What I liked
Breck Denny and Anthony Guerino are just marvelous here, with the best comedic timing and delivery I’ve seen at Fringe this year. They have such a natural chemistry together, and they sort of weave in and out from one another with both ease AND abandon. Sam Davis is delightfully wacky as the somewhat fay leading man being upstaged by an ape and he might make a better Bernie than Terry Kiser himself; and Leah Lamarr is over-the-top insane as the mentally unstable former starlet now tending to a less than reputable boss. These four performances really anchor this piece and help take what was obviously an elongated sketch and turn it into a (somewhat) coherent piece of theatrical chaos.
What I didn't like
As with any sketch that is turned into something longer, there are parts that drag, likely because the primary ‘joke’ can’t sustain itself. And it might have been nice to see a tad more creativity in the blocking/staging choices. That said, I still laughed harder than with any show I’ve seen at Fringe this year.
My overall impression
NICKEL DICKERS is an over-the-top, raunchy, high-spirited send-up of Old Hollywood mentalities that lampoons much about current industry trends. The show exists somewhere between past and present, and once you latch on to that, it’s easy to enjoy the ride. When the writing pops, it REALLY pops, and it’s a breezy, uproarious 45-minutes, to say the least.
