UNDERGROUND MONK SHOW ****

A circus tent is an interesting place to stage a clown show of such theological proportions but it does seem to completely transform into a more cryptic space for an hour of strangely subconscious shenanigans.

Sam Fishman, Corey Podell and John Norris seem to have struck gold here, and it is a remarkably accessible hour of clowning. I coincidentally caught Podell's direction of a far more out there late night slot at Banshees. It was fantastic. The material here is definitely more expected, but it's still really funny. 

Not that clown shows really have 'plots' - but if you were to describe one here it's this: Four monks find magic water and start dunking their heads in it. Doing so makes them have crazy subconscious visions. There's a kind of beauty in this simple formula - it follows from Freudian and other studies of monks' repression, so we can really follow them out there. We see many manifestations of the monks' subconscious desires - from an obsessive relationship with the word 'Lemosa' turning into a Cinderella narrative, to someone swimming underwater complete with bubble machines, little fish and a mermaid.

It's never over-the-top wacko but always extremely funny, and top-shelf performances from Max Baumgarten, Dee Marcucci, John Norris, Bill O'Neill and Claire Woolner really carry this hour brilliantly. It's no small feat to make a venue as big as this work for clowning, and there is a suitable threat of interactivity to help the hour function. Indeed, multiple bits of audience interaction are woven into and called back to this work with great cleverness and hilarity.

This is looser than the premise initially suggests, but go for a rollocking clown and you'll be rewarded for it. This is late night alt-comedy full of good laughs, surprising and absurd.