It’s a full house in The Stage at BATS Theatre for this split bill show.

First up is Sohn Zone, a half hour of comedy, improvised in form and content, from Second City, Annoyance and iO Chicago veterans, Rich and Rebecca Sohn, who have been working together for over 30 years.

After introducing themselves they ask the audience if anything interesting has happened to them today and to all the Wellingtonians amusement someone visiting Welly pipes up with, “I went on a cable car up a mountain.” The Sohns have been told to go up the cable car so ask how it is, and after the word moist is used, much to the audience’s disgust (why do people hate that word?) the Sohns ask for another interesting story. Someone says that they went to dinner before the show with their friend and that friend’s new flatmate only to find out they had dated that flatmate 8ish years ago! This made the audience roar with laughter and Rich says “That will be the biggest laugh we get this whole show.” We will see if that’s true in the next 30 minutes.

We are thrown into a scene where Rich is applying for a job at his ex-partner’s firm and she is interviewing him, plot twist being that she had a restraining order on him. There are a couple of funny moments and my favourite part of their entire show is where Rich drops his imaginary top hat into the slow-running river in the firm’s basement, before picking it up further down the river and putting it back on.

The Sohns have a good chemistry and are at ease with each other, as is to be expected after 30 years of performing together. However maybe they are too at ease as the show does not bear much excitement as it continues. The switch between new scenes is done in a way that is not always clear and leaves the audience confused as to why we went from a job interview to being propositioned in a flat, to a sexy mermaid discussing the male gaze. “Mermaids were designed to be sexy by men,” says Rebecca, whilst Rich argues that a male would have made the bottom half of a mermaid more usable if that was the case.

There are some funny moments for me, though they are far and few between and this is clearly not the kind of improv I love. Around half of the audience are really enjoying the show though, so they have clearly entertained those who are there to see them. I do not do improv and purely watch as an audience member so I cannot attest to the different techniques they used, however, I have been informed by some comedian friends in attendance that the Sohns did use a variety of improv techniques in the show.

Unfortunately for me, the story about having dated the friend’s new flatmate is indeed the most I have laughed during this show.

Next up, in D.E.I.s, is well well-known Wellington comedy duo Mo Munn and Ralph Hilaga tackling tokenism, identity and the conundrums of modern-day allyship with a good old laugh and a whole lot of satire.

Mo’s husband Q Potts starts the show, donning a terrible wig and dishevelled work attire as an intern, and bringing out an entire water cooler and cups before frantically heading backstage.

A safety/induction video begins to play on the screen behind them as they fill in the gaps in the video with crowd suggestions pulled from plastic tubs, resulting in the company being called AAAAAAAAH!!!! and selling pirate aprons.

Water cooler conversations with the 2 new hires reveals that Mo used to be a sniffer dog at the airport and Ralph was a hand model in Milan, but now both are excited to be employed by AAAAAAAA!!!!.

Throughout the show both comedians also don bad wigs and become each other’s superiors, Mark and Susan, who are so keen to make these diverse humans feel welcome despite how racist it may seem.

Mark, played by Ralph, loves a good pōwhiri, needs Mo to add koru to the pirate aprons, and is very happy that she can be their new spokesperson and make the company less ‘stale, male, and pale’. Looking around there are some shocked audience members who are apparently not finding this satire funny, but there are also a lot of us who are laughing wildly as it is rather relatable.

As we move on to Ralph’s office, we meet Susan, played by Mo, who enters with a “Oh heeeeey girl!” and points out how many rainbow flags (12) she has adorned Ralph’s desk with to make him feel welcome. There are also forks and spoons because her Filipino friend told her that that was a thing they put on their walls.

The mix of gender, sexuality, and cultural stereotypes in these bits are both hilarious and jarring as I know I have seen these kinds of interactions in my workplaces in the past. It’s satire, very much based on things that do happen.

Q, the intern, returns and there are more audience suggestions to set the next scene. It is now apparent that some audience members are familiar with other works by Mo and Ralph, including their Catfish Trifecta shows, as they pull out a reference to a cuck chair show they performed earlier this year and have to go see Mr Cuck Darrell downstairs.

Back at the watercooler Mo and Ralph discuss how bad their day is going but are adamant they need to keep these jobs so they will endure.

As the day continues, Mo is asked to speak Te Reo on a zoom call full of Māori with no warning, has to receive an awkward hongi from Mark, and is battling feelings of not being Māori enough. Ralph is asked to prepare a Filipino culture day that is also a Pride march next week, including cooking rice for the whole team.

As their first day at the new job ends, both Mo and Ralph are questioning why they were hired and if it is worth it. Any time they question anything, they are met with their superiors making it all about them until it is Mo and Ralph that are apologising.

The final scene is complete and utter chaos as they play both their characters and Mark and Susan at the same time, throwing wigs on and off, yelling, and just being ridiculous.

This show has the signature Mo and Ralph craziness that their fans love, along with that not-at-all-subtle undertone of the reality that diverse people experience in their workplaces.

Two good duos in their own rights, these were two very different shows, with different styles and with vastly different target audiences, as shown by who was laughing in each show. I am left confused as to why they were put on a split bill together and I know a few other audience members were as well.

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