Pajama Men

Believe the hype. Pajama Men (aka Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez) really are a comedy sensation.

Having missed them at Edinburgh last year (by the time I arrived they’d completely sold out), I feel mightily glad to have caught up with them now during their second stint at the Soho.

The Last Stand to Reason is loosely structured around a train journey. I say loosely, because there are so many tangents it’s pretty pointless attempting to synopsise. However, suffice it to say there’s a plethora of passengers, including a ghost, an invincible boy and a pair of giggling teens, as well as a slow-motion massacre carried out by one of funniest mass-murderers you’re likely to see.

All are rendered in spectacularly vivid fashion by Allen and Chavez, the former specialising in vocal improv, the latter a clown par excellence (his brilliant mime of a flashy magician shuffling cards goes on for nearly five minutes). It sits somewhere between a play and a sketch show, and even takes an affectionate swipe at stand-up.

Some of it now feels like ground they’ve covered too many times before – after all, this show has been on the road for nearly a year – but nevertheless if you’re a newbie like me, I highly recommend you get acquainted with this weird and wonderful pair.