Ed Asner will appear in Coeur d’Alene in a one-night-only performance of his national touring show “God Help Us!”

The show, a benefit for Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, will be Wednesday, Sept. 12 at North Idaho College’s Schuler Performing Arts Center.

Asner stars as God and will share the stage with local actors Trigger Weddle and Brandon Michael.

“When this tour came to my attention earlier this year, I was intrigued,” said Kerri Thoreson, Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre executive director. “We were looking for a fall fundraiser that was outside the box and after reading the script I thought this fit the bill.”

A political comedy, “God Help Us!” features Asner as a cantankerous and wildly funny deity who confronts two political pundits, a liberal guy and a conservative gal with a romantic history.

They learn God is not at all pleased with our politics or what we’ve done with his creation.

“‘God Help Us!’ speaks to audiences of all political persuasions with one essential argument: that we have to listen to each other so we can all live — and laugh — together,” says the show’s website.

Asner, a legendary, award-winning actor, played Santa in the movie “Elf,” and was Carl Fredricksen in the 2009 Oscar-winning box office hit, “Up!”

But he is best known as Lou Grant, the gruff but kind-hearted journalist who led the TV newsroom on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and later as city editor on the “Lou Grant” television show, a role that earned him seven Emmy Awards.

Liza Asner is the “God Help Us!” producer and is enjoying traveling all over the country with her father.

The Sept. 12 show will be at NIC’s Schuler Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and available via www.cdasummertheatre.com or by calling 208-660-2958.