Sketch T-Rex: #FringeIsFunny
8 Jul 2022

by Drew Rowsome - photos supplied by publicist

Stand-up, sketch comedy and particularly improv, are art forms that I don't indulge in often or willingly. I freely admit that this disinterest is born of bad experiences with all three of those stylistic branches of comedy. And I hate to admit that it also has to do with an exceptionally traumatic brief relationship with someone immersed in the comedy world. That is a very dangerous place to enter as a 'plus one.' But as with all irrational phobias and prejudices, I realize that they do more harm than good in the long run: I was potentially missing out on quality entertainment. And a lot of laughs. Self-prescribed cognitive behavioral therapy is helping, but the psychic scars are deep. Might #FringeIsFunny be the medication needed?

The Fringe Festival is a warm, welcoming environment that encourages stepping out of one's comfort zone while remaining safe. And, at worst, the show will be over in an hour tops. So why not try Sketch T-Rex, a sketch comedy show by festival darlings Sex T-Rex? My only concern, which I am wrestling with as I type, is that I may not be the right person to review such a show. Do I record how often I laugh? Is describing a particular joke considered a spoiler? Do I attempt to parse the deep meaning behind the gags? Analyze the thematic undertones? As always when faced with an intellectual and/or emotional challenge I am ill-equipped to handle, I decided to just surrender to the experience and see what transpired.

Sex T-Rex bill themselves as a "gateway to theatre," though in this case I am entering from Bizarro World and using them as a gateway to comedy. Experiencing the rabid enthusiasm of the crowd, I am concerned that I may be mainlining instead of easing in gradually. The members of Sex T-Rex are endlessly energetic, morph into an astounding number of characters (including some impressions), and wildly inventive. Their schtick, absurdity pushed to the limit mixed with social satire, is infectious and while they do not hesitate to stoop to a cheap gag (farts come to mind) they do have an agenda that resonates. Sketch T-Rex is not as tightly constructed as a classical play, but it does travel through multiple digressions and situations only to tie them together somewhat coherently. I will not claim catharsis or life-changing revelations, but it is astounding how cleansing and refreshing some good solid belly laughs can be.

Sketch T-Rex is indeed sketch comedy, scenes stitched together by blackouts and hipsterish pop music selections. Only two of the sketches failed to land with me personally, both of them explicitly involving impersonations of people or theatre that are well-trod targets. That tally was more than balanced by two sketches that achieved brilliance, if brilliance is measured as hilarity that also tickles the brain. A sketch involving superheroes and the concept of trans was achingly funny and viciously political. Dave Chappelle (who is a sterling example of why I developed an aversion to comedy) should be tied to a chair and made to watch the sketch. Like my aversions, his might alter as well. The other sketch was a mix of sports and musical theatre that built to one of the funniest climactic one-liners I have ever heard. It brought the house down. And elevated me to the stratosphere.

The interlacing skits were often one note jokes that then reappeared to reveal another facet. Much like the troupe members. While there are costumes and props, most of the transformations are accomplished with posture, accents, attitude and an accessory or two. Kait Morrow is as convincing as a suave James Bond wannabe as they are as a Looney Tunes character come to life (both very funny sketches btw). Seann Murray is often the voice of reason or as stabilizing a straight man as one can be in the Sex T-Rex universe. Until he becomes the embodiment of the royal family's fascistic smiley-face undertones revealed. Julian Frid poses as the intellectual fast talker and host but is upstaged by his own posterior (a moment that, judging from the crowd reaction, is not only a fan favourite but also the reason that the show has a content warning for nudity. It is a very fine ass.). That leaves Conor Bradbury who is the mostest dangerous of the sketchy ones. A golden voice used to devastating comic effect (and also deliberately not used in a running gag) and a DILF bear physique that is astonishingly malleable. 

As accomplished and talented as the troupe is, they are upstaged by the puppets (again, this may be my personal preferences interfering with my judgement). A single puppet turns a long form running gag into a climactic laugh that is as ferociously funny as it is feral. The only lengthy sketch involving puppets involves planning a perfect murder and it is uproariously funny. And offered a bizarre insight. In a pre-Fringe interview, Morrow had expressed how puppetry informs all their artistic choices, a base from which they work. Utterly absorbed in the ludicrous mayhem, I subconsciously admired how the troupe was wringing laughs and CGI-level effects out of thin air. A fabulous intersection of mime, winking at the fourth wall and making do. They were using themselves as puppets, making the unreal into reality. It is both incredibly theatrical and deliciously comic. If that is a pseudo-intellectual rabbit hole that I tumbled down, well the laugh's on me. The only one that wasn't generated by the comic antics of Sex T-Rex.