I just spoke to my mum, who asked me,

“Are you going out tonight?”

“No, I went out last night to see a show at the Kings Arms. You know, the cat pub”

“Oh yes. How was it?”

.”it was really funny, I haven’t laughed quite like that in a while.”

“Ah excellent – what was it about?”

(Silence)

“Erm it’s hard to describe. Erm…”

“I’ll just read your review later…”

Yeah, yeah, do that…

In a world with only 1 gun, 1 man stands in the way of world peace. His weapon of choice: sketch comedy. Saddle up for a rapid ride through a really real film that no one seems to have heard of… and join Will BF for a bucking bronco of sketches, songs, and way way more, as you journey through the wild west of 70’s Hollywood and also the wild west

Thank you press release.

So if you were in any doubt as to what this show is and about, I reckon that ought to clear it up.

This, The Last Gun’ is the world’s ‘first live comedy mockumentary’ which enjoyed a multiple sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and is boomeranging back up there next month.

But not without stopping off at only the fringe festival Edinburgh could have been – our very own Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.

And for the second time in a week, I was back at the ‘cat pub’ ready to see…well I wasn’t sure to be honest but I knew that there would be a man in a cowboy hat knocking about with a gun.

Let’s cut to the chase whilst I put off trying to find the words to describe this show.

Will BF was incredibly funny. He was incredibly funny for 60 minutes in a variety of surreal and bizarre ways.

It was a quiet night at the theatre (it was the final performance of the run and a Tuesday night) and I was about to descend into a panic.

There’s safety in numbers and if a performance isn’t quite your thing, you can usually rely on others in the audience to fill any awkward silences with positive reactions, and help out a little old ‘people pleaser’ such as myself.

It could have been a completely empty room and I can’t imagine the energy levels in this show would be any less than insanely high. It was incredible and, reader, I laughed out loud. I laughed out loud throughout.

It got to the point where I was verging on coming across as a total and apparent sycophant because everything made me laugh. And I’m not an easy crowd when it comes to the ‘laugh out loud’ of it all.

My default display of amusement is a smirk, perhaps a broad smile, a series of little exhalations and perhaps a shoulder shudder or jig.

The Last Gun tickled me rotten and my laughter was, indeed, ‘out loud’.

“But what was so funny,” I sense you ponder.

Well to help me out in painting a picture, two cultural references sprang to mind, when bearing witness to this hour of sheer lunacy but also epic piece of performance art.

First is Paul and Pauline Calf’s Video Diaries, and the mock late night art-house talking heads feature (Coogan, all of it Coogan) which precedes, where great examination and strokey-beard intellectual deconstruction of the diaries themselves is attempted, along with interviews with the confused documentary-makers themselves – Paul and of course Pauline Calf.

This was the part of The Last Gun which was delivered via VHS tape on stage, with talking heads from cast and crew (all Will BF) regaling tales of the making of the cult film that never was, The Last Gun, brought to the world by film-maker Orville Movie (fictional contemporary of one Steven Spielberg who was to become his nemesis)*

The Last Gun itself (the film within the show of the same name – keep up), interspersed these recounted tales on crackly VHS, by way of live action performance on stage (Will BF – all Will BF).

This brings in my second cultural reference, The Room (2003). The difference being that the hysterical The Room was never intended to be funny when written, produced, directed and starring Tommy Wiseau.

The Last Gun is like a delicious homage.

Before I write myself into a corner even more, I’ll just finish by laying down some keywords below that together form some of my highlights from the show:

• Sockmother
• Bryan
• Napkin head
• James Gun
• Russian gamers
• Anonymous plasticine prop creators (an unexpected cameo on stage by me)
• Bryan

So there you indeed have it.

You’ve missed your chance in the North West but if you’re going to Edinburgh Fringe, go and see Will BF, his one-man 60 minutes of sheer insanity which is part sketch, part mockumentary,, part improv but full to the brim funny (AF).

For full details and ticket for GM Fringe, visit https://greatermanchesterfringe.co.uk/

For more details on Will BF’s upcoming shows (at that other little known fringe festival) click here.

*Google Steven Spielberg and The Last Gun…