AFTER FIVE YEARS of playing the tipsy, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother of a dysfunctional Buckhead family in "Peachtree Battle," Anna House admits there are days when she asks herself: "How long is this going to last?"

Truth is, there's no end in sight for one of Atlanta's longest-running plays, which celebrated its fifth anniversary Sept. 7. The homegrown farce, littered with designer labels and local jokes, continues to play to packed houses four times a week. Its run has been extended at least through November.

The play revolves around an over-the-top white Buckhead socialite whose only straight son is marrying a black Hooters waitress. House plays the show's best-loved character, the Queen Mother-ish Azalea Wieuca, whose bouffant would be right at home in a John Waters movie. She sneaks a shot of liquor at every opportunity, and "says the things people wish they could say," said House, a community theater veteran of almost 30 years.

When playwright-producers John Gibson and Anthony Morris created the role for House, she thought the show would "do well. But this is just so extraordinary. I don't think anyone expected this."

About 110,000 patrons and $3 million in ticket sales later, the only show at the for-profit Ansley Park Playhouse continues to draw college students and "80-year-olds who come in on a bus," said Morris, a lawyer who co-owns the business as a sideline.

The obvious challenge for the actors, says House, "is to keep it fresh, so no one can say, 'Well, you can tell she's been doing that for five years.' "

Actors are kept on their toes by a constantly changing script, with jokes based on current events. Gibson used to sit in the audience a couple of nights a week to monitor audience reaction. Now he's backstage, listening for laughs.

"If a joke doesn't get a laugh the first time, it might just be that audience," he said. "If it doesn't get a laugh the second time, it's out."

GUEST STARS

Some big names have made guest appearances, including actors Jane Fonda, Burt Reynolds and Rue McClanahan, Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), Mayor Shirley Franklin, consumer advocate Clark Howard, radio talk-show host Neal Boortz and former Falcons coach Dan Reeves.

BIGGEST LAUGHS

1. When Ansley (the son marrying a black Hooters waitress) tells his mother, Trudy, that people aren't "hung up" on racial issues, she says, "If people were not still hung up on racial issues, there would be a MARTA train to Marietta."

2. When Trudy frisks her mother, Azalea, to see if she has any concealed alcohol, Azalea says, "Trudy, I'm getting tired of this. I feel like Mel Gibson." (Past substitutes have included Kobe Bryant, Martha Stewart, Cynthia McKinney, Bill Campbell and Tom DeLay.)

3. When Marta the maid asks why Trudy has a gun, Trudy says, "I got it quail hunting with Dick Cheney."

4. Over the years, other references have included "Brokeback Mountain," WSB-TV news anchor Monica Kaufman's ever-changing hair, Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, the Confederate flag issue, and Ralph Reed and gambling.