Julia Burgisser
The Two Monkeys Show is a show that totes itself to be a “mix of stand up comedy, sketches and character bending nonsense… guaranteed to charm”. I for one, do not believe there is ever enough good sketch comedy in the world; and I attend the show excited and nervous, hoping to find that mythical great live sketch.
The show begins with the two characters who will be our Monkeys for the night, Ben MacGougan and Pete Hodkinson. They tell us about the show concept and help us to relax into the 120 minutes we’ll be spending together. They have a rough start as they begin to work together, talking over each other and noisy fans making it impossible to hear what’s being said. They then experience tech issues as the desk plays it’s first clips. But after a few hiccups and typical teething problems of an opening night, we’re away and we’re laughing.
Some of the laughs during the show come from pre-filmed clips, such as "Dry Comedy" and the advertising for the thread that runs through the show the “Incentachip”, some of the laughs come from stand up comedy sets, and some from the audience interaction and various live improvised sketches, such as “White People Problems Agony Aunts”. I found this name was disappointing for what turned out to be a very funny bit helping the audience with their various issues. Slutty Pete’s boasting set about how much of a slut he is, includes discussion around the sending of dick pics. While he says “this really is a character bit and not true at all”, it rings true enough from various experiences of our own on Tinder and other like apps to make us laugh. Pete has a very confident and large stage presence, bounding around talking to us with ease, making up for this opening night jitters with punchline mishaps. We find out that he’s reprogrammed his Incentachip to give pleasure from rejection, and as we head into the break the stage is set for an interesting second half.
After the break we are treated to an interesting News Desk sketch between a local Milk Mogul and a newscaster with the eye for unusual questions and good counting skills. There are too many great one liners that Ben gifts us with including the introduction of "Ebola ISIS Ghosts" that will overrun the world. This included a battle of wits and slapping that crescendos into everyone enjoying a foot-stomping, rocking great time. Pete is, as we knew he would, having issues with his chips reprogramming. Ben takes the stage to entertain us by speaking of the things he’s not a fan of, including Pete’s sluttiness. He does this by introducing us to possibly the world scariest children's story books ever published, and he rips the stories apart with finesse until we are in stitches. He tells us that he’s not very good at flirting and proves it, lets us know he’s all about Gender Equality with his new school idea for women, and ends the show with a book call-back as Heinrich Hoffman to wrap the whole show up.
Upon reflection of the whole show, and while I realise Sketch Comedy is by its nature a patchy type of performance, the neatly tied up second half made aspects of the first half (such as the "Milk Clip") seem somewhat patchy and pointless. Pete’s energy and onstage passion is infectious and provides great joke set ups, and Ben has us laughing until tears roll and we are cheering wildly with glee, as his low energy, understated style punches the jokes home calmly in the the chaos. They compliment each other well as polar opposites as characters on the stage, slut and charm, chaos and calm. I look forward to seeing them perform together again.
You’ve got to go see this show, for good sketch comedy, for laughs a plenty and for ISIS Ebola Ghosts (I’m still dying over that one). You’ve only got one more chance! So get to it tonight!
Some of the laughs during the show come from pre-filmed clips, such as "Dry Comedy" and the advertising for the thread that runs through the show the “Incentachip”, some of the laughs come from stand up comedy sets, and some from the audience interaction and various live improvised sketches, such as “White People Problems Agony Aunts”. I found this name was disappointing for what turned out to be a very funny bit helping the audience with their various issues. Slutty Pete’s boasting set about how much of a slut he is, includes discussion around the sending of dick pics. While he says “this really is a character bit and not true at all”, it rings true enough from various experiences of our own on Tinder and other like apps to make us laugh. Pete has a very confident and large stage presence, bounding around talking to us with ease, making up for this opening night jitters with punchline mishaps. We find out that he’s reprogrammed his Incentachip to give pleasure from rejection, and as we head into the break the stage is set for an interesting second half.
After the break we are treated to an interesting News Desk sketch between a local Milk Mogul and a newscaster with the eye for unusual questions and good counting skills. There are too many great one liners that Ben gifts us with including the introduction of "Ebola ISIS Ghosts" that will overrun the world. This included a battle of wits and slapping that crescendos into everyone enjoying a foot-stomping, rocking great time. Pete is, as we knew he would, having issues with his chips reprogramming. Ben takes the stage to entertain us by speaking of the things he’s not a fan of, including Pete’s sluttiness. He does this by introducing us to possibly the world scariest children's story books ever published, and he rips the stories apart with finesse until we are in stitches. He tells us that he’s not very good at flirting and proves it, lets us know he’s all about Gender Equality with his new school idea for women, and ends the show with a book call-back as Heinrich Hoffman to wrap the whole show up.
Upon reflection of the whole show, and while I realise Sketch Comedy is by its nature a patchy type of performance, the neatly tied up second half made aspects of the first half (such as the "Milk Clip") seem somewhat patchy and pointless. Pete’s energy and onstage passion is infectious and provides great joke set ups, and Ben has us laughing until tears roll and we are cheering wildly with glee, as his low energy, understated style punches the jokes home calmly in the the chaos. They compliment each other well as polar opposites as characters on the stage, slut and charm, chaos and calm. I look forward to seeing them perform together again.
You’ve got to go see this show, for good sketch comedy, for laughs a plenty and for ISIS Ebola Ghosts (I’m still dying over that one). You’ve only got one more chance! So get to it tonight!
