Man-Go Unshaved, a take on ‘Django Unchained’, say they are ‘the good, the bad and the ugly of stand-up comedy’. From this performance, they were right on one out of three - the middle one.
Man-Go Unshaved, ironically, needs a lot of cutting and restyling to be anything but a lot of fluff.
The act opens with a “warm-up” from Matthew Smith and Gary Graham Knightley - a Slipknot-esque number, ‘Shitstorm’, Matthew on guitar, Gary screaming the title. In itself not very humorous, but their rapport, banter and play with the audience was amusing. I was in for a good show, or so I thought.
However, Man-Go Unshaved is not performed as a troupe, as advertised, but three individual stand-up acts, so it is initially confusing that Rick Murtagh is alone for as long as he is. Unfortunately the night never got back up to the level of the warm-up, distinctly cooling thereafter.
Rick’s material wasn’t strong, pulling out old jokes about paedophiles and young mums (including the flatly received punchline, “why give the vagina a rest?” regarding a mum of 3) and ending with a drawn-out tale of God as a stoner. There were a few decent gags but it was a set that needs a lot of work.
Rick then gave way to Matthew Smith who opened by telling us that the way to tell if a Thai person is a lady-boy or not is to be sodomised by them. He also told us the foundations of a joke that he’d clearly not written – he went to have a haircut but didn’t. He also covered the matter of paedophilia in an elongated and predictable joke about getting caught with a photo of yourself as a child later in life. His demeanour and delivery suggested he has comedy potential, but the material told us otherwise.
Last was Knightley, opening with another heard-it-all-before joke (seen since February on many online joke sites and across social networks) about Taylor Swift’s ‘never, never ever getting back together’ lyric and her legs. In a reference to the Man-Go Unshaved/Django Unchained idea for the show, he told us “I’m not a racist”, yet two gags later the punchline was, “because I’m a racist” - contradictory and not thought out. Gary told us he wouldn’t do what he’d like to, but what he thought would entertain. After a tenuous list of look-a-likes of himself (anyone with a beard), he did crass playground jokes (including “what’s green and smells of bacon? Kermit’s fingers after he’s had them in Miss Piggy”), yet more paedophilia jokes and then shouted at us for not guffawing at them.
However, when Gary simply chatted, away from the poor script, he was funny. He should have told us what he’d wanted to and not reverted to lazy, rude crudeness. It was a shame and a wasted talent.
“That’s why I like stand-up comedy”, Gary told us, “you don’t need any skill to do it.” To do it well, however, you do. Man-Go Unshaved, ironically, needs a lot of cutting and restyling to be anything but a lot of fluff.
