Bill Hanney’s Theatre-by-the-Sea opens its 81st season with the touring production of “Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show,” a nostalgic look back at four of the most popular entertainers of the early ’60s.

Sandy Hackett is the comedian son of the late Buddy Hackett and one of the funniest men I have seen on stage in a long time. He not only co-produced the show (along with Lisa Dawn Miller), he plays the Joey Bishop role, bringing down the house more than once with his perfectly timed comic delivery.

The show opens with some black and white film of the original Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bishop. The lights come up, and there they are: Donny Grewen as the Chairman of the Board, Tom Wallek as Dino, Louie Velez as Sammy and Sandy Hackett as Bishop.

While they don’t quite look like their characters, all of whom are no longer with us, they have their style and gestures down pat.

Velez’s voice comes the closest at times, occasionally hitting those Sammy Davis highs, and he looks a few pounds heavier than the superstar. Wallek has the Dean Martin suave down pat, and Grewen can belt out a Sinatra classic, although at times he looks a bit tentative and stiff.

But it is Hackett who carries the show. He opens things up with a hilarious monologue that brings you back to the days when humor was risqué and right on the edge, not in-your-face grossness.

Hackett knows how to win over a crowd, singling out audience members, playing to the front row and then the cheap seats, and weaving in loads of Rhode Island humor. His bit on the Rhode Island highway system is original and outright hilarious (“If there weren’t so many U-turns, we could have started the show at 7.”). TBTS traditionally starts at 8.

The show uses a three-piece “band,” with canned brass, giving a bigger sound. There are loads of songs, including Sinatra medleys, all surrounded by laugh-out-loud jokes. The Jewish and Italian humor was 10 times funnier than the one-man show that played recently at Trinity (A rental. Not their fault).

Lisa Dawn Miller has a short bit about “Frank’s One Love” that the preview and press night audiences missed due to her delayed arrival, but you’ll catch it if you catch this funny, nostalgic, entertaining evening at Theatre-by-the-Sea.

Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show is at Matunuck through June 22. Tickets are $42, $52 and $62. Get in the first two rows and you’ll be part of the show. Call 782-8587 for reservations.