Written by Zach Zucker, Viggo Venn and Jonny Woolley of Zach & Viggo.
Where does the love go?
Most people think jokes are funny, and that can be true if you’re going for ‘head laughs’ but we believe the biggest laughs are the ones that come straight from the belly – when you don’t even know why you’re laughing. In our pursuit of this elusive laughter we have tried a lot of stupid things, most of which weren’t funny, but we did discover a few stupid things along the way…
Water
Water can be hilarious. I know you’re thinking, “There’s nothing funny about water, I drink it all the time and I never laugh.” That’s because if you laugh while drinking you will choke and die (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME). But consider the sheer comedic versatility of water: what else can you drink, spit in someone’s face, slip on, sweat out, suck with a straw, and freeze into shapes? The answer is most liquids, but we believe water is the best option due to its comparatively easy cleanup.
Cowboys
Cowboys are every little boy’s dream of a cool guy. So there’s something really charming about pretending to be a cowboy because it brings about this really childish part of you. You get to have a good walk and a bad attitude, you get to wear a big hat, you get a horse, you wear chaps and no one questions you for it, and best of all, you get a gun! These are all things that are innately good. Yeehaw!!! Pew pew pew pew pew pew.
People Or Things Falling Over
You ever seen a cat knock something over? That’s pretty funny.
Really Big Props
We can all agree that a normal size prop is not funny. Take for example, the skull of Yorick, that Hamlet recites his famous soliloquy to – beautiful dramatic moment, not funny at all. But imagine if instead of a regular prop, Hamlet was delivering his text to an enormous styrofoam skull. Now that’s funny.
Crying
Crying is for babies. Therefore, when you see a grown up person crying they are a baby. Babies are funny ipso facto pew pew pew pew pew.
Technical Problems
The reason live performance and film will always coexist is because there’s a certain magic in theatre that can’t be reproduced on camera. Both mediums tell stories in ways the other can’t, but what’s so special about live performance is that in any moment, something unpredictable can happen and alter the entire show.
Moments like this are funny because they make everyone in the room feel like they’re a part of something that wasn’t supposed to happen, and these moments can feel like magic if you embrace them. That’s what’s cool about our show - the audience doesn’t know what’s spontaneous and what’s planned – and we don’t want them to know either. That’s the beauty of live comedy.
Funny Voices
You ever seen Borat? Borat’s gotta funny voice and that was a global hit. What about The Joker? Joker’s got a funny voice and he won an Oscar Award for it. Jared Leto has an Oscar Award and a funny voice and he also played The Joker. The Joker is obviously funny. You have to think the writers of Batman called him The Jokester for a reason. I don’t know, what do you think, you put it together.
Really Small Props
Go back to ‘REALLY BIG PROPS’ and substitute “big” for “small”.
Dogs
Dogs are the perfect clowns because they have a constant enthusiasm for whatever they’re doing. A dog is happier than you’ve ever been just from taking a walk or eating dog food. Dogs are also naughty but when they’re punished they don’t stay sad for very long and they don’t hold grudges. That’s because they can’t remember anything but they also never do anything with malicious intentions - it always comes from a good place. We’re very lucky we found Viggo because he’s like a dog and he’s a very good boy.
Not Being Funny
There is nothing funnier than not being funny. When you try to do something funny and it flops, we see your humanity. For a brief second, everything drops and we see the person realise ‘oh shit, that wasn’t funny’ and THAT is the funniest and most charming thing anyone can do. It’s such a beautiful moment because we see that person’s vulnerability after they showed us something truly ridiculous. It not only makes us laugh uncontrollably, but allows us to really love the performer – and if the audience loves you, you can do whatever you want.
Zach & Viggo + Thumpasaurus: Where Does The Love Go? is at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from August 2nd – 26th
For further information: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/zach-viggo-and-thumpasaurus-where-does-the-love-go
Tagged in Edinburgh Festival Fringe