Down Pat Almost Fully Recovered From Illness, Behrens Returns To A Familiar Role: Playing One-Man Mcmanus Show

If you listen closely, you might hear a different, sweeter note in the sound of the laughter at The Met during the Pat McManus-Tim Behrens stage shows these next three days.

That note would be: relief.

Just seeing Tim Behrens standing on stage will be an emotional experience in itself. These shows mark Behrens’ return to the theater after being hammered by Legionnaire’s disease in late October.

He was on life support for nine straight days at the Aurora Medical Center near Denver. He had tubes for breathing and for nutrition, and drugs to keep him paralyzed so he wouldn’t claw at the tubes and pull them out.

“I was so out of it, I don’t think I was afraid,” said Behrens. “I remember after I turned the corner, I said to the doctor, ‘I don’t remember much, but this wasn’t really an actual life-threatening situation, was it?’ And he said, ‘Given your situation, I’d say it was slightly less than a 50-50 chance that you’d make it.’ That’s when I felt scared.”

Occasionally, he’ll get a sudden flashback, a strange image from his semi-conscious state.

“I remember thrashing around and a disembodied voice saying, ‘Stop it. Stop it. You’re an actor, and if you keep squirming, you can scar your vocal cords,’ ” said Behrens.

It was a physical therapist, warning him that yanking on his throat tubes could damage his larynx.

Behrens now describes himself as about 95 percent recovered. Recuperation has been slow, since virtually every muscle in his body atrophied after being in bed for more than three weeks.

“On the first day I was out of the fog, they wanted me to get up, and I just sat,” said Behrens. “On the second day, they gave me a walker.”

It took him a few days to remember how to walk again, but now as part of his therapy he is walking six or seven miles a day. He also follows a weight-training program religiously.

“We’re not talking about pumping iron,” he said, laughing. “We’re talking hand weights that weigh three pounds apiece.”

He still has no idea where he caught Legionnaire’s disease, which is a hard-to-diagnose and sometimes fatal bacterial infection. The disease is spread through old water-based heating and air-conditioning systems in big buildings such as hotels and theaters. The incubation period is two to 12 days. In the previous 12 days, McManus had done nine performances in eight different cities.

As far as he knows, nobody else came down with Legionnaire’s from any of those hotels or theaters. A compromised immune system is required for contracting the disease, and Behrens said he was stressed and exhausted from doing 16 shows in 19 days in Oklahoma and Texas.

Behrens didn’t even know he had it at first, and neither did his doctors. He and his wife were driving back from Texas when he developed a fever. When it reached 104 degrees, she pulled into the Aurora Medical Center.

They treated him for pneumonia, but he kept getting worse. As it turned out, he did have pneumonia, which was masking the Legionnaire’s symptoms. Only when his condition plummeted and he went on life support did doctors finally diagnose Legionnaire’s disease. His wife, Leslie Grove, was at his side for the entire time.

Since then, Behrens had to cancel 29 shows, many of them scheduled in conjunction with book readings and signings by McManus. At least 18 of those shows have been rescheduled for January and February.

One of those canceled shows was to be the world premiere of “Pat McManus, Endlessly Grousing” in Kennewick way back in October.

Now that world premiere will take place Friday and Saturday at The Met. This new McManus-written piece has about 35 minutes of fresh material, most of it taken from McManus’ new book “Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing.”

The rest will consist of 90 minutes of favorites from the previous two McManus shows, (“A Fine and Pleasant Misery” and “McManus In Love”).

“These are Pat’s favorites, my favorites and audience requests,” said Behrens.

You can bet that the deer-riding-a-bicycle story will be included.

Tonight’s show is a reprise of “McManus In Love,” in which the theme is young Pat’s misadventures with girls while growing up in fictional Blight, Idaho (which bears an uncanny resemblance to Sandpoint).

All of these McManus-written plays are one-man shows in which Behrens plays every role, from Crazy Eddie Muldoon to Rancid Crabtree to the avuncular McManus himself.

Even for a completely healthy actor, it’s a grueling evening.

“Pat has written a piece in ‘Grousing’ about ‘hunkering,”’ said Behrens. “He is posing the idea of ‘hunkering down’ as the way to solve the world’s problems. So I have to do a lot of hunkering in this show. I may need to lean on the rocking chair to get back up.”

“Grousing” is somewhat of a departure for McManus, in that it ends on a poignant note. This occurs during a piece called “The Boy,” which is the first story in the new book.

“Usually, Pat tries to weed every trace of poignancy out of his stories,” said Behrens. “This is a first.”

Somehow, poignancy seems even more fitting under the circumstances.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: On stage “McManus In Love” will be staged tonight at 8, and “Pat McManus, Endlessly Grousing” will be performed Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at The Met. Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $8 for youth, available at G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT. McManus will be at The Met beginning at 6:30 p.m. each night to sign copies of his new book.