Since January 2009 An Evening with the humour of Bob Newhart and Tom Lehrer presented by Gloucestershire performers Peter Gill (The Jerry Lee Lewis Story, Let The Good Times Roll, The Golden Age of Musical Satire) and Andrew Meller (Talbot House, An Audience with Sherlock Holmes) has been touring the country’s theatres. The show, based upon the material of two of the finest ever satirists to emerge from the United State, has been so popular that it usually sells out wherever it performs – The Mercury Theatre in Colchester, Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Number 8 in Pershore and the Theatre Royal in Margate to name but a few.
On Saturday 3 December however, the show will be performed at a very different venue – the village hall of Kempley, near Dymock in the Forest of Dean, where the capacity is a mere 70. Extraordinary as this may sound it is all down to the foresight of the secretary of Kempley Village Hall, Lindsay Reid, who, noticing that the show was promoted by a local company and with an attitude of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ approached them to see if they would bring the show to Kempley to assist in their fundraising efforts.
With a fortuitous break in the tour schedule and the willingness of Peter and Andrew to help out it became a done deal.
Tom Lehrer and Bob Newhart emerged in the latter part of the 1950s when rock ’n’ roll was changing popular music forever. Their humour, though different from each other, was uniquely original, illustrating to the teenage rebellion that change had come in all forms of the art world. Lehrer sang of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park , doing The Masochism Tango and getting IT (V.D.) from Agnes. It was wickedly funny satire that forced an even bigger gap between teenagers and their uncomprehending parents. Bob Newhart was gentler with his comedy routines, embracing communities and families as a whole. His monologues as a Driving Instructor, Captain of The U.S.S. Codfish and the importer for Sir Walter Raleigh (Bringing Tobacco to Civilisation) made all ages laugh – so much that his albums, television series and films made him one of the most popular comedians of all time.
Peter Gill and Andrew Meller are reminding those teenagers of the late 1950s and 1960s of the music and routines that brought laughter and colour into their lives with their show. In doing so they are also capturing the imagination of today’s youth – when Peter brings forth a ‘severed hand’ while singing I Hold Your Hand every school aged boy in the audience erupts into hysteria as his parents and grandparents recoil in horror. Andrew’s portrayal of an inept bomb disposal expert touches the funny bones of any age group.
While the stand-ups of today attempt to make us laugh with their over-used, unoriginal, observational comedy to gradually diminishing audiences, it is the sharp true wit of the past which is once again filling those seats.
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