Looking at the shows we could have chosen to end our Sunday, there were a few options but in the end I plumped for Me, Myself and ISIS, performed by the Banana Collective, at T-Bar, Cowgate, at 23:00 on Sunday 21st. Here’s the website blurb: “American cop Frank Law lost his partner two days before retirement. British sketch group Banana Collective lost the plot two days before Edinburgh. But what connects the homoerotic adventures of a 1980s detective with the mental breakdown of bunch of pretentious wannabes? ISIS. Banana Collective may have written an insightful play about the battle between western neoconservatism and religious fundamentalism… or they could be just another sketch group courting controversy with an inflammatory show title. Either way it’s free, so it’s worth a punt, right? Expect themes of solipsism, alcoholism and magnetism.”
Banana Collective are Stoph Demetriou, Daniel Mimms, Dave Tozer and Timmie Blunt – we saw their Who Shot Hitler? a couple of years ago and laughed a lot, so we’re giving them another crack of the whip, so to speak. They promise to take a look at modern culture through their decidedly distorted lens, providing a fresh insight into reality via the medium of total nonsense. If nothing else, they promise free biscuits. Check back shortly after midnight to see if our lenses were aligned and by then the preview blog for our first show on Monday should be available to read too.
Post-show update:
It’s a totally hare-brained hour of surrealist nonsense but it absolutely works! Alongside another ropey episode of Law of the Land (I remember those late night 70s TV series, no cop was ever as good as Frank Law) the Banana lads come together to meet Stoph’s Artistic Vision including Mid-Point Low and Catharsis. I really love how they don’t care how stupid they look on stage (nice thong, Stoph) and running gags like the polite builder and the racist bassist just keep the adrenaline on high. If you saw Who Shot Hitler…. this is funnier! Normally when you see a sketch show at least one of the sketches doesn’t work at all – not in this show. We really loved it all the way through. Free biscuits is a con, mind.