Alex McMurray and his Royal Fingerbowl bandmates were a couple of verses into a slow, campy treatment of "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," from the Broadway musical and movie "Oklahoma," when the New Orleans trio came to a dead stop. "How are we doin'," McMurray, a guitarist, asked the small but attentive crowd at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa, shortly before nuking the tune with noisy sound effects and punky fury.

Clowning around is part and parcel of the stage strategy of McMurray, a witty, engaging front man who had this to say after introducing drummer Carlo Nuccio and upright bassist Matt Perrine: "My name is Fletcher Henderson and I'll be back next week with my big band."

Royal Fingerbowl also went the way of broad comedy with a cheesy, melodramatic version of "That's Life," a big hit for Frank Sinatra 33 years ago, and a version of the Ray Charles R&B single "Let's Go Get Stoned" featuring a monologue urging kids to stay in school. In other words: Hit the books, and just say yes.

Then there was "The Eggplant Will Be My Undoing," a reality-inspired tale of a lonely man's tragic encounter with a produce item, while relaxing in a booth at an adult bookstore. And "Fistful of Love," a melancholy tale of self-romance, told to a swing beat.

McMurray, a New Jersey native and 13-year resident of the Crescent City, may come off as a boozy, degenerate goofball, the very definition of a class clown gone dissolute, a cut-up given to nonstop drinking and smoking as he crawls his way across the nightscape.

But that might not explain the resonance of the quirky cast of characters he's created, or the musical appeal of the eclectic settings given to his collection of story songs, given life by a singer variously reminiscent of Tom Waits and Louis Armstrong. McMurray wields a mean Gibson ES 335, too.

Days turn into nights as a wanderer crosses the heartland and takes in the view from the bus window on "Greyhound Afternoons," built on a loping, jazzy R&B beat. The title character of "Carny Boy" falls in love with a trapeze artist. The job, and maybe the moon, drives a man crazy in "Otis Goes Postal," and the same guy ponders his fate in the sequel "Otis Convalesces." Dreams are pitifully deferred in "My Money."

McMurray's latest pieces, some of which were heard on Thursday night, will finally get a shot at airplay with the Aug. 29 release of "Greyhound Afternoons," the long-awaited successor to Royal Fingerbowl's 1997 debut disc, "Happy Birthday, Sabo!" I get the feeling it'll be worth the wait.