2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival:
• Jason Geary & Jimmy James Eaton—Sketch-ual Healing
Posted on 03 April 2013
Sometimes some performers define good comedy. If someone were to ask me, what does good sketch comedy look like, I would point to Jimmy James Eaton and Jason Geary. My apologies to the Pajama Men, I love their work as well, but these guys are better. I wonder why Geary and Eaton aren’t playing in the Athenaeum to a sell out audience.
Sketch-ual Healing is a series of sketches blending western, fantasy, and science fiction genres to amp up the absurdity. We have centaurs, cowboys, construction workers, altered states of mind, laser blasters, sex detectives, Christopher Walken, Michael Caine, and David Bowie. It’s an amazing blend that nevertheless holds together.
<geek-out>My PhD is in storytelling for digital media with an emphasis on computer games. This show takes numerous story threads, each one engaging and complete in themselves, finds places where they intersect, then as a whole brings them to a spectuacular crescendo where each thread is satisfyingly resolved. This is a tour de force. If these guys need a day job, they should apply for work with computer game companies. </geek-out>
Eaton and Geary’s comic acting is lively and nuanced, bringing home the laughs with the twitch of an eyebrow. One of my favourite moments in this show is when Geary’s character gives Eaton’s character a mix tape, and for several minutes the audience is busting their guts simply watching the body language of these two men as they listen to the music. Brilliant.
Sketch-ual Healing is original, inventive, surreal, and an absolute must for anyone wanting to do sketch comedy themselves. I should probably approach them to do a sketch workshop later in the year. Put your hands up if you want this! In the meantime Jason Geary and Jimmy James Eaton, go forth to the likes of the Edinburgh Fringe, win awards, and come back heroes. You deserve it!
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/sketch-ual-healing-jason-geary-jimmy-james-eaton
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
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