Count Arthur Strong - The Sound of Mucus

Review of a Stage Comedy Masterpiece

Count Arthur Strong first came to national prominence in the UK through his massively popular BBC radio series Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show!, which ran to 50 hilarious episodes over seven series between 2005 and 2012 (not forgetting the Christmas Specials made since). His foray into television was long-awaited, was acclaimed by the critics, but thanks to some lunatic scheduling and lack of promotion by the BBC, failed to find a large enough audience. Since then, the esteemed the Count has devoted himself to his stage career, which goes from strength to strength. Although far less well publicised than his television and radio outings, these theatrical tours are must-attend events for Arthur's legion of fans, and I'm glad to report that the best of these are now widely available on DVD, from all good retailers (including Wilf the Butcher).

The Sound of Mucus is the most enjoyable and most polished of Count Arthur's stage shows so far, a characteristically tongue-in-cheek anti-homage to our hero's favourite Hollywood musical, The Sound of Music. Here the Count (played as ever by a seemingly indefatigable Steve Delaney) is partnered with his two comedy stooges - Malcolm from the radio series and someone who claims to be Ian Lavender's understudy from Dad's Army (actually he's Eggy from the TV series). This implausible comedy triumvirate has great fun at Julie Andrews' expense, putting on the nun's habits and lederhosen with glee and generally ripping the stuffing out of such treasured musical numbers as Sixteen Going On Seventeen. As ever, when the Count tries to put on a show, it all ends in glorious obscenity-laden disaster, but watching the entire proceedings fall apart more spectacularly than a badly assembled IKEA wall unit is most of the fun of the thing.

Before Count Arthur gets to completely demolish his Julie Andrews tribute he begins with a mirth-packed warm-up, to gently prepare us for the disaster ahead. He turns in one of his famous lay preaching sermons, then rounds off the first act with a pretty surreal ventriloquist routine with his far from cooperative friends Sulky Monkey (the deadliest hand adornment since Emu) and Little Tiny Tut, a pint-size Egyptian mummy who, owing to the fact that he is tightly wrapped from head to toe in bandages, cannot utter a single word. It has to be seen to be believed.

Running to an exhausting ninety minutes, The Sound of Mucus is one of the longest of Count Arthur's extravaganza's to date, but it never out-stays its welcome - the humour doesn't flag for a millisecond. Even when the heroic Count is off-stage struggling into his next costume, his endearingly inept partners in crime keep us amused with their well-meaning but ultimately doomed attempts to grab the limelight for a fleeting second. Freed from the constraints of good taste and logic that badly impeded the TV series, here, in his natural medium, the magnificently off-the-wall Count Arthur Strong can take his unique brand of comedy mayhem to the absolute limit - and he does so, with utterly hilarious results. This surely has to be one of the funniest shows you will ever see.