Writers and performers Dylan Kaeuper and Will Grice return to the Edinburgh Fringe with their new show The Joker and the Thief, bringing with them roaring laughter and delightfully committed period dressing. The play is set in comedy star Larry Langford (Dylan Kaeuper)’s dressing room in 1980 as he prepares to take the stage at the Edinburgh International Festival for his British debut. His old comedy partner Sid Michaels (Will Grice) is performing in the same city to a much smaller crowd in pub basements, telling jokes about his brush with the beginnings of fame. The two may well have remained history but, unbeknownst to his manager Howard Burden (Rufus Goodman), Larry Langford invites his old comedy partner over to… gloat? make amends? reminisce? All of the above play out.
At its best, The Joker and the Thief breathes life into 80s comedy attitudes, egos, and stakes, gleefully taking advantage of how much chaos can be passed off as showbiz. Goodman in particular shines as the Brooklyn-native opportunist, marionetting would-be talent into a marketable personality. His performance was enlivened and studied, bringing all the best laughs, with sleazy gags and exasperated jabs—expect “Yoko Homo.”
The comedy duo is brought to life—in a somewhat meta way—by Kaeuper and Grice five years after their break-up. In their dialogue, Kaeuper really comes into his stride, bringing nuance to the otherwise typically shallow and myopic entertainer trope. Grice plays the unsettled insecurity of a would-be star well, opening the show excellently in snippets of stand-up but similarly finding his footing in the dialogue.
Over the course of the hour the basement venue of SpaceTripleX plays witness to old grievances and betrayals culminating in a brilliant, panicked confrontation that left audiences reeling in laughter. The writing is self-aware and well-paced, but above all exciting from such young performers brushing off the airs of student theatre. The play succeeds most in shining a flattering light on the whole cast as ones to watch.
The Joker and the Thief is running The Studio at SpaceTripleX (7-15 August) and theSpace, Niddry Street (17-29 August). Buy tickets here.
Image provided as press material.
