Lance Krall, foreground, with his cast: (back, from left to right) Annie Humphries, Loren Tarquinio, Phil Cater, (front left to right) Sarah Baker, Rob Poynter, Michael Sweeney and Anna Vocino. Click photo for larger image. 'The Lance Krall Show' When: 11:05 tonight on Spike TV. Starring: Lance Krall, Loren Tarquinio.

Sketch comedy shows have a ... well, sketchy track record in prime time. They're usually inconsistent and filled with hit-or-miss skits. That's certainly the case with the two most recent attempts, Fox's "Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show" and Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken."

Spike TV's new late-night effort, "The Lance Krall Show" (11:05 tonight), can be overly sexual and frequently profane, but it is consistent in its attempts to wring laughs from bathroom jokes, uncomfortable situations and sexual innuendo. Most of the time, Krall and his cronies are pretty funny.

Loren Tarquinio, a Marshall Township native and 1989 graduate of North Allegheny High School, is among Krall's troupe, and he's featured a lot in tonight's premiere.

All the actors appear as themselves in some sketches, and in one Tarquinio feigns an unusual sexual fetish. In another, he plays a guy who pays for a best friend.

But the show belongs to Krall, probably best known for playing Kip "the gay guy" on the first season of Spike's "Joe Schmo Show." He's a founding member of Atlanta improv group The Whole World Theater, which is where he and Tarquinio met.

Krall introduces several regular features and characters, including Chu Chi, a fake psychic who reads real people, and Tron, a Vietnamese dry cleaning store owner who insults his customers in attempts at humor.

In a recurring "Candid Camera"-like sketch, Krall rides the subway and tells other patrons he's narcoleptic and asks them to wake him if he falls asleep. Naturally, he falls into a deep slumber.

Krall also plays phone pranks, calling a restaurant and making a reservation while pretending to be an obnoxious Christopher Walken. In another episode, Krall talks to a service about making a resume for a male porn star.

"The Lance Krall Show" has a better yuks-per-minute average than most sketchcoms -- but only if you can laugh at scatological humor and frequent sexual innuendo.