Jack McGee
Fin McLauchlan and Danny Sewell, the titular Butt Brothers are nothing if not creative. While results certainly vary, their NZ Comedy Fest show is filled with a near endless stream of out-there ideas. The show is fast paced, high in stimulation, and ultimately feels like the intersection between Aunty Donna and a Saturday morning cartoon.
The premise is simple, it’s a comedy show taking place at a house cleaning gig. McLauchlan and Sewell have to clean the house of someone named Hugh Man, and keep us laughing while they do. It’s a good vehicle for various genre bending diversions, with the stage set-up like the set for a live action kids variety show, props scattered all over, teasing us about what’s to come. One highlight is the googly-eyed, talking rubbish bin, “Mr. Bin”, who plays like a demented fusion of a Sesame Street character and Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors. .
The tech of the show is high effort for comedy fest, and it’s beyond impressive that their operator reportedly learned all the cues in the hour leading up the show. There’s an abundance of audio based gags, with Mclauchlan and Sewell miming everything from lightsabers to windows roughly in sync with comically loud, cartoonish sound effects. Alongside this there’s some elaborately mixed faux-radio sections, and even a killer running gag of musical transitions supposedly recorded by a strange man on Fiverr. Alongside the elaborate audio work, there’s a surprising amount of projection as well. This is used alongside the lights to move us into a different space at one point, alongside allowing for various visual jokes - including a repeated bit of shock humour where crudely a photoshopped version of a naked Sewell bares his butthole to the audience.
The amount of effort and ingenuity infused into every aspect of this show's craft is very exciting. That being said, the active return on all of these bits is pretty all over the place. Almost every gag gets a laugh from someone and while there’s some sections that I couldn’t stand (an audience interaction heavy game of dead celebrity impressions themed as an exorcism I think is particularly painful, and a little bad taste - are Princess Diana jokes funny?), there were bits I loved that bounced off the rest of the room. It’s a shotgun approach, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.
McLauchlan and Sewell’s performances are also a little hit and miss. While they have a strong rapport with one another, the informality of their dynamic occasionally gets in the way of the gag. Dialogue often feels stilted and they vocally struggle to fill the space without mics - though to be clear, legibility is rarely an issue. Much like improv, I think sketch comedy is particularly unforgiving when it comes to these performance fundamentals. It makes these little things stand-out, as there a lot more capital-A Acting happening here than in a straightforward mic in hand, stand up piece.
Only once does the manic pace of Butt Brothers ever really slow down, and for me it’s the highlight of the show. While cleaning mirrors, the duo stop for a moment of “self reflection” , and what seems initially like a cheap bit of word-play quickly gives way to a blast of genuine sincerity. McLauchlan and Sewell seemingly cut the performance, and start having a chat about their lives. Therapy, parents, and a quest for an ADHD diagnosis all serve as discussion points in this beautiful moment of kindness. It’s made all the better by Sewell’s father interjecting from the audience, and the whole thing is so good-natured you soon forget that this is the same show that was projecting a butt-hole on the wall fifteen minutes earlier.
If you’re chronically online or just generally enjoy some inventive, manic, very Gen Z comedy, you could do a lot worse than The Butt Brothers. It’s a mess for sure, and not always in a charming way, but there’s a multitude of moments I can’t help but grin at.
The tech of the show is high effort for comedy fest, and it’s beyond impressive that their operator reportedly learned all the cues in the hour leading up the show. There’s an abundance of audio based gags, with Mclauchlan and Sewell miming everything from lightsabers to windows roughly in sync with comically loud, cartoonish sound effects. Alongside this there’s some elaborately mixed faux-radio sections, and even a killer running gag of musical transitions supposedly recorded by a strange man on Fiverr. Alongside the elaborate audio work, there’s a surprising amount of projection as well. This is used alongside the lights to move us into a different space at one point, alongside allowing for various visual jokes - including a repeated bit of shock humour where crudely a photoshopped version of a naked Sewell bares his butthole to the audience.
The amount of effort and ingenuity infused into every aspect of this show's craft is very exciting. That being said, the active return on all of these bits is pretty all over the place. Almost every gag gets a laugh from someone and while there’s some sections that I couldn’t stand (an audience interaction heavy game of dead celebrity impressions themed as an exorcism I think is particularly painful, and a little bad taste - are Princess Diana jokes funny?), there were bits I loved that bounced off the rest of the room. It’s a shotgun approach, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.
McLauchlan and Sewell’s performances are also a little hit and miss. While they have a strong rapport with one another, the informality of their dynamic occasionally gets in the way of the gag. Dialogue often feels stilted and they vocally struggle to fill the space without mics - though to be clear, legibility is rarely an issue. Much like improv, I think sketch comedy is particularly unforgiving when it comes to these performance fundamentals. It makes these little things stand-out, as there a lot more capital-A Acting happening here than in a straightforward mic in hand, stand up piece.
Only once does the manic pace of Butt Brothers ever really slow down, and for me it’s the highlight of the show. While cleaning mirrors, the duo stop for a moment of “self reflection” , and what seems initially like a cheap bit of word-play quickly gives way to a blast of genuine sincerity. McLauchlan and Sewell seemingly cut the performance, and start having a chat about their lives. Therapy, parents, and a quest for an ADHD diagnosis all serve as discussion points in this beautiful moment of kindness. It’s made all the better by Sewell’s father interjecting from the audience, and the whole thing is so good-natured you soon forget that this is the same show that was projecting a butt-hole on the wall fifteen minutes earlier.
If you’re chronically online or just generally enjoy some inventive, manic, very Gen Z comedy, you could do a lot worse than The Butt Brothers. It’s a mess for sure, and not always in a charming way, but there’s a multitude of moments I can’t help but grin at.