I’ll just say this straight off. Go and see The Pajama Men’s The Last Stand to Reason. Just go buy some tickets right now.
Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez as The Pajama Men are probably easiest to describe as a sketch comedy pair, but that description doesn’t seem quite right. The Last Stand is something of a character piece, but with the guys bouncing between dozens of characters, sometimes within a matter of seconds. There’s also a hefty dose of improvisation, with the guys using their characters as jumping off points into crazy fun times.
The guys are fantastic actors, creating amazingly distinct characters and jumping between them at unbelievable speed without ever leaving the audience confused as to who is who. Shenoah in particular, with his mass-murderer and undead girlfriend, creates some truly unsettling characters that manage to be geniunely creepy while still being incredibly funny.
Shenoah and Mark are clearly having a ball on stage, and their enthusiasm is infectious. They exude an aura of barely controlled chaos as they each break into improvised sequences that leaves the other almost unable to keep a straight face. On one or two occasions these bursts of improvisation left the guys a little lost, but the structure of their characters and the overall quality of rest of their show makes any slips easy to overlook.
The boys are also joined on stage by musician Kevin Hume who provides a pitch-perfect soundtrack and brings the show to a close with a song that had me immediately taking notes to look him up. Having live musical accompianment may seem a little indulgent, but the ability to highlight the sketches with background music without being tied to the pacing of a recording give the Pajama Men a real freedom on stage.
After blowing me away with their Barry Award winning show Versus vs Versus last year, I didn’t think they’d be able to match that and was ready for The Pajama Men to let me down, but they just looked at the incredibly high bar that they set themselves and stepped right on over it. If you don’t think this one of the best shows you’ve ever seen, I’m afraid there may be something wrong with you and I don’t think we can be friends.
For further details and bookings, visit the Comedy Festival Website