Sam Simmons' Meanwhile is an exhilarating hour of well-organised chaos and mind-boggling absurdity, says Emma McAlpine.
If you haven’t seen a Sam Simmons show before, you might begin to get a small inkling into the kind of crazy world you are about to walk into from his intro music: a mash-up of Whitney Houston's 'I Have Nothing' and 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'.
Having once described himself as "the most alternative comic in Australia", if you've been getting more than a little bored of mediocre observational stand-up recently, Simmons’ wacky prop-based comedy is like a breath of fresh air. Walking on stage dressed as an astronaut with an Old El Paso Taco kit under one arm is just one of the bizarrely comic visuals we get during the show, which also include a pine cone on a string and a talking Spanish llama called Jorge.
After kicking off with some rules for the gig (no scissors, wool or cats will be tolerated); he then proceeds to reply to random questions that members of the public have sent in to him. Ever wondered what Christmas and Star Wars would sound like mixed together or how you can make new friends? Simmons has the answers and each response is more fantastically absurd than the next.
A manic ball of energy, he barks through his correspondence at a rate of knots accompanying it with musical excerpts of '90s chart hits, hilarious dances, surreal flip chart drawings and audience interaction. Uncompromisingly brusque, any crowd reactions deemed too mild are met with amusing indignation: "You stony-faced skanks!"
At times, he'll snap out of his routines to sulk around the stage like a petulant teenager, with a pre-recorded inner monologue playing in the background ("I'm like a bored clown for sale...maybe I'm gay - I do love my own cock"). Only the occasional bit of corpsing when he's rushing to get to his next prop reassures you that you are actually not watching a madman having a meltdown on stage.
After a hysterical finale involving the aforementioned taco kit and some nudity, there’s no doubt that plenty of audience members who were initially scratching their heads are now collapsing with bemused laughter. An exhilarating hour of well-organised chaos and mind-boggling absurdity, here Simmons proves that good comedy doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to be funny.
Sam Simmons: Meanwhile is at the Gilded Balloon at 21:15pm until Sunday 28th August.
Read Spoonfed's interview with Sam Simmons
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