Fans of the sketch troupe Pappy’s couldn’t help but be excited when Tom Parry announced his debut standup show. The Wolverhampton man is the trio’s in-house loose cannon; disruptive foil to disciplinarian Matthew Crosby and straight(ish) man Ben Clark. As one of three, his anarchic schtick is a joy to watch – but how would it work without an authority to kick against?
Very well indeed, as it turns out. With only a minimal adjustment to his havoc dial, Parry leads the audience through an hour of exuberant comedy, celebrating the spirit of fun in both content and form. He laughs a lot, he sweats a lot, he involves us without coercion. Appropriately for a star of TV show Badults, he comes across as a mischievous schoolboy, and we’re the classmates being co-opted into his next delinquent wheeze.
His is the kind of irrepressible, irresponsible spirit, in other words, to which it’s a pleasure to submit, whether he’s requiring us to rehearse his standing ovation, or arguing that fancy dress can prolong our lives. His show is a hymn to costume parties: it recounts his favourites, debates the theme-versus-no-theme issue, and itemises fancy-dress-party dos and don’ts (about which Parry has firm convictions). This disquisition is broken up by five wonderfully groansome jokes and six “thoughts” recited from a list introduced at the top of the show.
Hard-hitting it’s not, but Parry’s concluding homily about making one’s life more memorable isn’t trivial. This is a show that believes in the soul-nourishing quality of silliness, amply exemplified by Parry’s musical reply to his mum’s comments about his weight, or his tale of gatecrashing a black-tie do at Cambridge University dressed as a ping-pong table. It reminds you that Pappy’s used to be a “fun club”; Parry makes us all feel like members.
• At the Tron, Edinburgh, to 30 August. Box office: 0330-220 1212.
