There is one (and really only one) reason to rush out and see the new Second City mainstage revue, "Iraqtile Dysfunction," and his name is Brian Gallivan. Though tall, lanky and unthreatening looking, beware: He's got that tricky glint of mischief in his eyes. A secret charmer, to be sure. And a smart and subtle one at that. And while he has been working the improv circuit for some time -- including the mainstage here, where he earlier appeared in "Red Scare" -- none of his credits quite prepare you for the absolute brilliance of his extended interactive sketch in this otherwise mediocre evening.

In the show's piece de resistance, Gallivan plays a very gentle, gay Latin customs agent who could easily charm the devil out of any potential terrorist, or, more crucially, could allow himself to be wholly charmed by a typical American.

Sadly, the rest of this revue, which has been directed by Ron West and is performed by Matthew Craig, Molly Erdman, Antoine McKay, Maribeth Monroe and Claudia Michelle Wallace, falls far short of the mark. This is pretty startling, given that anyone who sits down with a pile of newspapers and magazines these days (in other words, something a little more substantial than cable news) would realize just how much there is to question and satirize. But for the most part, this team settles for the easy fix.

Want to lampoon Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice? Just make fun of her uptight helmet hairdo, and subject her to a makeover that turns her into a cross between Beyonce and Tina Turner.

Hope to delve into the case of the "outing" of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame? Again, sidestep the really crucial issues and instead, watch Plame (Erdman) returned to "civilian" life as a hyperactive, paranoid parent.

Attempt to find something fresh to say about the fallout of Hurricane Katrina? Take an old black woman from New Orleans (Wallace), with a patois so heavy nobody can understand her, and have her "adopted" by a dysfunctional Winnetka family where she becomes the dispenser of all wisdom.

And then, drawing once again on the cliche of powerful, terrifying women, deploy two deadeningly repetitive South Side rapper girls (Wallace and Monroe) as the principal instruments of psychological torture of a suspected terrorist (McKay).

Aren't we well past the days when angry, self-empowered, self-defense-trained women are waging nonstop war against the opposite sex? It certainly feels like a pretty exhausted theme, and one that is worked well beyond interest here.

Another timely idea has Gallivan as the head of a seminary interviewing a potential student (Craig) to check for homosexual tendencies. Again, Gallivan is nicely naughty, even if the whole thing goes on far too long. As for a sketch about one couple happily dealing with kids and another conflicted over having them at all, it is sharp and funny if overly familiar.

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