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Get in Early, Start Flexing

Get in Early, Start Flexing



Who: Parsons and Naylor
Where: Civic Theatre
When: Saturday October 31, 1998

IF YOU don't find boofy blokes stuffing their mouths full of biscuits and squirting each other with water pistols funny, then don't despair. PARSONS & NAYLOR is more than sheer silliness.

Then again, if you don't find sheer silliness a good enough reason for a laugh, then maybe you need to loosen up a bit.

Pommie comics ANDY PARSONS and HENRY NAYLOR, playing tonight and tomorrow night at SJ's Hotel from 6.30pm, and Saturday night at the Civic Theatre, know how to do silly stuff very well.

But I wasn't quite ready for the cleverness of the film noir movie sequence re-enacted in the dark with a set of torches and some pre-recorded sound effects.

Then there was a B-grade movie with Parsons as the star and Naylor creating crappy sound effects with whatever was lying around on the stage.

Another highlight was the FISHER PRICE band where the two use toy guitars, a child's drum kit and a toddlers turntable to perform their own version of a well-known punk music anthem and some hard-core Techno.

The duo began their hour-and-a-bit set at Glebe's HAROLD PARK HOTEL last week with the Maori ceremonial posture dance, the haka, featuring words and actions appropriately re-arranged.

Although they didn't do it on the night, the comedians are also well known for their TORVILL & DEAN routine using an office chair on wheels.

Big lanky Parsons and short balding Naylor also have a nice line in comic rivalry of the slap-the-bald-man-on-the-head variety, or in ways to re-invent the ancient game of rock-paper-scissors.

Parsons uses the duo's silliness as a reason for wanting to be a serious actor. What is he going to tell his yet-unborn child what daddy does for a living?

This becomes another forum for Naylor to challenge his counterpart in a game of who is the best actor. There's a surprise twist to this game at the end that you'll never see coming.

The energy and pace of the show wanes only slightly when the pair break for individual monologues, but on the night I saw them this was appreciated to provide an opportunity to rest the laughter muscles.

Hilarious to watch. Worth getting in early for. TE



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