Or how about everyone comes as Percy Dovetonsils? Youtube it, kids.
Laugh In! A tribute to the ground-breaking comedy series that updated tired burlesque blackout sketches into a groovy TV format that turned out to not be any funnier than the original. But they had Goldie Hawn in a bikini so America forgave them. For your Laugh In theme, have everyone paint a mod design on an empty cardboard box and pop out of it with a quip or catch phrase at intervals. Bippie! To round out the swinging Sixties vibe, dig that Nehru jacket out of storage or fake one with a pinned-up jacket collar, slap on the Flower Power face paint, pour a bowl of Bugles to snack on and mix up a Harvey Wall- banger (1 oz. vodka and 6 oz. orange juice stirred over ice in
a Collins glass; 1/4 oz Galliano liqueur floated atop.) Say good night, Dick.