It’s hard to build a successful celebrity career when you share a surname with a mass murderer.

That was an early lesson learned in the life of Marc Berkowitz (we know him as Marc Summers), cable TV icon and the subject of The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, onstage now at Alleyway Theatre.

I’ll be honest; I wasn’t looking forward to this one on a Sunday night, but it was one of the funniest and most poignant experiences I’ve had in this house. Summers is more than the nice guy explaining the behind-the-scenes actions in candy factories like he was in Food Network’s Unwrapped, or the ringmaster of the mayhem on Nickelodeon’s Double Dare. He’s a cancer survivor who also lives with obsessive compulsive disorder. He’s also a husband, a dad, and an executive producer of other cable TV hit shows. And before all that, he was a nice Jewish kid from Indiana trying to find his way in the world through the entertainment industry.

Summers weaves his life story around doing the bits from Double Dare that viewers always loved. The goofy challenges, the quips and jokes, the messiness on stage and in the audience, too (note, I still have silly string in my hair as I write this). Yes, he will call out audiences members to join him on stage. Go on and do it…you know you want to!

Amongst the silliness and site gags is Summers’ real story. The ups and downs of a TV show biz. How to deal with hearing no (He says “No stops  creativity and halts wonder”….and he’s right.) The constant pursuit of the next gig. The fickle fingers of fate that make you perfect for one gig and a no go for the next. Throw in the human side, the family, the health, the life-long challenge of managing mental wellness with a chronic diagnosis and it’s a complex and very normal life. But then again, most of us don’t get covered in slime at work on a regular basis.

This show is a departure for Alleyway: it’s not a new work and it’s a little bit wacky in a wonderful way. But there are solid messages in here that make the experience worthy of your time and ticket price. Summers doesn’t downplay the challenges of his physical and mental health and that just makes him even more likeable.  All told, it’s a fun start to season 44.

It’s a fast (and slightly slimy in a good way) 90 minutes with a brief intermission and it runs to September 30. I double dare you to visit www.alleyway.com for tickets.