I want your show to be good.

I think that gets lost in the hurt and high dudgeon that follows a negative review. In the days leading up to a performance, I fret over every bad omen. I hate writing pans. I don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings. So when I walk into a theater on final dress night and smell panic, my heart sinks. Disney's Imagineers consider a waiting line part of their attraction, and you should, too.  Preshow is show. Despite three good actors and a director I respect, signs augured trouble as the metaphorical curtain rose on Theater Artists Olympia's co-production (with the Outfit Theatre Project) of The Hound of the Baskervilles in TAO's quirky new digs, the Eagles Ballroom basement.

I relaxed within seconds, I'm happy to report, because Baskervilles is instantly funny and stays that way. It owes as much to Monty Python's Flying Circus as it does to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you've seen Shakespeare Abridged or, for that matter, Airplane, you have a feel for its tone: linear narrative cohesion has been sacrificed gleefully at the altar of one goofy joke after another. It even follows the Shakespeare Abridged model to the extent of restaging previous scenes in fast-forward, probably in the hope that this will help us make sense of the plot. It almost does.

As a Holmes fan of long and comprehensive standing, I appreciate the fact that Doyle's 1902 whodunit is followed with surprising loyalty. Even so, the story makes minimal sense in this incarnation, which is mostly a knock on Doyle himself. The villains on Scooby-Doo devised more sensible plots, and they were foiled by a stoner who lived in a shaggin' wagon with a wussy Great Dane.

It seems Sir Charles Baskerville dropped dead of a heart attack after a terrified flight across the moors of West Country England, and spooky rumors of a bloodthirsty hellhound persist. The Great Detective of 221B Baker Street dispatches his stalwart sidekick, Dr. John Watson, to investigate. Pun aside, the novel is a true shaggy dog story, in that it spins false ends and fog-shrouded atmosphere to pad what is basically a locked-estate family intrigue mystery. (Sound familiar, Stieg Larsson fans?) Nothing funny about it really, other than the scary dog as murder weapon conceit, but it sets the game afoot.

In this retelling, Beau Prichard plays Watson in a deadpan so wink-free it'd fit in a mainstream Sherlock drama. Christian Doyle plays Holmes and a league of minor characters. Brian Lewis, complete with Blue Steel headshot, plays a similarly wide assortment of Baskervilles and rustics. The variety of Eurotrash accents on hand is astounding if sometimes unconvincing. But really, what the hell: we just want Hound to be funny, and it is. Director Mark Alford, one of the prime instigators of Riot to Follow Productions at The Evergreen State College, brings obvious energy and dedication to Theater Artists Olympia. They're lucky to have him.

This show's defining adjective has to be silly. We wouldn't be surprised if Squire Patsy himself came clopping around the corner with two halves of a coconut shell. But unlike the Family Guy-style pop culture references of TAO's Cannibal: the Musical, these jokes hail from the smarter-than-thou realm of a Marx Brothers romp. They have the same adorable, good-natured timeless quality, and they're sold by good timing and restraint. Hound deserves a place on your busy Halloween schedule.

What a great month this has been for live theater comedy in Olympia.

[Eagles Ballroom basement, The Hound of the Baskervilles, through Nov. 6, 8 p.m. Fri-Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, $12, 805 N. Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.790.1138]