Sam McCool’s latest show, Shoechucka – Seriously, Who Chucks A Shoe?, invites us along to join in the latest fad in world politics; shoe chucking. McCool takes an abstract look at the latest hot topics, and some issues that just refuse to die down. However, rather than bringing these up like adults, we are offered the opportunity to exercise our own shoe chucking skills. The audience are handed thongs with topics on them, and as each new thong is thrown, McCool changes character to fit the subject. Simple.
Now, as simple as the show is, for some reason it just doesn’t quite work. Sam starts the show as Bond, and goes on to talk about an elite group of shoechucking assassins. He then changes character every five minutes or so, riffs about the issue, and demands the next thong be thrown. However, it is soon apparent that the audience in tonight’s performance are not the most vocal, and the show soon goes awry with McCool demanding new topics at an alarming rate.
As the show progresses, we get more and more off script, and by the end he just starts to converse directly to the audience in character. To me it shows a lack of faith in the strength of the material. If you are going to structure the show in this way, then you have to stick to it. I have to admit that the show did perk up when he asked for the lights to be turned up, and interacted with the audience, but I feel that was because he gave them nowhere to hide.
Another issue is with the slightly lazy racial stereotypes which are utilised. I know that McCool’s got a great ability with his accents, but I don’t think it is possible to pad out an hour long show with weak puns, and racially approximate accents. I found the whole premise of the show a bit weak, as none of the topics which were raised were really addressed. I am aware that I didn’t come along to a political debate, but he could at least humour us with some substance.
