Then comes the bashfully silly dad-type jokes, the cheesy songs and the occasion spats of crude, expletive-filled rage. Ta-dah! The Sam Simmons experience. Tonight’s show takes the shape of Simmons’ regular trivia spot on triple j – you take a seemingly simple question, provide an obtuse answer and comedy ensues – and expands it to an hour and change, with a rough plot revolving around a wrongly used bin and a meat tray that believes in reincarnation. Oh, did I mention a high-spirited but understandably terrified young member of the audience? He had the delight of standing onstage for 20 minutes behind a plastic tree, get occasionally berated by Simmons and finally share a Twix with him. Oh no, not one Twix bar each. Lady and the Tramp style. It is both basely simple as it is viscerally funny, but may not translate when described in the review form.
I’ve said crude more than once, haven’t I? Well yes, Simmons may never again be viewed as an intelligent, observational comic. He may have started out with the occasional philosophical musing, but he’s guessed that his audience likes quasi-offensive jokes and a bag of loud swearing. Let’s not forget the semi-nudity and smashing of food stuffs onto Simmons body. With a previous show it was tacos, this time it’s sliced ham. Which makes it weird that he gets so upset and apologetic when the audio visual cues get mixed up. The audience doesn’t seem to mind that the show was shortened, in fact you may have just saved the life of the young girl behind me, laughing so hard the wheezes start. Sam Simmons, you’re a hero?
BY MITCHELL ALEXANDER
