Newport on the Levee's newest tenant tosses around phrases like “help support the arts” with a straight face while serving its patrons a plate of nachos and a bottle of domestic beer. “Theater,” to the Shadowbox Cabaret, is a rendition of a Monty Python routine; “rock 'n' roll” is a cover band doing songs by Heart and the B-52s.

        The arts community may get caught up in the contradictions, but its those same contradictions that give the Shadowbox its personality, making it a unique entertainment — not theater, not rock — experience to this area.

        The year-round Shadowbox Cabaret opened its doors in Newport Wednesday for a capacity crowd of 150. The space will eventually hold 250 people, but fire-code considerations kept the balcony closed for the debut.

        The performance, titled “Heeeeere's Shadowbox,” is a compilation of skits and music from productions at the Shadowbox's two other theaters, both in Columbus.

        The skits can most easily be compared to those of Saturday Night Live. Some had clever characters, such as the worthless clerk played by Stacie Boord in “Copy Shop,” but dragged on too long. Others, like the grade-school principal's office fantasy “Zoltar,” were as funny as good SNL.

        But the TV show has them clearly beat in one regard. The Shadowbox bills its performances as R-rated. There's lots of colorful language — not a problem in itself. Saturday Night Live draws laughs by testing the boundaries of television standards. The Shadowbox has no such envelope to push, so when they went for shock value in the white-trash tale of “Vera & Laverne” they came up empty.

        Shadowbox's niche is somewhere a couple notches lower than over the top. Their version of Monty Python's “Every Sperm is Sacred” ranked with their best original skits. And the house band's version of the South Park anthem “Simultaneous” far out-shined Heart's “Magic Man” and the B-52s' “Love Shack.”

        You want to support the arts? Check the theater listings and pick a play running in Over-the-Rhine. You want a break from habitual TV viewing? Check out the Shadowbox.

        “Heeeeere's Shadowbox” runs through December 1, Wednesdays through Saturdays.

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