Review: Tony Law – Enter The Tone Zone
Tony Law bounds onto the stage over an hour late, dressed in a black lycra catsuit and armed with a trombone. It’s what we have all learned to expect by now.
If you saw last year’s 
show, Nonsense Overdrive, you might think that previous hour of material was relatively normal in relation to this one. There was shouting, brass instrument playing, beach ball throwing, plastic snake wielding, dancing, and even dreaded audience participation. Though the Tone Zone allegedly has no material and no plan, he certainly, and somewhat unbelievably, had absolute control over his audience who were hanging on to every whimsical word.
With the sound of a foghorn, Tony was off on a surreal adventure that spanned an array of absurd subject matter from viking quests to the death of a pet. And just as the insanity all got a bit too much, Tony would expertly change the pace with a reference to mainstream comedy such as Live at the Apollo or 8 out of 10 Cats, both of which this comic is slightly too weird for. With Apollo-worthy anecdotes about his beloved dog, Cartridge Davison, and his two trolls (human twins), Tony showed emotion, though he had to change his accent to suit this, naturally.
This, teamed with the strangest audience I have ever been a part of, made for a very intense comedy experience, or in other words: absolute chaos. Tony effortlessly dealt with challenges from a disheartened lady in the front row who “just didn’t get it,” and replied to her cries of “I just wanted to have a good night,” by explaining that she really should have done her research before booking tickets to see Tony Law of all people, which is fair enough. It is no surprise that the two complainers left during the interval, and it brought the rest of the audience together beautifully in a unified defiance.
You could be forgiven for assuming there could be no greater finale than that of last year: an interactive musical puppet show. But this time we were treated to a truly incredible performance, despite inevitable technical difficulties, including a slideshow and a trombone solo. Tony Law left in a Tony-Law-fashion: late for a train and clutching a deflating beach ball. It’s fair to say, the women on the front row would have absolutely despised the second half.
