You’ve probably seen the television commercial that shows three blue-headed men stomping on a globe to the beat of tribal drums, their black clothes strung with colored blinking lights. Kind of like a cross between the Smurfs and the Broadway show “Stomp” with Christmas decorations added.

Their commercial captured my attention more than a few times, and I saw the group on“Live with Regis and Kathie Lee” (or was it with Kelly?), but I still wasn’t quite sure what the show was all about. So, on a warm night earlier this year, my sister and I took a drive to Universal CityWalk at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando to catch a performance at the Sharp AQUOS Theatre.

As we walked into the theater we saw a concession area where you can buy soft drinks, snacks and even beer, and you’re allowed to bring theminto the theater. I was pleasantly surprised. If my sister and I hadn’t already devoured a yummy seafood meal and blue lemonade cocktails (apropos to the evening) at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., also at Universal CityWalk, I certainly would have indulged.

There’s also a souvenir counter. (Light-up drumsticks or Blue Man Group key chains, anyone?) I’m not usually a souvenir buyer, but I enjoyed the show so much that I bought a DVD.

Before the show even started, the entertainment began. Scrolling marquees at the side of the stage displayed wisecracks mentioning audience members by name. Let’s just say that if it’s your birthday, you may not want to tell your friends.  Another word to the wise: Don’t show up late to the show, because you won’t get away with it unnoticed.

Oh, and one more thing: If you want to have paint or other, um, materials spattered on you, sit in the first few rows. You’ll get a plastic poncho to cover you, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be fully protected from the icky wet stuff hurled from the stage.

At 8 p.m., the lights went down and drums slowly began to beat, gradually getting faster as one Blue Man after another (there are three cobalt dudes) appeared on stage and madly banged out rock n’ roll rhythms on tall steel drums. The drums’ skins each held a different paint color, which splattered violently onto the blue men’s faces and clothes. It’s a dream come true for every preschooler and punk rocker.

As the show kicked into high gear, the drums were joined by guitars; I looked up and saw several musicians on highly-elevated platforms at the rear of the stage. They were dressed in black costumes marked with neon-colored human outlines illuminated with black lights. I thought it was a very cool effect and that they were pretty awesome, musically-speaking.

It didn’t take long for me to get caught up in the antics of the Blue Men, and even the seemingly cynical teenager sprawled in the seat next to me sat up and took notice. Now, I’m normally not the hand-clapping type but at the direction of the Blue Men, who were demonstrating rock star moves using a flip chart, I was clapping to the beat along with the rest of the audience, waving my hands in the air like I just didn’t care. (And I can’t entirely attribute my actions to my blue cocktail.)

The Blue Men really know how to engage the audience (they got me to do the wave). I felt like I was at a rock show, but with singers who literally can’t sing. But that’s OK – they made up for it in other ways.

At the risk of giving too much away, the trio’s hilarious monkeyshines included creating works of spin art with mouthfuls of paintballs, banging frantically on musical instruments made of PVC pipes and shooting marshmallows at one rubber-faced Blue Man who deftly caught them in his mouth one after another in a non-stop frenzy of confectionary catch. Mind you, he kept them all in until the skit’s end, which I won’t reveal.

Then there’s a bit that involves Twinkies, where the three blue guys invited a female from the audience to dine with them, outfitting her with a costume so that she looked like a slimmer blue version of a Sumo wrestler. Setting out plates and flowers, they began to dig into the classic American snack cake. I’ll say nothing about how this ends either, but here’s where the ponchos come in handy for those in the first few rows. Not a pretty sight, but pretty darn funny. And I have to say, a little gross.

Frenetic hijinks and blue grease paint aside, the Blue Men delivered social, technological and cultural commentary through their sketches. One skit unfolds at an Internet café as the cerulean guys throw barbs at their targets via voice-over as well as statements projected on the walls. The skit was funny and engaging and made me appreciate the Blue Man Group even more. Not only are they artistically, musically and comedically talented, they also managed to be thought-provoking, a combination not always easy to accomplish.

But in the end, the most important thing is that the Blue Man Group offers pure pie-in-the-face, let-yourself-go wild and wacky fun. And that is exactly what we had.