‘Freddy 4: Get Rich Quick’: Mixed feelings about a good night out at the theatre
In the last two years ‘Freddy’, Feroze Kamardeen’s standup comedy baby, has grown into a big mega production that’s taken on the ‘aiyos’ of Sri Lankan society and spun it into comedy gold. A twist on its predecessors, ‘Freddy 4: Get Rich Quick!’ premiered in the midst of election fever and capitalized on the foibles of presidential candidates, past and present,with a bit of social comedy thrown in for good measure.
Part musical comedy, part Netflix stand-up special, part John Oliver, the stakes had been raised with Freddy as had the production value (Sirraj Hameed, Ashan Munesinghe). The use of LED screens to introduce the performers as well as illustrate their points was a genius move (we were treated to pie charts, Facebook posts, Instagram posts) and added to that an opening musical number with the comedians dressed in Elvis costumes under a sparkly disco ball (set design by Ifaz Bin Jameel, visual design by Chamara Perera and Sanjeewa Weerasinghe). It was a strong start with the song’s lyrics lambasting the Colombo elite who complain about ticket prices but end up coming to the show anyway.
However, this momentum was not exactly matched throughout the entire show. Without a doubt, each comedian possesses infinite charisma but it sometimes seemed like the material didn’t match the energy. Ransly Barrows’ initial routine hinging on low flying jokes (“I’m a father and husband… though not in that order”) and low key racist stereotypes elicited some polite titters from the audience but internally had you worried that the rest of the show would be like this.
Thankfully, the material got better when they moved onto more topical matters including the election and Colombo drama. Barrows poked fun at RW and WOW in the same breath. Ifaz Bin Jameel devised a new tagline for the tourism industry – ‘Divided by race, united by b….ing’ while Dilini Perera pointed out the pitiful state of affairs for women in the country ranging from the gender imbalance in Parliament (13 women to 212 men) to the luxury tax on sanitation products. She even followed it with a Les Miserables musical parody on what life would be like if men had periods (hint: one week ceasefires during all wars).
Elsewhere Adin Mathitharan dug into Butter Boutique and Yasas Ratnayake treated us to a video of MS reading poetry which is as bizarre as it sounds. The latter in particular struggled with the material, forgetting it at a couple of points but he recovered well enough, although I wasn’t entirely convinced by the Defenders skit which seemed slightly lame and I don’t think Ratnayake himself was committed to it either.
By the end of each routine, the comedians left us with a solemn perspective on the state of affairs in Lanka and how we should promote kindness and tolerance and think carefully about our vote. Kamardeen himself also got onstage during the final bow to give a beautiful and eloquent speech about this which alone would have been enough but to have the majority of the comedians doing this as well gave Freddy an air of being slightly preachy.
In typical Feroze Kamardeen style, the show rather outstayed its welcome clocking in at about three hours – a fact that was good naturedly pointed out by Dilini Perera. It does beg the question that if one is so self-aware of the run-time, why not do something about it? Far better to have fewer comedians enjoy a slot that showcases the best material rather than seven. Though I really enjoyed the Freddy’s choir sound tracking our evening during the numerous musical breaks, editing out some numbers would have made a difference as the songs themselves felt slightly forced and frankly not very funny towards the end.
Overall, my thoughts on Freddy are mixed. On the one hand, the show is a good night out at the theatre and the production itself is something to marvel at. One can’t help but also admire the comedians (some of them first-timers) for taking on this difficult art-form and getting onstage purely with the intention of making us laugh. But it does seem like half of these jokes are something you would hear anyway at a dinner table involving a bunch of uncles discussing politics over their glasses of arrack. It didn’t seem like there was something new or fresh to what Freddy had to offer so it’s got some way to go but I’m sure it’ll be back in no time at all – fighting fit, and ready to embrace a new chapter in Sri Lanka’s history.