Pajama Men: Versus vs. Versus

The only easy thing to say about the Pajama Men is this: they take their name from the fact that they perform in pajamas. The sort you buy in early middle age when you notice it's starting to get a bit chilly at night these days. Why? Perhaps it's because their particular brand of unhinged comedy bears a passing resemblance to the sort of lunacy usually found in the dreamworld; perhaps it's just because it cuts out two minutes from the hectic daily schedule of your average festival comedian. They don't explain. Or even mention it. It's like the Emperor's New Clothes, sort of.

Unfortunately that's not the only thing that's hard to understand about the Pajama Men. Their brand of visual comedy is certainly surreal and contains a finesse to its wording rarely seen on the comedy scene, but at times their hectic sketches, which jump between characters without pause, veer towards the sort of wackyness and insanity best avoided.

However, the brains behind the Pajama Men, safely stored in the craniums of Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen, are undeniably sharp. So while some sketches fall short, or grate in the face of ceaseless exuberance, others are excellent – a pair of superbly performed stop-motion parodies are particular highlights.

Yet when one of the biggest laughs of the night comes from an impromptu parody of a couple leaving after only five minutes, you've got to question your material. And that doesn't just mean upgrading to silk pajamas.