It’s certainly a divisive comedic avenue but tonight Fabian Lapham and the Actual Musicians delivered a consistently amusing show of rock music and interwoven sketches. The band gave us a best-of set before jumping into the ‘Robot That Kept Killing Me’ rock-opera, keeping tongues firmly implanted in cheeks throughout.
The show purported to be sent back from the future and Lapham’s whimsical lyrics touched on the inanity of modern life. But, rather than emphasising contemporary stupidity, it was presented in the broader context of how existence itself is utterly ridiculous.
Some of Lapham’s verses were overwhelmingly wordy, which prevented you from catching all the jokes, but his tumbling freestyle alone was impressive. Meanwhile, the nerdy-progrock musical arrangements wouldn’t quite justify a spin on the home stereo, but of course that was part of the humour. Everyone onstage assumed an unwavering appearance of purpose, which greatly emphasised the show’s surreal silliness.
The sketch component largely involved the bass player reading out messages from various sponsors. We heard about the metre-high club (i.e. sex in a hovercraft), a surgical implant to disguise beards and Lapham endearingly mimicked Russell Crowe previewing “a bloke of a situation” from the new film Noah.
Ultimately, it was an all-around agreeable and dorky hour of fun.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
