By MIKE DUNHAM

The 60 or so seats at Out North were filled and extra chairs set along the sides of the performance area for Saturday night's performance of the monologue, "The SantaLand Diaries," presented by Benjamin Brown.

The show is a narrative by David Sedaris about his desparate days as an elf in the SantaLand section of Macy's Department Store in New York City. With hilarious detail Brown outlined the process of applying for the job, the training, the assignments and finally the crazy mob scene of people trying to get to see Santa, sit on his lap and get their picture with him.

As "Crumpet" the elf, he wears a ridiculous costume, endures endless streams of dumb questions and abusive remarks, watches children relieve themselves in the fake snow and parents of toddlers, desparate after waiting for an hour in the line to get to Santa's house, toss used diapers into the candy cane forest.

Macy's SantaLand is mostly depicted as an anti-Christmas universe, a place where sentiments of peace on earth or goodwill toward men are effectively banished. In one episode, Crumpet muses over the fact that "Santa" and "Satan" use the same letters and imagines a department store "SatanLand." In another part he briefly touches on the source of the dystopian scene as parents trying to construct an imitation world to offset the real world over which they have no control. It reels in falsehoods; his name is false, his words and emotion are false; he becomes so used to lying that he can't take it seriously when someone compliments his haircut.

The hour long experience is nicely written and brilliantly timed. Each line is a new joke and the crowd couldn't help snickering and laughing throughout the show.

Expect another crowd at 4 p.m. Sunday, the final show at Out North, at Bragaw and Debarr. Tickets are $15 and a few may still be available at www.outnorth.org.