“If you don’t like excellent, silly sketch comedy, you will hate this”
Having recently enjoyed a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney are obviously now in over $3000 worth of debt. I can only wish them luck because I’m certain they’re about to have another sold-out week in Soho, and who knows how much that’s going to set them back.
This is silly sketch comedy at its absolute finest. Scenes range from a super annoying ghost being misidentified as a dead parent, to Nick hijacking a Western sketch to try and get Brian to make out with him. It’s all tied together with an incredibly absurd premise that Nick and his fiancé decided to remain celibate until their marriage which, having been postponed due to covid, has lasted over two years- and masturbation is obviously considered cheating. So Nick is a little bit tense, as you might imagine.
It’s amazing how much chaos they manage to create with so few props, and by the end, it feels like the stage should be covered with multiple discarded costumes, a bunch of undigested food, and a lot of unidentifiable puddles. But aside from a leaning keyboard and a few tic-tacs, it’s just Kocher and McElhaney doing what they do best and being absolutely ridiculous.
The best and worst joke of the evening has to be one of them joining the mile-high club on 9/11- trust me, it works. Obviously they’re unafraid to break any social boundary necessary if it can be funny, and where others would leave an audience awkward and uncomfortable, Britanick has us curling up in pained laughter. With writing credits including It’s Always Sunny, and SNL, it should be no surprise.
If you don’t like excellent, silly sketch comedy, you will hate this. Otherwise everyone should go. They’re about to smash the UK scene, and this might be the last chance to see them in such an intimate venue.
Reviewed on 27th February 2023
by Miriam Sallon
Photography by Sela Shiloni
Catch BriTANicK at Soho Theatre until 4th March then at Brighton Komeida on the 5th March and Manchester Canvas on 6th March
“Sitting in an entirely clothed audience, it’s initially bizarre to be gathered round four very comfortably naked people”
In the summer just gone there were most definitely days, when even the thinnest nighty clung to me, wet with sweat, that I thought how great it would be if society would just let loose and I could walk down the street naked. But on this particularly chilly February day, it’s incredibly impressive that the Body Love Sketch Club has convinced anyone to even take off their woolly hats, let alone their underwear.
Provided with a sheaf of paper, a pencil and some charcoal, the audience is invited to draw our hosts Rosy Pendlebaby and Ruby Rare, as well as Social Psychologist, Professor Keon West, and Artist, Lily Holder, as they chat about nudity within society and its benefits, all while posing naked.
Sitting in an entirely clothed audience, it’s initially bizarre to be gathered round four very comfortably naked people, but the act of drawing whilst listening eases the audience’s awkwardness, and soon it feels totally normal. Rather than trying uncomfortably to work out where to rest our gaze, we’re busy trying to work out proportions, concentrating on the curve of the pencil line rather than the curve of a buttock.
And so when, in the last ten minutes, the audience is invited to join them on stage, it’s unsurprising that there are too many volunteers. Why not? Why don’t we all just get naked? Except that it is still quite cold, so I think I’ll pass on this occasion.
Pendlebaby and Rare are clearly dab hands at creating a safe and fun space, racing their guests to get their kit off, and joking about getting cramp in long poses. Their first question for their guests and themselves: How are you feeling in your body today? “Great! I just had a pizza for lunch!”, Lily Holder announces. It’s lovely and comforting to see people naked and not trying; no-one is holding in their stomach or attempting to be especially sexy. They’re just themselves, but…naked.
Having researched extensively on the subject, Professor Keon West has some very interesting insights into the potential benefits of society allowing for a more liberated view of clothing. When asked what he thinks would best encourage a naked utopia, he suggests a universal basic income, because, he believes, if everyone had everything they needed, and a little extra, they would feel free to do what they really wanted: go Winnie the Pooh with a top and no bottoms, wear a big scarf and nothing else. No-one would care.
Regardless of whether you believe everyone should be naked all the time, or whether you just think it would be nice if everyone were more accepting of their own bodies, the Body Love Sketch Club provides a haven and plenty of food for thought, along with whatever masterpieces you created during the session. This is the only Naked Chat booked for the VAULT Festival, but Pendlebaby and Rare host regular online and in-person events if you fancy a doodle and a chat about nudity, and maybe getting naked yourself.
