Rock the Boat, written by Buddy Mackinder and directed by Jeremy Aluma for The Alive Theatre aboard Duke’s Riverboat in Rainbow Harbor, is upbeat and exuberant, self-conscious and hilarious. It draws you in with the boldness of its conception, its sexiness, and its swagger, all of which complement the intimate setting (the classy red velvet decor, the dance floor, the views out the window) and the performance (singing accompanied by a live band, comic skits, pantomime, and a keen predilection for sinuous movement. Aluma wants to rescue (he does, gloriously) and then resuscitate (ditto) the vaunted variety show format from such clones-gone-wrong as reality shows. Nothing’s sacred here. Story lines are brief, brash, and risqué. They are off beat and off the wall, and seem to emerge out of nowhere. One recounts the woes of a shunned surfer girl who has the hots for married surfer dude Phil Mycrevice (Nice National Lampoon name). Another, hosted by Sabir al-Seacrest, presents an Iraqi reality show that confirms the idolatry (or is it iconoclasm?) of American Idol. A janitor who should know belts out “People Are Strange.” In an outrageous restroom scene involving two guys named, of course, Dick and Peter, one of the guys has to fend off the other’s constant babble: “I drank a lot of beer;” “How long is yours?” “Have you read The Secret?” There’s a Female Superpower Super Club with an Asian superheroine who pretends she knows karate. And there’s a hilarious rendition of “Monkey in the Basement” sung to a Tracy Chapman tune.