Chris Isaak shows funny side in new comedy

He’s a sexy rocker with a sly sense of humor. They are two of the most artful writers in television, with "Northern Exposure" among their credits.

Team Chris Isaak with Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider on a comedy series and it turns out to be a perfect match.

"The Chris Isaak Show," premiering tonight, is a zesty romp through a fictionalized version of Isaak’s on- and off-stage life, with the musician playing a droll version of himself.

Comparisons can be made to HBO’s "The Larry Sanders Show," Garry Shandling’s talk show spoof, and some are apt. Isaak is backed by colorful supporting characters, and celebrities, including actress Minnie Driver and singer Stevie Nicks, drop in as themselves.

There’s a gleeful sexuality in the show and unfettered language as in "Larry Sanders."

But the hourlong program has its own Alice in Wonderland spirit and soulful charm. The series even wanders through a kind of looking glass: A mermaid-stocked aquarium in the club where Isaak and his Silvertone band perform.

The camera follows the mermaid to a back room where she turns out to be a nude beauty (Bobby Jo Moore) making languid movements in front of special-effects mirrors. The mysterious Mona acts as Isaak’s counselor, offering sound advice he promptly ignores.

"The Chris Isaak Show" has the distinction of being one of the few projects about show business that makes a viewer want to seek an audition instead of a cleansing shower.

This isn’t the seamy, back-stabbing biz we generally see. Hanging with Isaak and the band, making music videos with stars like Bai Ling and getting banana bread from a friendly stalker are carefree fun.

In the opening episodes, Isaak is teased by his friends as a cheapskate who reuses disposable cups (with lipstick stains!) and plays peeping Tom when a woman dances naked in a hotel room across from his.

Chris Isaak, is this really your life?

"If it was untrue but funny, we’d lie. Verisimilitude and reality are low, hijinks and mirth are high. If it was funnier, I’d play a dentist," the witty Isaak said in an interview.

Reality does creep in: The exhibitionist dancer was based on one who teased him during a movie shoot and he admits to a frugal life. Isaak said his TV house is bigger and better than his own.

"If the show gets canceled, I want to buy the furniture," said Isaak, who shares a producer credit on the series, which is set in San Francisco but filmed in Vancouver, B.C.

Isaak, whose songs include "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" (used in the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman movie "Eyes Wide Shut") cut back on touring to squeeze in the 17-episode series.

He gets excellent backup, particularly from cast members Jed Rees ("Galaxy Quest") as a wayward band member and Kristin Dattilo as a high-strung agent. Isaak’s real band members get into the spirit.

And then there’s the magic provided by Frolov and Schneider. Isaak’s show is reminiscent of the wry quirkiness of "Northern Exposure," the 1990-95 CBS series set in a tiny Alaska town.

By focusing on Isaak’s neighborhood, the writers said, they hope to create the sense of another close-knit community.

Isaak paints the collaboration with Frolov and Schneider as a balancing act.

"If you left it to them, they’d have poignant, meaningful stories and, if you left it to me and the band, everything would take place between a urinal and a strip club. ... Somewhere between the two, I hope we land."

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