For one night only, SCTV was on the air once again–or, at least, many of its characters came out to play live on the Second City Mainstage tonight in an avuncular show that was a fan-boy delight. Were there missed cues? Yes. Were several of the sketches conveniently set up so that characters could be holding maps or clipboards or other cheat-sheet-hiding props? Indeed–so much so, that Harold Ramis made a joke about it during one of the between-scene interludes. But there were also lots of gratifying laughs as Ramis, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Martin Short, Andrea Martin and Dave Thomas shook off the rust during the first of two benefit performances. The late show is going on even as I write this, and I enjoyed myself enough that I wish I was able to be watching the second go-round as well. Not bad for a gig that went off after a reported four hours of rehearsal time.

Familiar characters in attendance included Guy Caballero, Lola Heatherton, Sammy Maudlin, Ed Grimley, Bobby Bittman, Jackie Rogers Jr., Edith Prickley, Irving Cohen, Bill Needle, Count Floyd, Tex & Edna Boil, Floyd Robertson, Earl Camembert, Dr. Cheryl Kinsey, Pirini Scleroso, Dusty Towne and Rocco Jacuzzi. Bob & Doug McKenzie were not on hand, because Bob’s alter ego, Rick Moranis, has more or less retired from show business, and Sammy Maudlin’s sidekick, William B. Williams, was a no-show along with all of the other characters originated by the late, great John Candy.

But while only a passing reference was made to Moranis, several touching moments were dedicated to Candy, who clearly was missed by both castmates and audience. Levy told a story about his last appearance on the Mainstage more than 30 years ago, when a crazy woman confronted him during a solo sketch. When Levy asked the woman what she wanted, she said, “Shoes.” After Levy replied, “We’re a theater, we don’t sell shoes,” Candy emerged from the wings, asked the woman her shoe size and said, “We sell shoes backstage” and gently guided her off, Levy recalled. And in an extended Sammy Maudlin Show sketch, several of the actors talked about how much they missed William B. Williams.

That sketch also contained the highlight of the show: After Thomas delivered a droll turn as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Levy and O’Hara did a fun duet medley of Canadian pop songs as Bittman and Heatherton, Short emerged in blond wig and sparkly leotard as Sigfried-and-Roy-ish entertainer Jackie Rogers Jr. with Andrea Martin in tow as his partner in a number that got them kicked off of Dancing with the Stars even before the episode started. Giving themselves completely over to the bit, Short and Martin slithered around in circles on the floor before he hoisted her over his head. She squeezed his neck between her thighs as she played the bongos on his butt and they spun around in circles. You had to be there, but it was tearfully fun.

Short also hammed it up nicely as Ed Grimley in a job-interview sketch with O’Hara and Ramis, and in the opening sketch, in which several parents were called into a classroom to account for their children’s bad grades. The audience cheered wildly for everyone as they made their entrances, but Martin’s Prickley and Short’s old-man songwriter Cohen got the biggest hoots. Chomping a giant cigar, Short would interject lines such as, “I’m so old, the only time I don’t have to pee is when I’m peeing” and, “I’ll let you in on a showbiz secret: Elton John… gay!”

Flaherty, the oldest of the crew, proved a surprisingly vital performer. O’Hara was also consistently strong, and seemed to be having a great time reprising her ribald comedienne Towne, walking through the audience in a garish getup and rubbing a bald man’s head before asking him to stand up. “I never like to look down on a man,” she said, before noting, “I said look down,” adding her catchphrase, “Isn’t it fun? Isn’t it true?”

And it was, truly fun.

For our complete feature package on the 50th anniversary of Second City, click here.