Award-winning sketch troupe Peter n’ Chris will kick off the Anvil Centre’s inaugural theatre season tomorrow night.
The comedy duo – made up of Peter Calone and Chris Wilson – bring their knee-slappingly funny Mystery of the Hungry Heart Motelto the stage, just in time for Halloween. But it’s not your typical murder mystery.
“The narrator off the top ‘accidentally’ gives it all away,” Wilson said of the sacred principle of not blabbing the who in a ‘whodunit’ mere seconds into the show.
“To us, the funniest part of a good murder mystery is just ruining it,” Calone chimed in with a laugh. “That’s something we have fun playing with. We find a genre that we kind of want to poke fun at and figure out what the funniest parts of that is.”
In this roughly hour-long sketch, the pair crash their car on a dark, spooky highway and go to a motel for the night. Unfortunately, there’s only one bed to sleep in, which prompts them to argue over who gets dibs. Meanwhile, a bunch of characters (all played by Calone and Wilson) are not-so-secretly murdered before their eyes.
“It’s really how many jokes do we pack into this 60 minutes as we can,” Calone told the Record, adding the crowd can expect at least three jokes a minute, similar to “Futurama, where every line has a purpose, both by moving the plot along and being funny.”
Peter n’ Chris and The Mystery of the Hungry Heart Moteloriginated in 2011 when the guys were part of a Vancouver comedy festival, which tasked them with creating a script given only a couple lines of dialogue. The catch was that they only had 48 hours to come up with something.
“From there, we just kept playing around with it,” Calone said.
The comedians met in acting school at the University of Victoria back in 2005. After hosting a few events together, like award shows and poetry coffee nights, the pair knew they both carried a love for comedy writing.
Since then, they’ve been a part of numerous fringe festivals, including Just for Laughs, JFL42, The San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival and the Chicago Sketch Fest. Calone and Wilson have also won three Canadian Comedy Awards, including best sketch troupe and best comedic play for 2013/14. They’re also contributing writers to CBC Radio 1’s sketch comedy show, The Irrelevant Show, CBC Punchlineand have contributed video content to College Humor.
As for their Anvil Centre Theatre performance, the duo suggested there is in fact some mystery near the end.
If the show goes somewhat longer than expected, don’t worry, it’s something Peter n’ Chris are known for – involving the audience.
The skit runs Oct. 30 and 31 at 8 p.m. at Anvil Centre Theatre, 777 Columbia St. There’s also a viewing on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $35 for adults and $25 for students and seniors. Visit ticketsnw.ca for tickets.
