Down-and-out lounge singer Johnny Slade is hired by a mystery man to open a hot new club, the catch being he’s given a new–and terrible–song to sing each night. Noticing that whenever he sings one a new crime is committed, Johnny gradually realizes his songwriter-benefactor is a powerful mob boss in hiding and his “Greatest Hits” are the only way the man can give orders to his crew…

Aging local standup comic Sweeney, “The Character King”, gets an opportunity to do a national cable show out of Los Angeles. The only caveat is that Sweeney must drop the locally referenced material from his act, the biggest pieces being the portrayal of his colorful Boston “characters,” that have become a staple of his home field success. Sweeney makes the hard decision to stop doing the characters. But, to his dismay, the characters “come-to-life” and seek their revenge; they try to kill Sweeney.