Since meeting at Western Sydney University in the late 80s, David Collins and Shane Dundas have mimed and mimicked their way into Australia’s physical comedy Hall of Fame.
Known to audiences as The Umbilical Brothers, the duo have also cracked the international market through sell out tours and TV appearances alongside US late night legends like Jay Leno, David Letterman, and more recently, Stephen Colbert.
Such is their popularity the pair have even found themselves the proud owners of an Emmy Award and a couple of BAFTAs.
This July, the comedy stars will be bringing their most popular show ‘Speedmouse’ – which is celebrating its 15th anniversary – to the Blue Mountains Theatre in Springwood.
“No matter where we are around the world we always get ‘when are you doing ‘Speedmouse’ again?’,” David Collins, one half of the duo, said of the show.
“For some reason it is our most popular and in-demand show.”
Based on a simple yet highly engaging premise, the show acts as a platform for the pair’s talent for mime and vocal sound effects.
“Shane and I play ourselves while somebody else has the remote control and is stuffing around with the show,” David said.
“They can stop the show, they can fast forward, they can skip the boring bits. It’s basically our show gone digital.
“It also has a ‘Sixth Sense’ style ending where people go ‘oh, right, that’s what was happening!”
While ‘Speedmouse’ may have done a fair few laps of the comedy circuit, it gets regular makeovers to keep things fresh for the audience and its performers.
That means if you’ve seen the show before, there will still be something new.
“I don’t want people to come and say ‘oh I’ve seen that show and they just did it exactly the same’,” David said.
“We’re not like one of those bands that play the song exactly the same way, we’re one of those ones that go off and do a death metal version of a jazz song.”
While the shows may have changed, the motto behind the Umbilical Brothers’ work hasn’t changed: “If we find it funny, so will others”.
“We play around with parts of the show just because we’re trying to keep ourselves on our toes and make each other laugh,” David said.
“That’s how Umbilical Brothers started. If we’re making each other laugh then we can make an audience laugh.”
The Umbilical Brothers are bringing their show ‘Speedmouse’ to the Blue Mountains Theatre in Springwood on Friday, July 7 at 8pm. Tickets are $44.90-$49.90. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.bluemountainstheatreandhub.com.au or call 4723 5050.
