Circus Hilarious - Aquaphobia!

Published Tuesday 25 March 2008 at 14:55 by Douglas McPherson

PT Barnum may have had the greatest show on Earth, but Clive Webb and Danny Adams can lay claim to the wettest. Within seconds of kick off, jugs of water are being hurled crowd-wise, and it’s not long before Adams is loose in the audience with a massive water pistol.

Naturally, the comedy duo reserve the biggest soakings for themselves. A chair with a built-in waterfall soon has Adams drenched and the floor of the Hippodrome awash. Water also cascades everywhere during an impressive escapology stunt that sees the versatile Adams padlocked into a milk churn topped up to the brim.

Other traditional circus skills are presented by special guest Bolarz on German wheel and BMX, and silent clown Cousin Timoni, whose party piece is a plate-spinning routine. On the whole, though, the emphasis is on the comic sparring, both verbal and slapstick, between Webb and Adams. Hilarious is an apt name, although audiences who saw their last tour may be disappointed to find too much of the show repeated gag for gag.

“I’m going to do an old Elvis song, because there are no new ones,” cracks Adams. Some new Webb and Adams jokes, however, would be very welcome.