The Thursday Show
Edward Kuhne & Kel Balnaves @ Worldsend Hotel (upstairs)
8:30pm, Tue 1 Mar 2011
I’m totally sucked in by the blurb for The Thursday Show, which awkwardly explains the first joke: that the show is never performed on a Thursday. There’s something so innocent and ocker about it – “it’s poor planning is what it is” – that I’m laughing before I’ve even bought the ticket.
Kel Balnaves & Edward Kuhne (the bearded one) are two genuinely likable blokes with a very approachable style. They quickly drop into a pleasing duo-solo (Ed)-duo-solo (Kel) rhythm; they’re utterly comfortable with each other, with impeccable timing, and their solo stuff was fantastic – especially since they often devolved into little rants. Kel’s inexplicable hatred towards his elderly neighbour (“the rain will make the farmers happy”) is ludicrous in it’s toxicity, and Ed’s tale about the girlfriend who moves in even though he’s uncertain about their future brilliantly escalates in anger and frustration.
There’s a piece about tuna-eating vegans, some perfect cut-offs by the sound-and-light guy, and the lovely “The Thursday Show” neon sign flickers and fails – effectively renaming the performance “The Turd Show”. But this, most certainly, was no turd; I laughed my arse off at The Thursday Show, and will happily attend anything Ed and Kel put on in the future.