notlikecalvin news

Let’s say this first: an absolute delight.

Like some kind of oddball masterclass in how to make things funnier by knowingly breaking the expected methods of comedy construction – and acknowledging it as they did so – these two guys warped their many characters into a great big tapestry of silly. There was a plot – several, in fact – but it largely played the straight man to the ridiculous moment-by-moment interaction of faces, fingers, voices and postures that occasionally slipped off the beaten track, much to the performers’ own great amusement.

In a way this was smug, but the Pajama Men’s assurance with their craft made us feel like a valued part of their very private in-joke. This preview’s confused start (the venue technicians somehow finding a way to bugger up a show with no sound or light cues) added a frission of uncertainty to the beginning, but couldn’t ruin one of the cleverest, funniest things I’ve ever seen.

go/no-go? GO

This is good stuff: almost entirely original jokes and sketch concepts performed well by a trio who are different enough to be comedically compatable. Although I could pick out weaker bits (the three-chair staging at times not quite enough to transform the grim venue), this is a jolly good show of really quite old-fashioned charm.

Extra points are awarded for military hand signals and a radio play of Bulldog Drummond, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the fortune-telling sweetshop-owner on BBC2 sometime soon.

Full disclosure: I know these chaps, to various degrees

go/no-go? GO

The lazy journalist would write “Copenhagen meets subUrbia“. Or something.

But what we’ve got here is a spangling, tight little number about the personalities and physics of the first Atomic bomb, shot through with guilt, black humour and Lagrange points. The characters move along the predetermined paths of history, the bomb drops, the world changes.

The grimey-sweated air of the Underbelly caves makes a nice little bunker for the text – at times it’s a little too restrictive for some of the action’s emotional peaks, but the production makes visciously efficient use of the space, and I was surprised to see projection working so effectively. Strong performances all round combine with an almost haunting montage of sound and imagery: damn good stuff.

[Full disclosure: I know the author, although I wouldn't be afraid to tell him his work sucked. But it doesn't, so there's no problem.]

go/no-go? GO

I’ve got a soft spot for The Martians, having previously enjoyed their busker-friendly War of the Worlds a few years ago. But this is a mysteriously different kettle of fish.

All the evil bits of Scottish history wrapped up in some dodgy sub-Satanics sounds like a decent enough show, but it gets kinda lost in the “we only wrote the script yesterday” presentation. They’re still fine musicians, but they should have stuck to singing.

go/no-go? NO-GO

This is hugely unfortunate: as a Danish Muslim of Egyptian desent Omar obviously has an interesting perspective on current affairs, but that’s no replacement for the rambling lack of stage presence that we’re treated to. The few actual funny moments are ruined by bad delivery – more a problem of charisma than language, and something that excising jokes from the script as he went (using this preview in the most unsubtle way) won’t solve.

I got a free ticket to pad out the audience for a BBC cameraman, but it was clear from the start that any political interest here is massively outweighed by unfunny comedy.

go/no-go? NO-GO

Like the sort of person who makes axe-heads out of flint, Tim Vine is intent on preserving the too-neglected art of the pun. The jokes here get the bare minimum of set-up, usually in the form of a colonated sentence: just enough of a lead-in to produce the required pun in the next turn of phrase. We don’t get plot, we barely get character – the sole focus of the act is to deliver as many groan-awful gags as possible, and it is a laudable success.

Admittedly, there are some non-puns in there, and even a few songs, but I smiled the whole way through – even when he asked me my name (“not in these trousers”). And I’ve only just this minute got his titular gag.

go/no-go? GO