Dani Cabs & Barnie Duncan: Weekend At Barnie's (MICF)

Weekend At Barnie's features the surprisingly physical double act of Dani Cabs and Barnie Duncan's corpse. Yes, you read that correctly.

Roughly inspired by the 1989 black farce movie of almost the same name, Duncan spends most of the night as a lifeless human prop, save for a few small flashback scenes. In using such a well-known cult classic as their springboard, the pair have certainly taken on a difficult challenge in their show, succeeding in some areas but falling way short in others.

First and foremost, Cabs and Duncan should be commended for their bravery. They offer little guiding context for anyone unfamiliar with the cinematic source material, but despite this, the pair have just about managed to find enough non-derivative comedy of their own to fill a 60-minute show. They clearly have plenty of fun riffing on this cadaver comedy, but the linchpin gag - a dead body turned into a goofy marionette - grows pretty stale towards the end of the hour; there are only so many times you can prop a dead man up and pretend like he's moving before the joke exhausts itself.

While Duncan is (understandably) pretty limited in his clowning from beyond the grave, Cabs' energy was definitely a highlight of the performance, easily vibrant enough to make up for his deceased companion's stasis. Cabs' personality and charm were infectious and he brought enough charisma to the stage to fill in the show's awkward lulls.

One thing that just seemed outright perplexing, however, was a inflatable pool full of water that despite taking up a quarter of the stage, was never used to much effect. Sure, we understand that there's an element of homage to the film original, and there were a few minor gags that involved a small amount of splashing around, but these brief moments hardly seemed to justify such a laborious prop. 

Cabs and Duncan should be applauded for their commitment to the premise, but given the hardly touched pool and the over-laboured movie references, this pair would do well to way up the merits of doggedly sticking to a concept over the risks of letting it kill the whole show.

Dani Cabs & Barnie Duncan present Weekend At Barnies till 23 Apr at The Tuxedo Cat, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.