How do we get away with this?

"Don't shoot on the subway, Bernie,
Don't blow out the mugger's brains.
Don't shoot on the subway Bernie,
The time's not ripe for the Charlie Bronson bit,
Now get along, don't make a mess on the trains.''

With these immortal words sung in 1985 (to the tune of Petula Clark's "Don't Sleep on the Subway'') about Manhattan subway shooter Bernhard Goetz, I launched one aspect of my life I would never have expected: 26 straight years singing, talking and dancing in a show that people actually pay to see. I have dressed up like Mario Cuomo as Batman, George Pataki as a Mexican peasant and Chuck Schumer as a nerd with taped-up glasses and a belt worn just under my armpits. Only once, when playing Ed Koch, did I come out of a tricky dance spin and draw a blank on my lyrics.

Tonight was the first rehearsal for the 2010 version of the show, and I found that I still can carry a tune and sing loudly - my two principal show-biz skills (those of you who have heard me do this know I am not being falsely modest.)

The 110th edition of the nation's longest running political satirical show is scheduled to be performed here the second weekend in May. Then we give the pols chance to give it back to us.

I am always struck by the same three observations as we start rehearsals. The first is we have many clever reporters and pr people who really know how to rhetorically stick in the knife, and slowly twist twist it. And of course, most reporters tend to be over-the-top hams. No surprise there.

The third is what a great country we have that the people who control the police and the army don't have us all rounded up and, if not shot, at least severely beaten upside the head and thrown in the cooler for a while. Far from it. In fact, the ritual has evolved to to point where the biggest fear of most pols is not to be mentioned in the show.

It looks like I'm going to get the chance to be in at least one more show. I'm grateful for that.