It’s a tale that’s been passed down across the ages. The story of two brothers who have lost the big roller disco championship every year. Despite their passion, and one of them having robot legs, they can’t ever seem to beat the ethnically ambiguous Matthews twins.

What’s the pair to do but explore the challenge through a metaphorical South American parable? Only this lesson about brotherly rivalry, morally bankrupt gods and grapefruit will help the two skate their way to the title.

If at this point you have no idea what’s going on, that’s great – neither do the audience before the start of a Bear Pack show. Made up of comedy duo Carlo Ritchie and Steen Raskopoulos, each hour-long performance is completely improvised. In this case, the story came from audience members yelling out “roller disco” and “sperm sack” to start them off. I swear the second person wasn’t me.

The pair hadn’t performed together for quite a while, but it certainly didn’t show. They were almost perfectly in sync and fed off each other’s ideas in a simultaneously fluid and hilarious fashion. There were only a few moments where details were confused, or Raskopoulos laughed at something Ritchie said. Frankly, I can’t blame him, and the audience was too preoccupied wiping the tears from their eyes to care. I even ended up getting laugh cramps during an ’80s-style montage and a scene that involved a god who liked to bring dead people back to life, just to kill them again.

One aspect of their “yarn” that was particularly fun involved audience participation at the end of the show. People were given a chance to ask questions about the story, so they could tie up any loose ends through short yet incredibly funny scenes.

Of course, what’s truly great about The Bear Pack is that every performance is different. Every night they are showcasing their talent for comedy in an insanely difficult way. Both Ritchie and Raskopoulos are true masters of this comedic art form, and I was instantly tempted to come along the next night. Keep your eye on these two names; I can see them blowing up in the near future.

4.5/5 stars

The Bear Pack were reviewed at Giant Dwarf on Wednesday May 13.

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