(seen at the afternoon performance on 13th May 2025)
“Drink it warm, mate.” That’s the best way to “Cockfosters,” according to Paul Hogan’s famous beer commercial.
Tori and James happen to be in the same carriage of a London Underground train returning them from Heathrow to their normal 30-something lives.
In a series of sketches, we see their budding relationship and encounter every situation familiar to tube users throughout the city... plus learn a little history of the system on the way.
Hamish Clayton and Tom Woffenden lean very much towards stand-up comedy in construction. Characterisations are broad, and many “call back” situations are used to tie the work together.
This results in fast-moving (sometimes shallow) cartoons of people locked in a string of unevenly paced situations.
From the opening “revoltingly unhygienic person sits next to you” scene, which goes on far too long and sets a tone unreflective (thank goodness) of more intelligent humour to come, via some unexpected songs (sorry, Gary Wilmot did one far better) and genuinely well-observed bits featuring tourists, football fans, middle aged folk being offered seats for the first time and a psychotic guard, it is a mixed bag.
Much of the audience roars its way through 75 minutes. Jimmy Bryant is a Matt Lucas impersonator with a gift for the obnoxious – friend or already mentioned unwanted passenger next to you. When the script lets him down, he forges his own repairs to good effect.
Liam Horrigan has the gift of changing a line with a look, while Natasha Vasandani does so with a gesture. The pair cover impressively a vast range of characters.
It is down to Emily Waters to provide the music and yoga, which she does with good voice. She really comes into her own with an immaculately timed exchange, as an elderly woman with the key reveal of the night.
The comfort she brings to Tori (Beth Lilly) is immense. Lilly is highly likeable as a returnee from Mexico, totally unenlightened on all except London Underground history.
That James (Sam Rees-Baylis – absolute Stephen Mangan lookalike, as the show notes) falls for her is inevitable – but he isn’t such a bad guy himself. Likeable and not the often-found "dim bloke" common in comedy at the moment, as the writers pull away from that direction before any damage is done. Jilted pre-honeymoon in Venice, they are a pair well-matched.
How funny you find this, the monkey feels, may depend on your “comedy era.” The monkey’s was the dawn of “alternative,” with a lot of clever wordplay, mixed with smooth “club circuit” old-style joke-tellers.
This is more like one of those Channel 4 10pm “issues in real life” sitcoms that viewers far younger than itself find hilarious. If you are on its wavelength, it is undoubtedly well-researched and neatly written. If not, you can be impressed by both writing and performance, but perhaps feel that the doors have closed just as you step onto the platform.
3 stars.