★★★★☆

Comedy is hard. Immersive musical theatre on a budget is difficult to do. Blending naturalism and post-modernism is a magic trick that rarely goes well. 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down seemed to have missed the memo on all of that.

The musical, written by Jerry Colker and Michael Rupert, tells the story of three very different comedians, with three very different comic styles, as they team up to become the voices of their generation.

The captivating cast of three kept the audience laughing at their tragedies for nearly two hours in a feat of fringe theatre that doesn’t just go without set, but operates within a different production’s set to tell you a story that is as timeless as it is firmly set in the 80’s. Haines, Hastings and Woolf (pictured above) bring an infectious energy to the stage that carried the production along at a break-neck pace, gelling perfectly with the journeys their characters were taking.

There were moments that literally stunned.  The three disparate comic styles were woven together seamlessly thanks to Joshua Stamp-Simon’s skilful handling of what came across as a very complex script. There were moments of Beckett-esque madness that read as nothing but coherent at the time, although I can’t explain why after the fact. The band, led by musical director Josh Sood, was perfectly balanced and never felt obtrusive, despite their inevitable immanence in a space such as the Finborough.

There were elements that would have benefited from more resources, to be sure, such as an LCD TV that felt distinctly out of place in amongst the 80’s aesthetic that seeped from the libretto. However, it is difficult to decide whether the production could have felt more authentic than it did – the “Empty Space” approach that Stamp-Simon leant into complimented the content of the piece perfectly. What was created was an air of inclusion – a shared knowledge that is often overlooked in the destruction of the fourth wall; this show was three mates telling us a funny, sad story in a back room somewhere.

It was musical theatre, no doubt, but it was just what stand-up comedy should be.

3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down is at the Finborough Theatre until 15th December 2015. For more information or to book tickets, click here.