Candy Lawrence and Lauren Lapkus, the sketch comedy duo, Money Kids, wear matching T-shirts with their pictures on them throughout their revue "Oh What, This Ol' Show?" At first glance, this might seem like a slightly narcissistic choice, but one quickly realizes that this is absolutely appropriate. The show is all about them, in a good way. Although they play many different characters, each scene is driven by the obvious chemistry of their real relationship. These are two women who clearly have enormous fun together, and they're explicitly inviting the audience to be part of that fun.
The content of the scenes is for the most part good-natured silliness of the highest quality; Lawrence and Lapkus take us to familiar scenarios like a pre-teen slumber party and an awkward first date, but imbue them with freshness and charm. They are so charming, in fact, that the audience is lured comfortably into their darker material, the highlight of which is when Lawrence plays an earnest clown, who must entertain a terminally ill child played by Lapkus, and does a very bad job. Another great darker scene presents them as two high school friends, who reunite and catch up by talking over each other, self absorbed and all but oblivious to each other's presence.
While the best sketch comedy often explores the realm of the bizarre, this show never ventures far beyond the realm of the eccentric, which gives it a very grounded and recognizable humanity. There's really not much to this show than two friends screwing around, but since the friends in question are this smart and funny, that is not a complaint.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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