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Pappy's Fun Club's new show seems
turbo-charged - which is remarkable, given that the comic quartet
generates its considerable energy using fun alone. Their unseen proprietor
Pappy has demanded ethical living from his young charges - hence this
loopy eco-themed gang-show from last year's If.Comedy nominees. In
the past, the Fun Club has not always had the material to back up
its cheerful silliness. But 2008 finds them at the height of their
fun-generated powers, with some great jokes, an overarching story
that unites a stuntman with a vengeful whale, and a warmth that should
render electricity redundant by the end of August.
No matter the sketch, the Fun Club are always
just themselves in silly clothes - both performing
a routine, and laughing at one another performing
a routine, which works only if the jokes
are good. That is certainly the case here,
as Matthew Crosby's wise old owl takes on Tom Parry, dressed as the
internet, to see which is the best information source. Then there
is the fight between bullying Nottingham (Parry, with a map of the
city pinned to his chest) and defenceless Hinckley, Leicestershire.
And a stream of adroit one-liners. "Riles
is not a word in my vocabulary." "The word is rules." "How would
I know?"
In the midst of all this, the eco theme is
just about sustained, as an adopted blue
whale ushers in the climate-change apocalypse.
Then the foursome climax with an environmentalist
hymn, Listen to Our Planet, in which the
Earth stubbornly refuses to share our touchy-feely sentiments. Such
an effective combination of intelligence and idiocy almost prompts
the thought that perhaps wind, coal and nuclear really should stand
aside, and let fun have its day.
Brian Logan
Original link: www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/aug/12/...
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