My first entertainment review to be printed
Published in the Cobourg Star 4th October 2000
Ever been to a place where you know you had a good time and can't remember why?Well I have and it was in Colborne! Last night's comedy show at the legion was priceless. Paying $10.00 at the door you got your money's worth and much much more.
A ninety-minute assembly of comedy assaulted all the senses last night. The styles that "Maxie and Mitch" employed are impossible to catalogue except to say there was not one left alone. From the traditional music hall slapstick to the stand-up situational comedy routine, not one approach stood out but all melded into fun, fun , fun.
As I entered the party room at the Legion at 7.15 for a 7.30 show a little guy in a red sweatshirt was setting up two stand-up microphones. "Check one, check one" you know the deal after being at many family weddings where the "geek" in the tribe is setting up for his routine. Settling in we fidgeted and drank more beer than necessary while waiting for the show. At 8 two nondescript, and definitely not wearing show clothes, men stood in the corner, read stage, and hesitantly spoke into the mike. Thinking to myself, after a couple of definitely "ethnic" humour of the British kind, what are these two Ontario Hydro workers doing moonlighting in a sophomoric comedy routine. As we ran through the usual icebreakers, "Anybody from Scotland? Oh yes Joe (the barman), where else, get your hand out of the till": it's a Scottish reference! "Anyone from Ireland? What's your name Osomething - what, it is! we'll call you Mr.O." Running through, what appeared to be, the warmup the jokes got better and the audience warmed up and we settled in to the first of many comedic surprises - the little guy could really play his guitar and the big guy really was Maxie from Newcastle ("not down there [the 401] - the UK").
It's hard to describe such an act that contains so many elements: traditional British music hall toilet humour, duologues a la Smothers Brothers, a sketch playing a Japanese folk singer with Mitch looking like a spitting image of Alfred E Neuman, Saturday night live slapstick and Las Vegas standup lifestyle routines (except that these tales of life were about an absolutely pure fictional family none of whose members could ever live in this uptight world). But it worked
In a world of standup comedians prattling
on about their kids, wives and their sexlives it was absolute delight to
hear jokes, you know the ones - a beginning, middle and end. Who cares
if they are a million years old they had fun telling them and we had fun
listening. This pair of comics have many years of obvious experience and
were only in Ontario for two weeks. Taking the opportunity to play eight
engagements and visit friends whilst making a bit of money they are having
fun. I can just imagine the conversation between two obvious friends and
comedy colleagues, "Want to go to Canada?", "Why not we can visit old you
know who and make a bit of money". So they turn up doing the "Brit. Clubs"
and Legions along the Lakeshore without a script and perform pieces of
their thirty year old repertoire. Nearly all of them work and the when
some don't they admit it and move on, "It's a joke madam, it'll sink in".
They are funny and they have fun and all those who failed to buy a ticket
didn't get the joke, we did and are happier for it.