Gig review by Steve Bennett at Just For Laughs, Montreal

The Lucas Brothers have built up a cult following thanks to their FXX animation Lucas Bros. Moving Co, giving them a fan base happy to wallow in their unfocussed on-stage musings. 

But newcomers to identical Twins Kenny and Keith might prefer them to cut to the chase. For although they are an affable duo with no shortage low-key charisma, their charm not enough to sustain the many moments of extended self-indulgence.

Such a laid-back vibe is only to be expected:  their cartoon alter-egos are forever toking on joints and their first comedy special, which was released on Netflix in April, was unsubtly entitled: On Drugs. No wonder they have a stoner’s attention span…

That’s a little unfair, as their punchlines sometimes have an offbeat clarity, but the way they talk around them, chatting around the premises and offering much worse variations on the theme both before and after they’ve hit the sweet spot is frustrating time-wasting. Improv is not their strong suit, yet they do insist on doing it.

It’s a pity, as they actually have so many good concepts, such as the idea of these good-natured brothers joining the Black Panthers, but the result is undercooked. 

But just when you think they’re not trying hard they produce a silly moment that reminds you they can bring the goods. Their mashup of Bernie Mac and Bernie Saunders is a nice gag, as is the payoff to the impossibility of being suicidal AND a Missy Elliot fan, or their comment on noticing their deficit bank balance was in parenthesis.

Yet often good punchlines are tagged with long, confusing, meandering ones, while elsewhere all this talking begins and ends in an old, familiar joke. For example: if one in three black guys is shot before they are 32, and neither of them has, it looks bad for their younger brother. And the war or terrorism being a war on a concept was old hat when George Bush was still in the White House.

They are a personable pair (who never identify who’s who)  but they burn through the goodwill faster than the sporadic dropping of undeniably good lines can top it up.

Review date: 26 Jul 2017
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