It was open mic night at the Cannes Comedy Cabaret last week. Sharing the spotlight were a number of superficially amateurish jokers.
George, Angela, and David, were somewhat entertaining during their stand-up sketches, but all fell short as their material taxed the audience greatly.
Silvio blended a few selections from his latest album, Il Vero Amore, with his uniquely sexually explicit bunga-bunga version of farce bouffone, much to the delight of the carnal appetites of the clique positioned at the tables fronting stage-left.
One routine, however, clearly outshone the others. The slapstick duo of Barry and Nicky took center stage with their offbeat bi-lingual one-liners leaving the spectators in stitches. The team alone was worth the €10 cover charge. They easily won the Cannes Comedy Cabaret’s Binenator Cup for the most madcap performance of the evening.
It was their first appearance together since a former cohort, Benny, abruptly left the act some time ago.
The opening skit, apparently unrehearsed, had the audience rolling in the aisle with abundant laughter. “Je veux les Palestiniens dans L’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture”, Nicky said. Barry retorted, “UNESCO? Surely you jest. Vous sont telles un imbécile,” as he smashed a fruit pie squarely on Nicky’s face.
Wiping the whipped cream and banana filling from his eyes, a straight faced Nicky blurted, “Benny is a liar. Et ne m’appelez Shirley.” The attendees were hushed as they awaited an entertaining response from Barry. He did not disappoint. “Vous en avez marre. Well,” replicating the distinctively quaint lead-in of the legendary Jack Benny, “I have to deal with him every day,” Barry quipped. The audience, keenly aware of the rocky relationship that now exists between Barry and Benny, roared with their hysterical approval.
Both Nicky and Barry have day jobs. However, given the bleak direction of the economy in general and their poor professional performance ratings in particular, their continued employment status is in jeopardy. Should they lose their current posts they can take a measure of comfort knowing they may someday achieve superstar status as fumbling and lighthearted comedians.
Nicky and Barry plan to take some time apart, but they have tentatively set the date and place of their encore performance: June 2012 at the Los Cabos Bar de Copas. Save your pesos for the return engagement of the zany Franco-American jesters. That evening promises to transform the wacky world of comedy to a new extreme.
