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Multimedia comedy and magic shows
In addition to stand up comedy performances...
Fusing magic, multimedia and subversive storytelling these award-winning fringe shows make for a unique entertainment experience. Featuring Matt's alter ego Dr Johnny Facade.
"The funniest and most imaginative use of PowerPoint I've ever seen."
Helen Keen (It is rocket science!)
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In pursuit of Miss Adventure?
Johnny Facade can't help himself. Trouble follows him and he follows trouble. One day they'll meet, but will they get on? A new comedy show featuring a unique fusion of magic, multimedia and subversive storytelling. From the creator of 2010's Best Comedy Show runner-up.
Buxton Fringe Festival 2011 FringeGuru.com 4* review
Employing comedy, magic and PowerPoint, In Pursuit of Miss Adventure is a scientific search for love, as chronicled by our host, Johnny Facade. Filled with self-deprecation and statistics, this quirky mix of seminar and stand-up is a pleasing journey through the many pitfalls of romance.
Like any good PowerPoint presentation, his quest for a soul mate includes mnemonics, clip art, and some truly hilarious graphs. An off-beat and enjoyable take on two familiar subjects, the interweaving of love and statistics is both entertaining and surprising, and managed with ease the difficult task of keeping the attention of an audience very diverse in age.
He doesn't initially seem the world's most natural performer, but Matt Pritchard brings a disarming and endearing quality to the character of Johnny Facade. His gentle style is easy to warm to, though at times his show could benefit from moving along with a little more speed. Pritchard is, however, a master of the throwaway line, made all the funnier through his unpretentious, matter-of-fact delivery. Pritchard has developed a solid format, and an eccentric and winning persona – whose ever-hopeful search for a sweetheart is an agreeable and funny blend of quasi-scientific methodology, and idiosyncratic charm. (Alice de Cent) |
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The man who cannot lose
Game over. It's the taking part (and winning) that counts. Compulsive communicator and social loser Dr Johnny Facade is returning with the greatest gamble of his life. An obsessed quest of award-winning magic, multimedia and subversive storytelling. A new show from Buxton fringe 2010's "Best Comedy show" award runner-up (he's not bitter... honest).
Buxton fringe review - July 2010
Over recent Fringes, Johnny Indigo Facade (Matt Pritchard) has consistently delivered the best entertainment value per ticket Dollar spend - present day austerity has not diminished this yield. 2010's theme is 'Winning' - at all costs - in Johnny's case. Commencing with the birthplace of this mantra, an undeserved Sports Day defeat, he explains how this humiliation triggered his metamorphosis into a ruthless winner. The explanations are delivered in his trademark style - amusingly structured, Power Point charged and dotted with wonderful audience involving magic. There's a more personal feel to this piece than previous years; less science and more poetry, though the climax of the high octane verses are pleasingly more Cooper Clarke than Keats. In ditching his calibrated white lab coat, Matt increases his exposure to the radiation of performance, a brave decision for someone who's not a natural moth to limelight. It proves a true case of the man who cannot lose and a successful evolutionary step, the added humanity was an intangible the audience could relate to and something with a half-life that lingers in the mind afterwards. Highly recommended - on viewings to date it's a Top 5 show of this year's Fringe, which may be insufficient for Johnny, but is plenty for us losers in life.
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Parannoyance
The world is as crazy as a bull in a butcher’s shop and Dr Johnny Facade has had enough of society's mad cow disease. Join him as he attempts to grab the horns and figure out fear. (Unless paranoia grips him first.) A fast paced and interactive show that uniquely fuses magic, multimedia and subversive story-telling. Clean comedy that will appeal to a broad age range making this an ideal treat for all the family.
Buxton Fringe Festival 2009 official review
Over the last few years, Matt Pritchard of Lab Monkey Productions has carved out a unique niche for himself at the Buxton Fringe, with warm and amusing shows combining a pseudo lecture and humorous Powerpoint presentation with close-up magic and impressive 'memory man'-style feats. Parannoyance follows the same theme as his past successes and is similarly enjoyable. Taking as his theme the groundless fears that beset us all at the start of the 21st century, Matt follows an exploration of dinosaurs, wasps and such, while amazing with remarkable tricks (especially one involving three audience members playing 'Scissors, Paper, Stone'). Matt's skill and engaging personality once again carried him through to an enthusiastic response from the audience. A jolly and silly treat which could be enjoyed by all ages. (Robbie Carnegie - Buxton Opera House press officer)
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Something about Nothing
Nothing is notoriously hard to grasp. However, things are set to change thanks to Dr Johnny Facade who will attempt to fill in the empty gaps and explain almost everything there is to know about nothing. From Annihilation through to Zero. A comedy show uniquely fusing magic, multimedia and mathematics that explores the history, maths, science and philosophy behind nothing. The show features the following concepts: counting systems, zero, negative numbers, vacuums, creation & annhilation, the Big Bang, particle physics, CERN and the Large Hadron Collider, Black Holes and Henry the Hoover.
The show was short listed for Best Comedy, Best Comedian and Best New Writing awards at Buxton Fringe Festival 2008.
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Futurology Live!
A theatrical feast of magic, mentalism and silly pseudo-science.
"Predicting the past is easy. Predicting the future is not." Now a new breed of soothsayers has emerged, and they're armed with science. Futurology and the futurologists behind it are sweeping the world with their technological brooms.
SCIENCE + SUPERSTITION = SUPERFACT
Join Dr Johnny Facade as he explains and demonstrates futurology live. Now everyone can think Tomorrow's World today. A groundbreaking multimedia show that won the prize for Best Solo Comedy at Buxton Fringe Festival 2007. A complete sell out at the Birmingham Comedy Fest 2008 and a hit at Greenbelt arts festival 2009.
The fast paced and interactive show uniquely fuses magic and stand-up comedy to create the illusion that the preposterous claims of futurology really do work. With demonstrations involving a mind reading duck and the teleportation of an object to a randomly chosen location. |
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