Mr.Hard-of-Hearing Tribiani

So went to the comedy gig at the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports last night-Peepolykus. Maybe it was the hype surrounding it you know with the radio interview with the Groove Monster, also known as the British High Commisioner, the rave reviews written about it excinema, excinema, excinema. I was expecting so be splitting my sides in laughter leaving the hall giddy and hyped up.

I was sorely dissapointed as you can probably already guess.

It started with the show starting a little later than expected - and all the hoo-haa surrounding the event which albeit necessary in some way was not what we came to see. Then the first act. Now I'm not going to spoil it by writing a detailed 'review' of the individual skits but I have to say that the opening act did little to attract my attention. Its a good thing that I keep those purse strings tight. I'm going to sit here for my whole five bucks worth!

Granted there were some funny points in the show and one particularly funny sketch that made me giggle. However, the laughs that crept through were only because I had loosened my jaw slightly in sheer aggravation with the guy sat behind me.

Now I'm all for going to see gigs in Brunei. The Jazz pianist the other day was fabulous and I was thoroughly entertained even with the Sheraton kitchten staff happily clanging away in the background. While I was at school here I had plenty of chances to go and see plays and theatre nights which were of an exceptional standard. But the one thing that REALLY gets my nerves in a tizzy is the 5% of the audience who make that time for others just a little unbearable at times.

We all payed $5 bucks to come. Okay, maybe everyone after the 2nd row perhaps. But still, we all payed the heavily subsidised fee to come see some top-notch talent from the UK. We all know it was a comedy night. We all know that its quite alright to laugh out loud - as opposed to when you see the funnies on a plane with 200 sleeping passengers around you. Yes? But the guy behind me took every oportunity to laugh - no. HYUK (you know-goofy style) particularly loudly. So he might have been having a good time, and you can't fault someone for the way they laugh. But forced laughing? grrr. So the thoughts running through his head went like this:

I'm at a comedy night
People around me are laughing
OH wait! was that something funny on stage?
Damn I missed it.
Huh? Mary Antoinete? I know her!
(pause) HA. HA. HA. HAAA!!!
Good.

ok ok ok ... I'm being a little mean. The guy can't help it if he's slow. Why don't I go and kick a kitten now.

But the rest of the night went like this:

(pause) HA. HA. HA. HAAA!!!
Good.
(says to friend with little attempt to keep his voice down) mary antoinete.
(guy on stage calls a handbag a hamburger) OH Oh HAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAA!!!!
(says to friend again with no reduction in volume to previous line) HAMBURGER!
(friend says) wait wait I don't get it. What did he say?
(three of them say) hamburger.
by this time we've moved on to a new scene

and so on.

So it was like sitting in front of Joey from Friends meets someone slightly hard of hearing. If you can't sympathise - sit infront of oh I dunno, some topical comedy and as soon as subjects you might vaguely know about - Bush, Iraq, Prince Charleses nose, Hamburgers- come up, laugh. Real loudly. Its embarassing.

SO if you saw me at the show I was the pissed off girl gnashing her teeth sat in row 5 in front of Chuckles Mcphee here. xxw