Back in the 90s and early 00’s there was an entire genre of anarchic variety TV show that started out silly and got more and more ridiculous. Show’s like The Big Breakfast, No.73 and even The Word had a wild, unstructured feel to them that made for compelling viewing because it felt like literally anything could happen. The Mr Thing Show is a re-imagining of this sort of thing, but as a stage show on the fringe. It’s a wild multimedia show presented in front of a live studio audience, but doesn’t transmit anywhere.
If that sounds like a weird idea for a stage production, it is, but that’s also the sort of thing that Edinburgh Fringe is all about. Our hosts Tom, Owen and the lovably grumpy puppet Steve bounce around the stage and draw the audience in. This show is a little heavy on the audience participation because that’s the whole vibe. It’s part quiz-show, part talk-show and part high energy improvised comedy sketch show. Things pop out of the stage, sound effects go off and many, many puns are made, often with a short bit of music attached.
It’s silly and compelling. It’s dumb yet memorable. It is really rather good. The show maintains a level of unexpected and anarchic humour through-out without ever feeling the need to have a point beyond ‘make the audience laugh’. If you ever wanted to be a member of the audience of TV show that doesn’t actually exist, then this is for you, though that’s a weirdly specific thing to want. Even that isn’t you, go see this show.
The Mr Thing Show is also one of the few fringe show we’ve seen that has a perfect time-slot. It’s late at night and it’s likely that by then you’ve seen half-a-dozen shows and are feeling a little worn and foot-sore. This is an hours worth of very silly fun that will throws so much energy at it’s audience that it’s impossible to leave without a grin on your face. Perfect for the end of the day.
The Mr Thing Show is something special and simply brilliant. Go see it before it’s gone. Or before it becomes some streaming services underground hit talk show.
