Going to church to watch men in pajamas sounds a bit absurd but this made Saturday night’s comedy show at Union Chapel even more refreshing.
The entertainment was hosted by Ed Gamble, a young comic who first made his name as a finalist at the 2007 student comedy awards. He has gone on to produce the critically acclaimed Gamble and Peacock podcast with Ray Peacock.
Once Gamble had engaged the audience, firing off a number of witty remarks directed at those in the front row, Radio 4’s Adam Riches bounded onto the stage.
His character-driven, slapstick sketch about “swingball,” a fictional sport which requires you to whack your opponent as many times as possible with a tennis racket, mixed crude sexual innuendo with brilliant physical comedy.
Playing the role of a gregarious Italian swingball champion, Riches got a member of the crowd to play with him. A male-only sport, each player needed to swing their ball (the masculine variety) in the process of hitting one another. Madness ensued.
The second act, Aisling Bea, provided fantastic observational comedy on youth culture, satirising her Irish roots to great effect. Her empowered female viewpoint led to wonderfully cutting remarks that poked fun at both sexes.
The focus on the truisms of dancefloors and nightclubs was a particular highlight.
“You’ve got to dance like you’re a man having sex on the dance floor if you’re a girl,” she said, demonstrating against the altar. Certainly not something you’d see every Sunday. Winner of “So You Think You’re Funny?” 2012, she is definitely one to watch.
John Gordillo brought his own brand of conversational humour to the stage, packed with disarming and self-deprecating laughs.
Father to an adopted teenage black daughter, he opened up to the audience about everything, from his failed relationships to rants about moralising anti-racism campaigns, such as “Love Music Hate Racism”. “It’s like saying: Love Oranges Hate Pedos,” moaned the Islington local to raucous laughter.
The high quality of the supporting acts only heightened expectation for the headline duo, Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez, otherwise known as the Pajama Men.
Unfortunately, their surrealist, Python-inspired character and scenario sketches failed to click. For all the curiosity aroused by their bedtime attire and lack of footwear, sloppy framework brought down the show.
It is a shame because Allen and Chavez are great voice actors who command excellent comic physicality but too often their creative characterisations spiralled into a spontaneous, ad-libbed mess.
The show was confusing at times, jumping from an apparent hotel dinner-date to focus on a lady with invisible legs. Tellingly, the best moments were the rehearsed set pieces such as the card trick finale, to which the pair were able to add their own dashes of inspiration in moderation.
It could all work so well, but even fluidity needs a purpose. Nevertheless, it was a great night of eye-opening and varied comedy in a beautiful, contrasting setting.
