Sammy J and Randy Land, performed by musical comedy duo Sammy J (Sam McMillan) and Randy (Heath McIvor), has arrived for Adelaide’s 2016 Fringe Festival. Still reeling from their recently aired sitcom Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane, the comedians are here to take you on a chaotic ride through their newly purchased theme park.
Sammy J and Randy are all-rounders, dabbling in satirical, slapstick, and situational humour. Unashamed and unapologetic, they use toilet humour and musical numbers to encourage the audience to heave with laughter. While their friendship seems stronger than ever when they borrow three million dollars to set up the park, it quickly turns sour as they realise that both puppet and person have different ideas about what this park should offer.
Sammy J is an ambitious, kind-hearted bachelor with a hint of egotism while Randy has the attitude and looks of a belligerent Sesame Street puppet that got laid off in the 90s. During the show, we see both Sammy J and Randy take their turns at running the theme park. Unsurprisingly, when left to their own devices, their actions prove detrimental to the success of the park. While Sammy’s desire for the spotlight hinders his ambition to provide G-rated fun for families, Randy’s thirst for destruction transforms Sammy J and Randy Land into a death trap.
Watching Sammy J and Randy interact is like watching Charlie Sheen bicker with the Milkybar Kid – it’s full of biting humour, quick wit and hyperbolic anecdotes. The deliberately B-grade props and finger puppetry were reminiscent of a school play gone fantastically wrong. This is fitting given Sammy J’s expressive inner child, who seeks to enjoy the splendours of life in a family friendly way. Undeniably, the most amusing aspects of Randy are his sharp albeit crude wit and underlying sensitive side, which is what makes this perverse, purple puppet so endearing. The duo were consistently charismatic throughout their horseplay and had an impressive ability to create and effectively deliver multiple in-jokes with the audience within an hour. Relishing laughs, snorts and some leg-slapping from an elderly gentleman in the back, this odd couple clearly exist for the audience’s entertainment and delight.
Amusingly, the audience is warned at the beginning of the show that the theme park’s management will not be held liable for injury or death. As such, perhaps it should have come as no surprise that one front row audience member met their fate: a purple, plastic ball straight to the face. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, the show went on, and Sammy J – true to his nature – apologised through song.
Given the chaotic nature of management, will Sammy J and Randy put aside their differences for the good of the theme park? The answers lie in a little bit of murder, magic and Bondi Rescue.
