THIS ISN’T A PERFORMANCE THAT IS EASY TO DO AND DO WELL, BUT JACK TUCKER DOES

By Emma Carney | Bunny Pudding · Digital Coven · @bunnyscopes ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

Was I laughing out loud to the level of the rest of the audience the entire show? No. Did I belly laugh at times and overall enjoy the show? Huge yes, honey! So why open a high rating review like this? Well, dear reader (Hi Dad) it was because I spent most of the show sitting in awe at a performer immediately exploding onto stage at a level of mania that this ADHD gal understands on a cellular level. If the stressed rating went up to 10 then this man was at a stress level of 12. I was really, really into it. Think Rik Myall in their ‘Bottom’ levels of manic physical performance but with a ‘New Yoik’ accent and you can get the jist of what I was spellbound by. This isn’t a performance that is easy to do and do well, let alone two shows in one night but indeed Jack Tucker does.

The show is clever, and anyone who has ever done any form of performance within the comedy space will tell you just how hard it is to perform prewritten comedy let alone write your own set and a set that is over an hour to boot. What this show does is deconstruct what we know and expect from comedy shows.. the use of sounds, the audience work that isn’t audience work and purely for the basis to build a joke later in the show (Circling back), the reliance on props and…. that delightfully sinister edge that the performer we’re watching may crack at any point and start screaming at you if you don’t laugh or start crying as he knows some gangsters are waiting at the backstage door to collect the money they lost on the blackjack tables the night previous… Jack Tucker understands the tragedy of the comic, you either laugh or cry and Jack Tucker rides the subtext of that tragedy within the show with the mentions of the wife, the trombone moments (truly lol moments for me!) and how everyone is ‘Woke now’. Basically, I found myself thinking, is a comedy show really just a modern day version of a ‘Bedlam hospital’ visit where we go to watch and laugh at the mentally struggling patients? Top level answer: kinda. Tucker, whilst creating an empathic and engaging character also manages to highlight how they are in fact the creator of their own misfortune and thus, you shouldn’t pity them and should in fact laugh with them, but maybe not the way that the Character is hoping you to. I’m happy to sit through it again to break it down from a more analytical point of view, and I really would as I certainly took many layers from it.

The supporting cast were also next level with the trombone player and Skater Dylan just adding further layers of physical comedy and slapstick. It was silly, chaotic and intelligent and I loved it.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐ I will very much be running to their next production and cannot wait to see what they come up with next!