Chortle Student Comedy Award Final 2009

Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh

More Mat Ewins videos

Finalist in the 2009 Chortle Student Comedy Award.

Bruce Hammers' Bananapocalypse: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Just The Tonic at The Caves

Well, this is a pig’s ear of a show.

But then again, that is the point, as Mat Ewins has made a deliberate attempt to inject some shambolic, loose charm into character comedy as he introduces us to veteran actor and Eighties action hero Bruce Hammers.

He was the star of the top-grossing banana-based sci-fi action thriller of 1982, Bananapocalypse, and he’s here to reminisce about the making of that blockbuster and his acting career to date.

Quite how this led to him reeling off a number of hilarious insults you could level at  Inuits, or staging a not-so-hilarious fake date with an audience member is hard to explain, just part of the ramshackle construction of the hour. Ultimately, though, some discipline and editing would have better showcased the more inventively surreal elements without leaving the audience struggling to follow the irrelevancies.

Ewins’s video clips of Bananapocalypse itself perfectly capture the feel of dated futuristic potboilers, right down to the look of a second-generation VHS copy. Inventively he’s combined this shlocky footage with a real prank phone call, which has to be the first fusion of its kind.

The show is knowing and self-referential, even if does take some ideas too far. Awkward audience interaction is overdone, and what should be subtle gags – such as Hammers’ eyepatch moving from one side to the other – are too heavily underlined. Meanwhile, crappy improvisers seem to be an easy target this Fringe, and Ewins’ contribution is one of the least developed.

Yet there is plenty of off-the-wall silliness too, from daft wordplay to swipes at many media clichés, from the formula of Jon Culshaw’s impression show to the  ultimate in ill-matched cop partner movies.

His ambition is laudable, and there are clear examples of  unique thinking throughout the hour – even if is still feels too much like a work-in-progess in need of a director’s firm hand than a finished product.

One of the most exciting new acts I've seen in a very long time.

Matt Price, September 2011

Mat has performed at my Just Stand-Up gig twice now, and i have also done gigs where he has mc’d. He is a very good comic with great audience skills, after both gigs members of the audience came up too me and told me to ask him back!

Patrick Harries-Hanson, December 2010

I couldn't disagree with the above comment any more. I saw him at Reading earlier this month and his routine was very sharp and his punchlines were brilliant. I guess the above comment is by someone trying to be something they are not. i.e. a critic.

Chris Reed, October 2010

Died on his arse tonight. Panicky and his routine was all over the place. Tried to be something he is not. Ie. Funny.

Arthur Pendleberry, September 2010