What even is Thom Foole’s House Party, we kept asking
ourselves as we waited for the upstairs to open. None of us were sure what we
were letting ourselves in for. But we took the gamble and it paid off.
It’s a comedy night of s special sort. With our inimitable
host Wilmot Brown, several acts took to the stage and had many of the audience
literally crying with laughter.
These comedians are all ‘character’ stand-up with their own
stage personas. And none of them were afraid to push the envelope. It was all
very surreal and I can see that it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if
you like things a little off-kilter and making very little sense, then dive on
into this night. We had a blast.
Wilmot himself is an older ‘gentleman’ (played by Marny
Godden), certainly not suffering from a lack of confidence even if his career
has seen better days. He’s a frisky sort too – at one point a member of the
audience had been captured and was sequestered to the bed (why is there a
mattress on stage??) for potential romantic liaisons later.
The Establishment were the first act of the night (and
perhaps my favourite) – two uberposh men, who crept through the audience
uttering nothing but ‘mmmms’ and lasvicious ‘yeses’ as they peered at the
audience members they passed. They were quintessential country Englishmen and
dithered about onstage giving us a little window into their lives of silliness
and casual arms dealing.
We then had Lee Kern whose persona was someone incredibly
awkward whose comedy act was to give us a presentation on the history of Rock
and Roll. It was boring, it was dry and factual, he danced awkwardly, it was
hilarious.
In between acts we had games! Yes, games. Musical statues,
the equivalent of grandmother’s footsteps, charades, one lucky guy even got to
play Kiss Chase with Wilmot. And there was a maypole dance. Oh – and Limbo!
Yes, this night has it all.
Oh Standfast did what he called poetry/standup/art depending
on whether you laughed or not (don’t laugh and it’s poetry, laugh and it’s
standup – don’t get it? It’s art). And Sophie Pelham came on board with her two
plastic babies strapped to her chest. I really liked the premise of her act and
thought there was potential although it didn’t get quite the same belly laughs
as some of the others.
The headline act was Mr Frank Sanazi himself. This old rogue
is a crooner with the Axis of Evil rat pack, belting out the hits of Old Blue
Eyes with a decidedly fascist twist. Expect lots of clever wordplay, taking some
of the lyrics you’ve got to know and love and making them altogether more
sinister. I think Frank was a pretty class act - he managed to get down the mannerisms of Frank Sinatra yet segue seamlessly into an impersonation of Mr Hitler. Who would have thought that combination would work so well?
If you’re of a sensitive nature then this night may not be
for you, but if you’re up for a laugh, then you will get many at this event.
Thom Foole knows how to throw a party.
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Please feel free to add your views, or maybe suggest somewhere I should put on my list!