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PAPPY'S FUN CLUB
Pappy's Fun Club shot from nowhere to prominence
with an if.comedy nomination at this year's Edinburgh
Fringe. But, judging by this showing, little distinguishes
these four youngsters from countless other all-male
sketch troupes. Certainly, they supply the promised
fun, notably for themselves, with a boisterous
hour-long gang-show punctuated by corpsing and
mutual mockery. Nothing wrong with that, save
the dearth of strong material to hold all the
smiley silliness together.
The evening follows the fashion for deconstructed
sketch shows, in which scenes fold into one another
and characters stray into other characters' territory.
The set is given a loose unity by a subplot involving
the quartet's unpaid taxes, and by updates from
the hospital where their supposed benefactor Pappy
is at death's door. Meanwhile, we get a reading
from Abraham Lincoln's diary ("Emancipated
the slaves today. Well done me!"), and are
entertained by a musical outfit that counts Julius
Caesar among its members - much to the annoyance
of its frontman, who demands to know, "What
do you bring to this folk band?" "Aqueducts,"
answers Caesar.
As that implies, we are dealing with sub-Vic
Reeves senior-common-room nonsense here: a world
where few things are funnier than a taxman in
pants. The four performers (Tom Parry, Matthew
Crosby, Ben Clark and Brendan Dodds) are loveable
enough to carry off the low-level idiocy, and
there is the occasional diverting skit: such as
the scene in which all public-service jobs seem
to be taken by undercover journalists.
Here, the job of comedian might have been taken
by four cheerful but slapdash chums, who possess
the talents to create a sketch show, without the
discipline to do so like the professionals.
Brian Logan
Original link: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/comedy/reviews...
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