The Pajama Men are Albuquerquians Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez. They met at uni and have been doing their particular kind of silly ever since. And we should be very grateful for that.What they do is a little hard to describe because it's a little bit out there, but I'm going to make like Anthony Perkins and have a stab at it anyway.
Improv plays a large part of their shows, but they fire off each with such laser sharp precision that it wouldn't be surprising if it was all carefully scripted. But then this is the kind of accusation that comes up with the best improv... and in the end if Just the Two of Each of Us were tightly scripted it wouldn't matter at all, given that it is non-stop hilarious, inventive and... I don't know... startling? Astonishing? Whacked out? Zany? Loopy? It's lots of things, but most importantly, it's funny.
Their comedy is rapid-fire, character-driven sketch comedy with both of the two of The Pajama Men playing a dizzying number of characters, including a couple of teenage girls eating spiders, a Catherine Zeta Jones-like spy negotiating a laser grid, a motorcycle, a really stoopid Noo Yorker in a break-up situation with his Latino girlfriend, the motorcycle again (and again and again, much to everyone's joy), a skill tester machine which reappeared as frequently as the chopper, a couple of cops inspecting the echoey Sink Hole Of Truth, an evil monster... the list goes on. On and hilariously on.
The character changes are instant and complete, especially impressive given that there are no costume changes or set changes – it all happens too quickly for costume and set to come into it. It's just two guys in pajamas, armed with an obvious love of the weird, the surreal, the very, very funny. Just them, a muso and two chairs. Throughout the show if you find yourself not laughing (unlikely), you will be sitting in the theatre in a kind of dumbfounded amazement, probably wondering where in the hell these guys get this stuff from.
And now we've come to the bottom line(s). “This show was so great I will personally buy anybody a ticket who wants to go” is a quote from Mark in a recent interview on this very site.
Seriously, don't miss it.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival presents
Just the Two of Each of Us
The Pajama Men
Written and Performed by Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez
Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio | 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne
Dates: 4 – 21 Apr, 2013
Tickets: $28 – $38
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013
Part of the 2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
