THERE must be something in the water in Yorkshire.
Because the only comparison I can come up with for the truly sensational Joe Kent-Walters is his fellow Yorkshireman Charlie Chuck.
Together, they are the finest examples of character comedy I have ever encountered, both incredibly committed to their characters, in Joe’s case Frankie Monroe, “the biggest bastard in Yorkshire”.
And committed is definitely the word as you wonder several times during this insane show just how Joe/Frankie has avoided a nice room with rubber wallpaper and a jacket that straps up the back.
When he lurched around the stage singing one of the many songs that intersperse the show, I couldn’t help but think of Charlie – who I saw countless times back in the day – do just the same while singing, “I’m not all there! I’m not all there!”
And if you don’t come out of this hour singing one of Joe’s surreal-but-catchy numbers such as “Egg in a bag!” or “I’m on me holidays!”, then I suggest you, too, book yourself in for a check-up from the neck up.
Both comics deal in absurdity, with Frankie coming across as a sinister end-of-the-pier comic who looks like a cross between Frankenstein’s creature and Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein (or should that be Fronkonshteen?).
Albeit one who sold his soul to the Devil so he could be the king of Rotherham’s entertainment scene, and now has to find a way back from Hell to stop his nemesis Vegas Dave turning his beloved working men’s club into a seven pound a pint nightmare.
It’s a very Yorkshire Hell, mind – “We only have Fosters here…” – and Frankie is joined at times by his puppet Mucky Pup, the Sausage Slapper and of course Mr Devil himself.
The dungeon-like venue enhances the show’s central conceit, the use of the Munster’s Theme as walk-on music sets the tone, and the whiff of dry ice made this former teen goth think of nights at Sisters Of Mercy gigs wearing jeans (black, natch) so tight my Dad would say, “Here comes Nureyev”.
I genuinely cannot recommend this show highly enough and it’s no wonder tickets are in high demand – demonically great fun!
Joe Kent-Walters Is Frankie Monroe: Dead!!! Is at Monkey Barrel Cabaret Voltaire from July 28 – August 24 (not 11 and 12)
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/joe-kent-walters-is-frankie-monroe-dead-good-fun-time
