THEATRE / Schmucks - BAC, London SW11
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As a comic, Joey Vallis is very poor. So poor, in fact, that when he tells an audience refusing to take its cue to laugh, 'It's alright, I can wait', it sounds like his catchphrase. Back at his bedsit, Vallis can barely raise a smile when he reveals that his act is known as the Luftwaffe - 'because it bombs all over London'. It seems he's had his last laugh; then in walk Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce.
Intending to cure Vallis of terminal unfunniness, the dead double-act treat themselves instead to vicious attacks upon each other's work: Marx despises Bruce's formless filth; Bruce dismisses his soulless punchlines; between times, they do old routines. William Marsh needles Marx effectively as the taboo- breaking junkie and brings microphone-popping authenticity to his live turns; Dave Mayberry's Marx is a creditable impersonation.
Neither have a hard act to follow. Writer Roy Smiles has made his bad comic so bad he's awful, reducing Vallis (Malcolm Ridley) to a side-show gawper with a tedious line in 'Why me?' dialogue. Worse, he is lumbered with a fatal father-fixation which adds to his whining ('Why did you have to die') and leads to a seat-squirming fantasy sequence in which Vallis dances with dummies.
Smiles overburdens an otherwise enjoyable conversation piece by relentlessly dragging his characters moaning and shouting back to the Great Comedy Debate. As his own Marx puts it: 'If there's one thing worse than a room full of comedians bitching, it's a room full of dead comedians bitching.'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments