Comedy hotshow: Shitty Deal Puppet Theatre Company

Published on Monday 11 August 2008 20:46

SHITTY DEAL PUPPET THEATRE COMPANY'S COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE ARTS ***** SHITTY DEAL PUPPET THEATRE COMPANY'S COMPLETE HISTORY OF OPPRESSED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ***** THE VAULT (VENUE 29)

USUALLY, as a critic on a freebie, the acid test of a show is whether or not I would have been happy to pay to see it. Owing to what I will refer to as "circumstances", I did pay to see both these shows and I haven't been this happy all August. That a moth-eaten miscellany of cuddly toys, hand-puppets, Barbies and Mr Potato Heads can be this funny, clever and subversive should have stand-ups everywhere quaking like an attractive girl in the front row of a Jim Jeffries gig.

There is not one single unfunny moment in either of these shows, despite the fact that they were having to perform without Jesus. I assume he's not coming back, so I'll let Will Averill explain when you see the show – he writes the shows, as well as being "fundamentally" involved with the gloriously, hilariously appalling Mr Doper.

Each show is based on Mr Doper's exposition of the given topic for the benefit of his "little friend Bobby", a creature so adorably cute you'd kick Bambi out of the way to cuddle him. Their Complete Guide to the Arts is, while less than definitive, one of the two funniest things I have seen this year. The show takes you from the Big Bang through the extinction of the dinosaurs to the first piece of artwork ever, and there is an incisive comparative analysis of Jude Law and Neanderthal Man. Mr Doper takes Bobby through the ancient and classical Greeks, Rome and medieval art. The two pandas explaining the Gothic period is a moment of comic genius. This is just brilliant, hilariously funny, must-see stuff.

You might say Shitty Deal Puppet Theatre Company is like a Chinese meal, in that 15 minutes later you want another one – but you can do just that. If you have enough breath left to laugh, stay and see their Complete History of Oppressed People Everywhere, the second of the two funniest things I have seen this year.

Although oppression (says Mr Doper) ended in the 1980s, he has some enlightening information on the subject for the knowledge-hungry Bobby. That oppression began with Adam and Eve becomes crystal clear with the help of Bob the Builder as Adam. And who knew the history of the Jews was so funny?

The seriously pointed current political material in here is so cleverly, funnily done it takes a beat to hit you. It is up there with the best political material you will hear. Brilliant stuff.

• Both shows until 25 August. Today 11:15pm and 12:15am respectively