Man-Go Unshaved are a new comedy troupe who describe themselves as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of stand-up comedy. Rick Murtagh (The Good) doesn’t look anything like Clint Eastwood but is a bearded and ‘delightfully funny man with a knack for finding the funny in the everyday banality of life’. Matthew Smith (The Bad) who, surprisingly enoug,h doesn’t look like either Lee Van Cleef or our most recently departed Doctor Who, is even more bearded. But he has nothing on Gary G Knightley who is the final member of the trilogy and is ‘willing to say things, that are best left unsaid’. Together, they are three of the beardiest comedians you’ll find on the stage.
Which makes it a shame that none of their jokes are about beards. There are occasional references to their impressive range of facial hair, but mostly the comedians settle for more common subject, primarily paedophilia. As anyone who has seen comedy band The Beards knows, when you have many bearded comedians together you can create harmless, but ultimately hilarious, sketches based entirely on the subject of facial hair. The other trouble with the show is that it’s stand-up comedy. Whilst all three are good comedians, they aren’t strong enough on their own to keep the momentum of the show. There are brief moments when the three interact on the stage, including the primary scene where Knightley and Smith play members of band, Sh*tstorm, having recently returned from a tour around Africa. They specialise mainly in fruit-based humour. In between the scene,s there are some short but great moments; sadly, they only last a minute. Man-Go Unshaved is undoubtedly funny but it could work so much better as a beard-based sketch show.
Book tickets for the show here.
Follow the guys on Twitter @rickstandup, @GaryGKnightley and @MrMrSmith83.