JKS: A COMEDY (?)

Tom Ballard and director Ben Russell have assembled a fine and varied cast of comedians/actors (including Ballard himself) to play a bunch of comedians chewing the fat, reminiscing, swapping gags, competing (of course) and complaining about audiences.  They’re backstage at a pub venue on a Tuesday (the slowest) night, waiting to go on.  We see them go on for their acts, and we see them come back, and we hear their audience responses – or lack of them.  These are weary, battle-hardened veterans – except maybe Tiana Hogben (‘Mai’), who calls herself a clown rather than a comedian... 

(Ballard has given his characters fictitious names, but I’ll use the performers’ real names for convenience.)

Nicky Barry (‘Chrissie’) is calm, ‘philosophical’ if you will; she’s a trouper, seen it all in every kind of venue and occasion you can think of - even a swingers’ party.  Kevin Hofbauer (‘Jason’) – in hip (dated?) street wear – is a great contrast: loud and aggressive; he styles himself as ‘The Thinking Bogan’ – and Nicky Barry chaffs him about that.  Tom Ballard (‘Alex’) lumbers in and the banter continues – with some tension between him and Hofbauer. 

Petite Tiana Hogben, the clown, produces funny, squeaky toys from her bag, cheerfully accepting the fact that the others don’t quite think she belongs...  She structures things by trying out topics for a comedy Q&A - questions like, who are your comedy influencers, what’s your favourite joke, is there a joke you regret using, and so on.  Our sold-out audience included a wide range of ages – or ‘demographics’ – so older folks enjoyed references to comics and TV shows of which the younger people had never heard. 

Things bubble along like this in a desultory way until the news comes through that legendary – and fictitious - comedian ‘Dusty’ has died.  Well, he was in his eighties.  Nicky Barry has worked with him.  Tiana Hogben and then Jordan Barr – coming off stage from an unresponsive audience – have scarcely heard of him. 

‘Dusty’ was notorious for shocker gags – homophobic, misogynist, racist.  We hear an example and ‘tasteless’ doesn’t come near it.  Kevin Hofbauer’s ‘Jason’ is defiantly a fan, an admirer because Dusty was funny.  He's vehemently against ‘woke’, PC and cancel culture.  Nothing should be off-limits. But Ballard’s ‘Alex’ is certainly not a fan and the mood and temperature in the room changes.  Soon Ballard and Hofbauer are shouting and close to some biffo... 

But the arguments – no matter how eloquently, aggressively and even entertainingly put – are all too familiar.  The show becomes Ballard in preacher mode, and we get a lecture instead of drama.  Hofbauer’s loudmouth ‘Jason’ (a great sustained performance, by the way) loses, of course.  The audience seems bemused.  The laughter dies away.  We can admire Ballard’s nerve – and agree with his position - but it might help were he to resist his impulse to be so heavy-handedly obvious and self-righteously ‘correct’.

Michael Brindley