Sammy J’s Weak (and Randy) (FringeTIX)
Sammy J & Randy @ Bosco Theatre
11:00pm, Thu 15 Mar 2007
Sammy J’s “solo” show didn’t make my shortlist because, in short, I thought he looked like a complete goober in the photo of his ad. Facile, and piffly, but true. That’s all it takes to not make it on my shortlist, kids.
However, the description for this “duet” in the Garden Guide did manage to suck me in. And, after a mercy dash from Hindley Street after Kissy Kissy ran over, I squeezed into a packed Bosco just as they were introduced.
Sammy J looks (and acts) like a skinnier, un-camp Bob Downe (of course, Downe’s whole schtick is camp, so… ummm… take from that what you will – the meme works for me). His sidekick Randy is an enjoyably foul-mouthed pink turtle head, and the patter between them is fast and furious. And blue.
There’s also a bit of audience participation – and again, I managed to get picked on, although I scared Sammy J away after mentioning that I felt uncomfortable with him standing behind me while talking about wedgies. Their songs are snappy and alternately clever (the Backwards Song), ruder-than-rude (the Fingering Song) or just plain funny (everything else). An off-colour Andrew McClelland also appeared to briefly plug his show.
Most impressive of all, however, were Randy The Puppets fierce profanity-ridden tirades, impressive in length & breadth of language… and not just naughty language, either; this puppet’s vocabulary stretched far beyond the four-lettered variety. Breathtaking.
In short, this was a bloody good hour of fun. Cabaret duets don’t get much more rapid-fire, bawdy, or laugh-a-licious than this.