The Last Stand to Reason 

...as described by The London Times

*****

Well, they’ve done it again. The Pajama Men were a hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe with Versus Vs Versus, an oddball mix of visual and verbal comedy. It went on to tour the world and win the Barry Award at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

In fact, the duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, were so busy performing it that they left themselves only six weeks to write this year’s follow-up, The Last Stand to Reason. And then they chose to theme it around that most banal of subjects, what they did on their holidays.

Oh, please. Could the bottom of the barrel be suffering from abrasions?

They jump without pause from conductor to boy, from prim women to lairy English rockers, hyperventilating train manager to cool French spy, and you always know who’s who. Chavez, a Harpo Marx with tight brown curls, dazzles with his physical comedy. His onboard entertainer, Magic Rick, displays some of the finest card control you’ll see all year — even though you know the deck is mimed. When he reads through a dirty cowboy novel, in a speeded-up movie-style scene, it feels as if God himself has switched to x32 speed on his DVD of the universe.

Allen, his eyes bulging and voice screeching as their running character Jennifer, or jumping between a dozen Mission: Impossible-style disguises worn by a growly gangster, is every bit his equal. But it’s their shared language that matters most. The way they give total commitment to their fast-morphing fantasy world, yet never straying too far from the gag. They trust us to make their leaps of faith with them too, as they play with form and play with expectations.

So you leave with the visual memory not of two men and one backing musician on a bare stage, but of all the fantastical scenes they depict.

The beer so cold it sends you to a winter wonderland. A tiny, cute creature being thrown out of the train. A pin whispering as it drops. Not to mention the world’s most passive-aggressive knock-knock joke.

It’s a snappy hour, their most accessible yet, that falters only in a rushed ending and the odd duff wordplay. Is it comedy? Is it theatre? Is it pretty strange? Yes, yes and yes. But most of all it’s joyful. 

VERSUS VS. VERSUS

Winner

Barry Award, Melbourne Comedy Festival (Best in the fest)

Time Out Award, Sydney Comedy Festival (Best in the fest)

Massively inventive, wet-your-pants funny and totally indescribable, The Pajama Men – otherwise known as Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez – show their internationally acclaimed split-second character switches and lightning speed multiple storylines all over the world.

In a performance that moves faster than Usain Bolt with a tailwind, The Pajama Men ricochet through a series of tight fictions and strange imaginings. From a bat that plays chess and time-travelling camels to the great Roman warriors and a ballad-singing love-maker who offers less-than-wise sex tips. this dynamic duo shape-shifts through dozens of distinctive characters with as little as a crinkling of the brow.

"One of the most dazzling displays of comedy theatre I've ever seen. It's weird. And it's wonderful.*****" The London Times UK

"Allen and Chavez are improvisers' improvisers. Actors' actors. Comedians' comedians" The Chicago Tribune USA 

IMPROVVISO

Put on your laughin’ pants and lock up your daughters; the Pajama Men are serving up moronic lunacy without a script. Catch the late great Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen in a completely improvised hour with live music. Watch these comedy wizards spit out hundreds of characters that double cross each other in dozens of situations that you’ll never forget (try as you might).

“Allen and Chavez’s comic high energy recalls the edgy, manic talent of Robin Williams, but with more heart and whimsy.”
Chicago Sun-Times