The Furious Anger Fun Hour - It’s a Pretty Fun Ride!
I had pretty high expectations for when I arrived at the Havana for the Opening Night of The Furious Anger Fun Hour. I mean this Vancouver Sketch Comedy Troupe is made up of the hilarious physical comedy duo Peter n’ Chris (Peter Carlone, Chris Wilson), Sam Mullins (Tinfoil Dinosaur) and stand-up comic Bryan Nothling. About thirtyish audience members joined me in the theatre (which at the Havana is over half full) and we were greeted by a stage empty except for a microphone in a stand & a well-loved loveseat.
As the show begins we are welcomed by our emcee Bryan Nothling who reminds us that his partners in FAFS all have other shows in this year’s Fringe Fest (Peter n Chris Explore Their Bodies & Sam Mullins has Weak Sauce) and that he does not…Oh and this show with be NOTHING like those shows…NOTHING. What…but this is why I came to this show – I mean I began to be afraid that I had no idea what to expect, what type of comedy…but I let go of my expectations and sat back to enjoy the ride & it’s a pretty fun ride.
The four members of FAFH create sketches that include “Hey”, where the four cluster on the loveseat to share life reflections – this recurring sketch made me laugh harder each time it returned. Other sketches take on The Price is Right, soldiers, Lord of the Rings, Survivor and Shakespeare. The recurring night owl sleepover sketch reminds you what it was like to have exuberance of youth & provides Bryan Nothling with some of the best lines of the evening as the beaten down Dad. The guys have a comfortable buddies type approach to the scenes that comes across like four talented funny friends just goofing around…and we are lucky enough to get to hang with them.
Not every sketch is a hit but some of them hit it deep into the outfield. It was opening night & sometimes the timing of the sketches & transitions seemed a bit off but I am sure this will get better as the Fringe continues. I can’t promise that you will laugh for the entire 60 minutes but I can say that everybody laughed at something and seemed to have a really good time. I am not sure there was one sketch that blew away the whole audience at once…but the physical comedy fight sequence came pretty close. Stand-out moments for me were Peter & Chris in the physical comedy sketches, Bryan’s depiction of Finnegan, Sam’s amazing facial expressions as he pull off the solid straight man, Chris’ updated Shakespeare & Peter…well Peter – Hey, I don’t know if a waffle will ever taste the same way again.