I am watching a new show: The Goes Wrong Show. (I believe it’s based on The Play That Goes Wrong, which depicts actors trapped in a play filled with failing props and missed cues and disintegrating sets.)
I’ve only seen the first three episodes, but it had some really remarkable physical comedy. I forgot how much I like slapstick. I remember in the eighties there was a show called Perfect Strangers, and I watched just for that.
Then I started noticing slapstick everywhere, like the first “Led Zeppelin” episode of NewsRadio.
I mentioned to Gary that my slapstick sense seemed to be turned on again, and he said I might like The Three Stooges.
“No. They are not funny,” I said, because that is what I believe.
I guess the difference is that the Stooges slapstick island is so hostile. It’s all escalating anger and violence … whereas Perfect Strangers had the Dance of Joy.
6 responses to “Review: The Goes Wrong Show”
Yes, the distance between Angry Slapstick vs. the “Make ‘Em Laugh” song in Singing in the Rain, is quite substantial (although I still can’t watch the latter without hoping they had some *serious* padding under the carpet, because his poor knees…). Happy slapstick is just not the same thing at all as cranky or actually-damaging slapstick. I can’t think of any additional sources, though, outside cartoons…
(I assume, though, that you’ve seen Noises Off? I recall finding it absolutely hilarious, and it’s quite possible there’s slapstick in it, although I am not sure.)
KC – yes, I keep imagining mattresses. I thought I saw a stage play of Noises Off but on further research I see the play I remembered watching was Present Laughter.
I saw The Play That Goes Wrong live here – a travelling version from the UK. It was both hilarious and so impressive, how they managed all the scenery disasters. Genius.
Big Dot – I read that the very end was a spectacular scenery disaster.
I was supposed to see The Play That Goes Wrong as part of our Broadway season, and it was the first event I had cancelled by COVID. I was (and am) so disappointed. Little did I know the rest of the 2020 season and most of the 2021 season would be falling along behind it…
Trisha – I still mourn the two concerts and the entire opera season I paid for and didn’t get to attend. And I’m also annoyed that 63 Up, the next installment in the 7-up series, has not been released in the US.