one4review | On 12, Aug 2026

There are about 250 people squashed into Monkey Barrel waiting to see Mr Chonkers.

Some have no idea who he is. For others in the clown world, this is their Bill Burr, Louis C.K or Dave Chappelle. In the strange world of clown, Chonkers is a king..of sorts, more of a magistrate without responsibility.

He begins with a ridiculously long numbers game. It is stupid, simple and enormously fun, immediately turning everyone into willing participants. He reads the room like a hawk so if you’re not laughing – he does notice and draws parts of the crowd that are drifting – it’s impressive.

Chonkers picks his favourite audience member, gives him a thumbs up, then identifies his worst. He gets someone to draw him, only for her to turn out to be a fantastic artist.

He bangs against the back wall, hits the sign of the room, screams for help, nods, smiles and repeatedly reassures us that nobody needs to feel like they’re in trouble. ( a reference to a reviewer that said he made his audience feel that way.)

At one point, he screams: “There’s a reviewer here — from a blog! (rolling his entire face in disgust -craking up the room for the 100th time that night.” I thought it best to stay quiet.

There are about 5 minutes here that Chonkers himself describes as padding. Mucks about on stage and plays with whatever person takes his interest. Except layer upon layer of hilarity keeps emerging from seemingly nothing. That’s what good clowns do.

Then he produces a paper bag filled with written bits, pulling them out and reading them one line at a time. The lines themselves are funny enough for stand-up, but Chonkers isn’t interested in just being verbally funny; he pokes us with his mind in so many different ways that upon leaving I was sore from laughing.

That said, his Ice Man bit absolutely dies. The room is simply confused and curious. One person continues laughing, the sound of one person laughing is sometimes worse than no one laughing.

Then comes a burglar routine, just a sweet, simple and funny piece of clowning, it kills. A three-part family bit, in which the middle child is not doing so well, also kills.

This is explicitly a work in progress, and Chonkers will undoubtedly build these fragments into something disconcertingly magnificent.

The strange thing is that someone this talented doesn’t comfortably fit anywhere. He should be on taskmaster really, but he’s not.

Perhaps that’s exactly why people cram into rooms to see him.

****½

Reviewed by Stephen “Sharpie” Sharp
Monkey Barrel
August 10th and 24th only
23.55 (1 hour)