Review by Steve Bennett

It is no great surprise to find that the Pajama Men have stuck firmly with the distinctive formula that has proved so successful for them. Just The Two Of Each Of Us, which is receiving its world premiere at Melbourne, is another frantically paced mashup of daft caricatures, inventive physical comedy and whip-sharp one-liners.

The cast of oddballs in this particular epic includes a medieval king and his hunchbacked sorcerer, a dense Jersey Shore-style guy repeatedly pleading with his girl not to break up, the emotionally detached schoolgirls with lazy Valley accents, and a super-cool guy who seems to have everything ‘too easy’.

The plot, which seems almost an afterthought to link these people together, involves the reawakening of a centuries-old man-eating beast (intimidating monsters being another trademark of this talented duo). The first signs are a massive sinkhole, investigated by a local sheriff and his associate, which threatens a casino/family adventure centre and all its visitors

Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez created an absorbing atmosphere redolent of their native New Mexico with nothing more than a couple of chairs, their nightwear, and a huge stash of inventiveness. One minute they are a chopper and its rider, the next a fairground ‘grab’ machine.

Scenes always boast an off-kilter wit, and if they can initially seem baffling, the pieces eventually fall into place, sometimes before they move on, sometimes later in the multi-stranded narrative. A couple of sketches, most notably their Hot 5 News anchors, serve to ratchet up the tally of straightforward jokes, proving that the pair are as deft with smart wordplay as they are in performance.

The show requires an close collaboration between them both as they advance such a complex story with tightly-planned scenes. But they have such an innate understanding of each other that they can also veer off-script, making each other laugh over stumbled lines or unplanned additional material, which lends a looseness to the performance and welcomes in the audience in a way that an inflexibly choreographed show would not. Luckily, they can teleport you in and out of their world on a whim, so whenever the spell is broken, it is only temporary.

The story is given added impact by the well-pitched incidental music of Kevin Hume, occasionally swelling into a foreground song worthy of the cinematic scope of Chavez and Allen’s ambition. They achieve it, too, with another esoteric tale, bursting with creativity and oddness – and enough gags to keep the audience chuckling.

Review date: 20 Apr 2013
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival