The Groggy Squirrel

After performing together for over twenty years, Simon Palomares and George Kapiniaris were back in town to perform a short season of shows at Crown. They performed their trademark style of comedy that appeals to a wide multicultural audience.

Simon took the stage first for his solo spot. With a survey of the crowd to gauge the cultural mix, he proceeded to poke gentle fun at each race. These jokes would always raise a huge belly laugh from the people referred to, along with a hearty chuckle from everyone else. I’m sure the races concerned were able extract more humour from these jokes than an ignorant Aussie such as myself but there was a surprising number of references I was able to pick up on. The highlight of his spot was the extended sequence about his mother cooking Paella. This was expertly acted out with fantastic mimicry of his mother’s voice and movements.

Simon departed the stage to make way for George’s solo spot. George took up Simon’s lead and continued with the racial jibing, which was met with the same plentiful laughter. He often made use of his talent for wacky facial gestures to milk maximum laughs from his jokes. This led up to his extended piece which was also based on his mother. This consisted of stories of his mother’s methods of discipline, usually resulting in great pain for young George. It came complete with a Greek lesson in the names for the various implements used. His hamming it up as he recounted these tales made it a laugh riot.

At the conclusion of George’s spot, the velvet curtains were opened to reveal the boy’s backing band for the remainder of the show. George regularly strapped on a guitar as he sang while Simon handled the majority of the vocal duties, a little bit of percussion and lots of dancing.

The bulk of the musical numbers were song parodies covering some topical issues as well as more of the racially based material. We were treated to songs including two versions of Advance Australia Fair (of the ACDC and Ricky Martin flavours) and a funky disco number for us Skips (“Play some f&*#in’’ Barnsey Wog Boy”). The parodies that were of the one joke variety never outstayed their welcome, while the others included plenty of new ideas in the verses to keep the laughs rolling for their duration.

Other musical highjinks included a jingle for a new drink named suspiciously like a Greek profanity and a demonstration that absolutely anyone can dance to Latin music. The later featured great physicality from Simon as he performed the dancing cliches of various nationalities.

Simon and George have put together a slick and expertly scripted show. They are able to cater perfectly to quite a diverse audience and consistently deliver the laughs.

For booking details go to Simon & George