Review by Barb Popel
60 min / Comedy / Mature
Besharah and Brown came up with an intriguing gimmick to create their show. Instead of writing their own material, they’ve obtained comedy sketches from eight seasoned Fringe veterans from across Canada and from New York. We’re not told who wrote which sketch, but the audience gets to vote for their favourites before leaving the theatre. The author who garners the most votes will get a share of the show’s profits at the end of the Fringe.
Does it work? Well, there’s a lot of variety in style and content, so it’s likely that at least a couple of the sketches will make you laugh.
I liked four of the sketches, with my favourite being one titled “Performance Review” – an annual human resources exercise delivered at warp speed. Since I’m working on a huge Government of Canada project right now about – you guessed it! – performance reviews, this one had me in stitches.
Speaking of warp speed, there was also a silly take-off on Star Trek, with the Captain Kirk role being assumed by the guy from the mail room and the clueless chief engineer having no idea where the starter button is for the warp engines.
Then there was the sketch in the patent office. I had no idea there were so many euphemisms for the female bosom. Sweater muffins??? No, I will not explain what bosoms and patent applications have to do with each other.
And the retro “offline dating service” was a bit of a hoot.
For me, the other sketches fell flat. But, hey, it was only 60 minutes and $10.
Dicky Dicky by Ray Besharah & David Benedict Brown is playing at BYOV C – The Courtroom (2 Daly Ave., Elevator A) on Friday June 20 at 22:30, Saturday June 21 at 19:30, Sunday June 22 at 21:00, Thursday June 26 at 17:30, Friday June 27 at 22:00, Saturday June 28 at 19:30, and Sunday June 29 at 16:30. Tickets are $10 each.
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