Sketch comedy duo Chris O’Niell and Paul Valenti started last night with a bit of a mountain to climb. A slightly disgruntled audience were shepherded into the Fancy Room at the Caves for a ten-minutes-late start. The air was a little tense and there was a sense that the pair would have to work hard to win over this particular crowd. Fortunately, moments after they shyly stepped out from behind their backdrop, it became clear that Chris and Paul’s unique brand of irreverent sketches and physical humour was a winner. The result was a very different, very funny hour of comedy that quickly won the audience’s affections and left everyone with big grins on their faces.
Chris and Paul take a novel approach to sketch comedy and are generally rewarded for it. Their humour is relatively light on dialogue, relying on facial expressions and the boys’ impressive physical comedy chops. Indeed some of the most memorable scenes are accomplished without saying a word, for example a mimed friendly drive undertaken by two friends that abruptly morphs into something quite different and a sequence involving an inflatable version of Chris and a confused but compliant audience member.
This kind of impromptu participation is a large part of the show. Chris and Paul repeatedly called on people from the front few rows to assist with their antics. The participation was always in good spirit and no-one was picked on or taken too far out of their comfort zone. That said, there was a visible flinch among a large contingent of the audience whenever the front lights came up. If you don’t want to run the risk of being hauled up on stage I’d suggest taking a seat further back.
Chris and Paul’s humour does rely heavily on long, awkward pauses and sometimes, especially in the show’s later stages, it was hard not to feel a little impatient for them to just get on with it. They also sometimes had difficulty ending a scene, with a few weak or predictable punch lines that did a bit of a disservice to the hilarity that had gone before. However, the physical talent and originality on display here more than made up for it. Chris and Paul put on a relentlessly unique sketch show and did it very well indeed. A highly entertaining and highly recommended hour of comedy.
