We Is Blunderstruck got a great review both from the newspaper and from Natasha and Gordie, but I was pretty disappointed.

I have to say, I've been to funnier funerals ... and shorter ones.

(My pastor is a real laugh riot, so that sounds like more of a condemnation than it really is. He usually opens up a funeral service by saying, "I know what you're all thinking, and the answer is, 'about 45 minutes'". This was 60.)

Blunderstruck had it's moments - one of them being when the urn gets kicked over during the end of a rock version of "Amazing Grace" - but they were separated with a lot of awkward fumbling that went beyond the comical and made you actually wonder, "When is this going to be over?".

We Is Blunderstruck
Press Play Players
Broadway Theatre
4.5 stars out of 5

Saskatoon's Press Play Players are back with a show that delivers more blunder and improved struck.

We Is Blunderstruck is essentially the same show that stormed the 2006 Fringe. More shtick has been added to make it an hour long.

That begins with the band, Blunderstruck, an inept bunch of rockers, weaving their way through the audience.

They're there for the funeral of band friend and fan, Mel. The amusing interaction and awkward sharing of condolences quickly sets the tone for the show.

As the funeral is about to start, the band learns that Father Ed is unable to attend. This results in Blunderstruck (Pitstop Pete, Doorstop Dave and Truckstop Trevor) being forced to conduct the funeral. As the saying goes, hilarity ensues.

It all begins with processional bells that instead become AC/DC's Hell's Bells.

The Blunderstruck members definitely are not choirboys and so we watch the most irreverent, sidesplitting memorial unfold. There's a rocking version of Amazing Grace, a reading of a 'pah-salm' and an amazing tribute in Latin from Truckstop Trevor (because his mom is Latin).

At each point in the ceremony, just when you think it can't get funnier or more flippant, the Blunderstruck boys find a way to crank up even more laughs.

The tunes are equally enjoyable. As clownish as they are, these three guys can really rock. They end the funeral in fine foot-stomping, hand-clapping fashion.

Mel would have been happy.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008