When you get the right formula, creating a popular performance together is a wonderful thing; and such is the case for Mike Miclon, executive artistic director of Johnson Hall, who will be presenting “The Early Evening Show” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 18, at Waterfront Park in Gardiner.

This will be the 17th year that this late-night talk show spoof will be presented. To help me find out more about it, Miclon was kind enough to call me and chat about what folks can expect this time.

Q: So this is the 17th year for this production. Did you have any idea that it would run this long when you first started?

Miclon: Well, when I opened my theater in Buckfield — the Odd Fellows Theater — I needed a week’s worth of shows. I had everything booked except a Saturday night show, and I said, “I’ve always wanted to be the host of my own late-night talk show.” I was and still am a huge fan of Johnny Carson, and his “Tonight Show” was really what variety theater is to me. So with no real planning, I put it out there: “The Early Evening Show.” Mike Miclon’s the host of a spoof late-night talk show, and in that week that show was the first show to sell out. And for two straight years we sold out every single show. We did the first Saturday of the month. After that, we did it on Friday and Saturday nights to catch the over-spill, and so for 14 years at the Odd Fellow Theater we sold out just about every “Early Evening Show” that we did. It was insane.

Q: Wow, that’s amazing.

Miclon: We wrote new material every single month, so it was a whole new show. That, for me as a performer, was probably one of the best experiments I ever did, because it forced me to write new material every single month and we developed some of the best stuff we’ve ever done.

Q: So you were able to continue it on there at Johnson Hall.

Miclon: Yes, I do it here at Johnson Hall and then I also do it during the summer, because we don’t do shows here during the summer — the first Saturday each month at the Celebration Barn Theater in South Paris.

Q: Oh, I see.

Miclon: Yeah, so that’s how I get to keep doing it in the summertime.

Q: Now is that something new for you, this South Paris venue?

Miclon: No, I’ve always done that. Even when the Odd Fellows Theater was still running, I would take off summers there, too, because similarly to Johnson Hall, we were not air-conditioned, so I would do one or two at Celebration Barn. And then since I closed the Odd Fellows Theater, I’ve gone back and done two to three “Early Evening Shows” every summer in South Paris. We didn’t want to go too long without doing it. It’s such an ensemble show, and it’s so much fun for my crew when we get together and create that it’s really a great opportunity for us to stay fresh and keep writing and creating.

Q: Now it’s family-friendly, correct?

Miclon: Yes, 100 percent. We pride ourselves in that, and it’s not that we’re making a show for the kiddies; it’s that we try to write what I call true comedy, which usually doesn’t need to have anything off-color or inappropriate. If it’s just good, old-fashion comedy. You can just do it nice and clean. It’s good stuff.

Q: How big is your ensemble?

Miclon: It varies, but my core group is six people that are basically almost always a part of the show. That includes Oren Robinson; April Reed-Cox, my partner in crime; Fritz Grobe; Amanda Huotari, who is the executive director of the Celebration Barn, but she’s been part of “The Early Evening Show” from the early days; and then usually one of the three of my sons if they’re in town, they’re always part of the show. My youngest, Brian, is taking the helm because my older two boys both live in New York City now, juggling and acting.

Q: A proud parent?

Miclon: Yeah, very much. They grew up in a theater, so it was kind of inevitable.

Q: That’s really neat. Congratulations. Is there anything else about this Saturday’s performance we should talk about?

Miclon: I don’t know if you knew this, but that particular show is actually going to be at the waterfront this year. We’re closing out the Johnson Hall season and closing out River Fest, so I booked the show here before I realized that River Fest is the same day. We’ll be the last performance at River Fest, and so this year for the first time it’s going to be free to the public. They can all come down to the waterfront to see the show. I used to run the Maine Festival back in the early 2000s and we did “The Early Evening Show” and closed out the festival two years in a row. We had a thousand people each show. It’s amazing to do that show for a giant crowd. It’s really fun.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?

Miclon: This show, as I said, is one we’ve been doing for many, many moons; and what’s so fun about it is that it’s a format that people know. It’s a late-night talk show. If they like Jimmy Fallon or Johnny Carson, they’ll like this. We actually do interview people. We do all that, so it’s a really fun variety show. There’ll be music, there’ll be comedy, there’ll be juggling, big finale numbers — you name it, it’ll happen in the show. And for this particular one, we’re going to bring some past folks from the old talent shows that they used to do to end River Fest. We’re going to do like a “where are they now?” kind of thing. So this will be not only a really fun community celebration, but also it’s a great show to bring the family, bring your picnic, set it up, watch a great show, laugh, and then end with fireworks. What could be better?

Lucky Clark has spent more than 45 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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