So Mr. Twonkey tell us about the new show and why so stupid?

There are some people locked in the hoax bathroom of the bullshit hotel. I have developed an action and I come over a miniature theatre-in the hotel lobby, naked. I am the microscope and the show is the paper, so it works pretty well. Here's the new fancy tour poster by Super Allan:

PLUS A 15 MINUTE WARM UP SLOT ON THE WONDERFUL BILL BELOW THE NIGHT BEFORE MY BIG LONDON SHOW AT THE MUSEUM OF COMEDY :

I will be mostly performing my new show in 2016 as i kick it into shape for The Edinburgh Fringe Join me for the ride in the following Palaces:

Beckenham Comedy Cabaret Mixed Bill

-London 26th of Feb.

Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel-

Well Under a Tenner Tour.

Brighton Fringe-Sweet Dukebox

19:00 hours- 6th to the 8th of May.

Museum of Comedy 19:00 hours

-London 14th of May.

Wandsworth Fringe London-

The Cats Back on the following dates:

22:30 hours on the 20th of May.

20:30 hours on the 21st of May.

COMING SOON:

Prague Fringe A Studio Rubin (more info to follow)-2nd to the 4th of June.

Edinburgh Fringe 4th to the 28th of August (more info to follow)

He creates wonderlands of weird. Kate Copstick The Scotsman.★★★★

2015 Malcolm Hardee Award Nominee For Comic Originality.

Why is Drunk Welsh Anne's pistol missing from her garter belt? Why has the accountant been poisoned? Why does the cuckoo clock need fixed if its already been fixed? Is it true that the hotel is soon to be flattened to make way for a Frankie and Benny’s and a retail park? Why is the assistant manger hiding in the toilet?

Being in his presence for an hour is delightful. The Times.★★★★

All these questions and more will be answered if you visit Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel. By the way it’s best to take the scenic route via the giant slug infested graveyard, which is always swamped in a thick green gas. A shaft of light through the lobby can be seen as a metaphor for the human life span but it can also mean a day for a light golfing jacket. A chilly breeze through the keys can only mean a visit from Cherry Baldwin’s Circus of Travelling fleas. On the corner of your cigar cane, concealed maps marked in invisible ink will help you will find comic, songwriter and puppeteer Mr.Twonkey AKA Paul Vickers. Its time to enter the world of an abnormal Fringe legend.

A joyous experience. Fringe Guru.★★★★

A challenging sexual concept.Time Out.★★★★

ALSO COMING SOON FROM THE MIND OF MR.TWONKEY JENNIFER'S ROBOT ARM WITH LOADS OF NEW SONGS AND BACK FLIPS.

PLUS:MR.Twonkey appears in episodes 9 & 10 of NBC's Comedy Digital Platform: Seeso as part the Before The Morning After show for those in the USA.

Picture:Toby Long at Photo Express.

SOME LOVELY REVIEWS FOR TWONKEY'S STINKING BISHOP...................

Edinburgh Festival Fringe cabaret review: Twonkey’s Stinking Bishop, reviewed by The Scotsman’s Kate Copstick 25 August 2015.

★★★★

The room is sunk in Stygian gloom. The sound of Gregorian chant comes as something of a surprise to the two rows of happy “relaxed” young men from Bishop Auckland who had stumbled in en masse and probably by mistake. I worry for Twonkey, a gentle, other-worldly man whose shows generally require the kind of willing suspension of disbelief that would hold up the Forth Bridge. But oddity by oddity, song by song, Twonkey draws them in.

It is a wonderful thing to watch a “lad” reclaim his daft. Comedy needs Twonkey, a performer who has not so much ploughed his own metaphorical furrow but woven it from sweet silly songs, ridiculous props, meandering, mesmerising stories that make absolutely no sense other than here in the dark with Twonkey. From the moment the first song starts – “From a fountain in the sea, I found a memory” – you know you have entered another comedy dimension. Yes there are references to things in this dimension – like Hugh Grant and Foxes Glacier Mints – but even they cannot anchor us to any kind of reality but Twonkey’s. Some things are eternal – like the Evil Conjurer and the Travel Sexy Ship’s Wheel. As we giggled our way through the Wheel’s portion of the hour, Twonkey, in full TV game show host mode – with his catchphrase “pull my knickers off” – had some little problem with the prop knickers. “Must remember to memorise the colours,” he chides himself, “Makes the act look that bit more slick.” Twonkey is to slick what deep fried pizza is to health food. But he is unique and he creates wonderlands of weird. Whether squashing toy pigs between two rounds of cheese, conjuring images of a hunchback with an unscrewable hump in rural Dordogne or singing one of his glorious ditties, he will always put a little wonderful into your day.

NEWS FLASH! Team Twonkey filmed couple of things for a new N.B.C series:

“BEFORE THE MORNING AFTER”

coming your way January 2016.See pic of Chris on the telly opposite.

Twonkey's Stinking Bishop reviewed by FringeGuru Richard Stamp.

★★★★

Another year, another outing for Edinburgh's favourite Dadaist: the unmatchable, indescribable Mr Twonkey. You don't so much watch a Twonkey show as bob gently through it – adrift on a sea of surrealism, trying to maintain some semblance of your bearings through occasional glimpses of solid ground. But if that sounds a bit pretentious, think again. This is also a genuinely laugh-aloud show, a joyous experience shared between a pleasantly bemused audience and an immensely personable performer.

Mr Twonkey – real name Paul Vickers – is something of a Fringe institution these days, known for his flight-of-fancy stories and offbeat, nonsensical songs. If you're a fan of Vickers' past outings, then I'm delighted to confirm that the psychic sex-crazed ship's wheel does still feature – whereas, if you're a Twonkey virgin, that sentence will give you a reasonable idea of what lies in store. Compared to previous offerings however, Vickers has dialled down the surrealism just a tad; the universe he inhabits is still a bizarre one, but it's a little more accessible than before.

It's almost pointless to list the topics Twonkey's rambling journey visits (being sacked from Looney Tunes, getting into trouble in the Dordogne, and the undead roaming Skipton are just a few), but each song has an elusive sense of coherence, a feeling that it makes a kind of sense you can't quite put into words. Some are fairly straightforward, like the concluding number about "the drop" performers experience once they come off-stage; others are complex and multi-layered, and a few are performed by puppets. The only real link is the loveable personality of Mr Twonkey himself, who radiates a kind of affable shyness that would warm the stoniest of hearts.

There's less darkness to the stories than in previous years, and I confess I missed the undertone of pathos which have previously defined Mr Twonkey's tales. In its place, though, we got some low-key, slow-burn, but ultimately-hilarious physical comedy, built around the inherent entertainment value of a big man blundering around on a bijou stage. It's hard to know how much of this was scripted, and how much was down to genuine mistakes which he had the skill to run with; but either way, the result was an engaging hour-long visual gag, which saw Vickers get increasingly entangled with his costumes, props and microphone stand.

Search too hard for a meaning to Vickers' act, and you might leave deeply frustrated. But embrace it for what it is – charming, seductive nonsense – and it has the capacity to be one of the most memorable shows of your Fringe. At the end, I bobbed out onto the Grassmarket unsure of where I'd travelled – but knowing, above all else, that I'd enjoyed the ride.

Twonkey's Stinking Bishop reviewed by Donald Hutera from The Times.

★★★★ August 20 2015

“Will somebody tell me what I’m supposed to do?” These were the first words uttered by Paul Vickers, aka Mr Twonkey, on the night I treated myself to his latest Fringe outing. A founding member of the now-dormant Scottish indie rock quintet Dawn of the Replicants, Vickers is a rumpled, fuzzy-haired and middle-aged man of many parts and a completely bonkers charm.

For the solo shows devised for his on-stage alter ego he stitches together pun-filled, rib-tickling and mind-bending little fables and gently barbed cultural commentary; belts out rhythmically catchy, self-composed songs in a comfortably raspy yowl (think Ivor Cutler meets Tom Waits) to taped accompaniment; manipulates home-made puppets and others objects; and functions as his own technician and stage manager. He is also endearingly fond of taking the mickey out of his own humble, DIY status. Hence, I think, the line quoted above. Being in his presence for an hour is delightful.

Anyone even vaguely on the same weirdly wonderful wavelength as Vickers will likely agree. Named after a high-fat, washed-rind cheese, his newest show is being presented in a tiny, non-descript room in a hotel. And with a top ticket price of £6, it’s a hole-in-the-wall bargain. Although his work is not cheesy, cheese does make a guest appearance in the form of a large wheel under which Vickers — dressed, for the record, like a ship’s captain, but in many ways functioning like a fallible magician — secretes a mechanical grunting pig.

There is also, memorably, a haunted cable car with an attendant off-the-wall back story and a faux competition involving Dracula and a putative trip to the Yorkshire market town of Skipton. Note that the vampire reference allows Vickers to indulge in what he calls a “Transylvanian Finger Fantasy.” As he reminds us, “The mistakes are real in this show.” What’s not to like or, dare I say it, even love?

Twonkey's Stinking Bishop reviewed by Paul Levy from Fringe Review.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SHOW which means ★★★★

Mr Twonkey has a brand new show and this is the very first night. Over the following hour, many of the audience were in hysterics and others looked on, suppressing smiles and laughter that might just reveal their own inner affinity with the absurdity of the human condition.

Songs, set pieces, banter and even psychic brandy tasting fill the time. This is anti-showbiz, punkish musical surrealism. Running through it is a thread of more rational banter as our host and his crazy puppets comment, tell a gag or two and sing with an energy that nearly pops buttons and smashes Quadrant windows.

Twonkey has built up a loyal following over the years, and many fans were in evidence tonight. The show isn’t there yet, which is a big relief all round. It feels rough because it is meant to be rough. Twonkey is like an abstract painter who really knows how to classically paint but has ditched those genres for something more playful and unhinged. It works. The audience love it. It is a spectacle and a cabaret in equal measure. Songs, banter, backing tracks, tricks and puppets; stories and one liners all combine to create sense overload, too much happening at one time, then everything grinding hilariously to a halt at another.

Old favourite characters plucked from the zany repertoire alongside new material and changes of mood from mad to intense, emotional to throaway, this is the skill of the man and his arrant inventiveness. He gives himself permission to spin at the edges of normality and that gives us permission to indulge a bit of escapism from the mediocre normal. Simply staged, plenty of props, bemusement mixed with delight, the audience lean forward to see what will happen next.

Not all of the songs were as clear as I’d have liked them as there are words I wanted to hear. It will settle in the right ways as the show develops but I hope that the material will not completely settle, keeping its offbeat and reality-popping cleverness.

You won’t enjoy it if you are seeking a beginning, middle and end (in that order. You won’t enjoy it if you can’t induldge your own propensity towards the unhinged. But if you go with Twonkey he’ll take you all over the shop, but you’ll be happily, crappily, mad-cappily glad of the journey.

The Mumble's Paul Rivers had this to say which means ★★★★★

“I am you, I am you, I am yooooo,” sings Mr. Twonkey in one of the many bizarre but brilliant songs that punctuate the show. There were many lines from the songs that stuck in my brain but the refrain above made me think: this is comedy—if that that’s the correct word (it may not do the show justice)—that lies in a tradition of eccentric/absurdist /subversive art that from time to time manages to rise up from the deeps and defamiliarize your world—off the top of my head: Michael Bentine, Spike Milligan, The Goons, John Lennon, Ken Dodd, Tommy Cooper, The Mighty Boosh, Victor Spinetti, some 70’s children’s shows/cartoons. This stuff makes you feel different.

This is no nostalgia trip, mind. The audience responded intensely, but the laughter wasn’t corporate laughter, it was probably best described as nervous laughter: but who can explain? We all laughed hysterically as Mr. Twonkey squeezed a plastic pig between two wheels of Stinking Bishop cheese, wrapped it in a plastic chain and announced: “He’ll never get out of that!” I had my 16 year old son with me and to his great joy he won a ticket for an individual performance of a Transylvanian Finger Fantasy: Mr Twonkey clambered over the seating and gave the performance—a paper puppet on each finger. My son loved it. The only criticism here mind is that Mr. Twonkey didn’t let him keep the winning ticket, claiming that it took him 2 hours to make—tight! We left the theatre as we arrived with Mr. Twonkey prone on the floor his head under the curtain. I suppose this might not be for everybody, but we loved it. And in the words of another one Mr. Twonkey’s songs—quickly to become a mass singalong—“Take a dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dippppppppppp!”

THE MALCOLM HARDEE AWARD FOR COMIC ORIGINALITY NOMINEES 2015:

Michael Brunstrom

Richard Gadd

The Story Beast

Mr Twonkey

And the winner well....Michael Brunstrom still always good to be in the running for these things. Maybe they heard about my Battle of the Super Villains performance as Spring Heeled Jack the picture below tells that story.Horribly funny ;-)

Twonkey's Stinking Bishop

“An energy that nearly pops buttons and smashes windows”

Fringe Review Highly Recommended Show.

@ Edinburgh Fringe. 21:00 hours

Sweet Grassmarket (Venue 18)

6th to the 30th of August (apart from Tuesdays)

PICTURE TOBY LONG.

★★★★ The Scotsman “A Sublime cloud of nonsense”

★★★★ Time Out “a dog's dinner of unexpected, absurd, even offensive content. It’s also a classic”

Paul Vickers AKA Mr.Twonkey is a wild British eccentric in the mould of Vivian Stanshall or Ivor Cutler. Fast becoming an Edinburgh Fringe institution. Mr.Twonkey is fresh from runs at the Soho Theatre, Prague and Brighton fringe so he means business. Warning: This is a full-bodied show with a powerful character. Featuring puppets and all kinds of crap handled majestically. Performed by “Edinburgh’s premier gentleman psychedelic polymath” (The Scotsman). It’s not for the faint hearted “A voice flipping from abrasive gargle to sneering panto-dame witch on a journey through the looking glass” The Herald.

★★★★ Fringe Guru “Oddly entertaining and utterly bizarre.”

★★★★ Broadway Baby “Mind-boggling from start to finish”

Twonkey’s Stinking Bishop is a new show about been sacked from Looney Tunes during a purple patch. Mr.Twonkey runs the cheese and drinks counter at the log flume centre but the catchment area is bonkers. The Stinking Bishop cheese is loaded with Dadaist dynamite and it’s going to blow.

Email: simplebounty@yahoo.co.uk

PICTURES BY ANTONY OUDOT THE RELUCTANT PAPARAZZI MAN OF

TWONKEY'S LIVE AT THE SOHO THEATRE 2015 THE RED HOT RUMBLE:

THIS YEAR AVAILABLE AT ALL TWONKEY'S STINKING BISHOP SHOWS:

THE TWONKEY U.S.B CORK DRIVE:

Restaurant Logo: Allan Corbett.

CONTENTS:

One M-peg 4 of the full Twonkey’s Private Restaurant show filmed by Michael Kidd in Technicolor. PLUS an M-peg 4 of King Newt with Animation and Music by John Callaghan, Story by Twonkey.

Hooks, Vine and Sinister. Twonkey Hits: Paul Vickers and Friends.

1.Lon Chaney Revisited

Written and performed with Pierre Chandeze.

2.This Is Showbiz

Written and performed with Hamish Hawk. Special Guest Steven Vickers.

3.Hand’s Off Mussolini!

Written and performed with Hamish Hawk and Massimiliano Puddu. Special Guest Steven Vickers.

4.Goat Girl

Written and performed with Roger Simian.

5.Lily Vumper

Written and performed with Steven Vickers.

6.Pissed as a Postman

Written and performed with Pierre Chandeze.

7.Giddy World

Written and performed with Keith Baxter.

8.The Flying Tailor

Written and performed with Grant Pringle.

9.Sophie The Aeronaut

Written and performed with Pierre Chandeze.

10.Mother Shipton

Written and performed with Steven Vickers.

11.Mugulvery’s Farm

Written and performed with Grant Pringle.

12.The Rasberry 2014

Written and performed with Andy Currie.

13.The Cat Shop Catastrophe

Written and performed with Steven Vickers.

14.Pencils Like a Broom (Looney Tunes)

Written and performed with Keith Baxter.

15.The Architect

Written and performed with Massimiliano Puddu.

16.Hot Beryl

Written and performed with Hamish Hawk. Special Guest Steven Vickers.

PLUS:

Itchy Grumble –The Talking Book:

Recorded by: Dan Mutch.

Narrator: Paul Vickers.

Plus The Greengrocer by Paul Vickers and The Leg Free Sample featuring 3 tracks: My Trifle, Polynesian Snuff and Straggler On The Run. Full album available on vinyl record with download codes.

Make sure you have the latest version of Windows Media Player/Quicktime or Flash to play the Video Content on this U.S.B.

Jennifer’s Robot Arm Opening Night Overview By Paul Twonkey Vickers.

I had a quirky dream the other night that a gentleman friend of mine had set up a new social club called… wait for it…. The Titty Club (its not what you think). It seemed to be a club where people could discuss illuminating ideas and you had to have on your person a walking cane and a prepared subject to talk about. If the other persons subject/ideas seemed preposterous you would respond by saying "you're a tit "and then they would say, "no, you’re a tit"…. hence the name. One of the subjects discussed was the new play I have written called Jennifer’s Robot Arm which reminded me I really need to update my blog about my feelings on the opening night at the Bread and Roses theatre in Clapham.

Before hand there was some high jinks back stage as the actors prepared to perform, with me being the writer and present, it felt like I was making them a little nervous. However I had no intension of sitting at the back with a copy of the script tracking every line and making sure none was missed, I trusted them I had watched the video of the rehearsed reading at the White Bear theatre and knew the show was in safe hands. It was odd for me to sit and watch something I had written and not be part of the performing but the same time a strange joy. I wish I could have seen all three nights that would have been a luxury I would have dearly enjoyed.

The opening scene in the garden was delightful. Conner Jones dolled up in white face paint acted excited with panache. He was full of hope about his fitness and his high sex drive. Conner’s performance throughout surprised me the most as he’d taken his character a lot further since the reading. My favourite part of the whole show was when a red light descended on him when he talked about fixing Jennifer’s arm using wheat to jam the locks. It was as if this was a warning of something he does often but should be avoided at all costs. It’s these little twists that really bring the writing to life.

Conner’s performance had a Dennis Potter Blue Remembered Hills feel to it, which was also echoed in Miranda's performance as Jennifer. Jennifer was the powerhouse at the centre of the show. Miranda Shrapnell made her so believable you really worried for her. I imagined the show being acted out in a slightly wooden and camp manner. Miranda took on Jennifer much further then I imagined. So you really felt for Jennifer as we all travelled the roller coaster of emotions that she of course would be going through as the horrendous circumstances of the show unfolded. The physicality of her performance gave the show energy the rest of the cast played off especially Conner. They’re such a great double act. Jennifer in a way became the straight actor that made you invest in the story whole-heartedly.

John Rushton’s take on Pam, Jennifer’s mother was dry and suicidal but thoroughly confident. A little more vulnerability came through at times as Pam does have moments of agonised tenderness especially towards her daughter Jennifer. Pam marched on and off with a casual flick of the hair and sexy pout that always sent a mutter of chuckles in her wake but never tears as mummy doesn’t like tears. The old music hall panto feel of the Pam character was coming through loud and clear with that little twist of Nuts in May.

So then to Simon Jay the director, producer and performer. He presented this show in the manner of a Bauhaus art show it had a whiff of The Tiger Lilies about it, which was delightful. His own performance was high camp and sinister and so it should be. The Inventor is the mad hatter playing with the rest of the cast to fulfil his own boredom and not worried of the consequences of his actions. He also gave the show an otherworldly quality like a Doctor Who villain turning up in a kitchen sink drama.Perfect.

I was pleased that the new ending worked giving the audience the satisfaction of a happy ending after such a strange journey only seems fair. Now where do we go next? I’ll have to munch down some driving biscuits with Simon and company and come up with a plan. I am so pleased we have a wonderful cast and show.

SUPER PICS-ANTONY OUDOT.

Twonkey's Acid House Circus Tour 2015:

Twonkey's Stinking Bishop

Brighton Fringe@The Quadrant

12-13 North Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 3GJ

Fri 01 May 2015 19:00 - 20:00

Sat 02 May 2015 19:00 - 20:00

Twonkey’s Private Restaurant

@Soho Theatre

21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

Fri 22 May 2015 19:00 - 20:00

Sat 23 May 2015 19:00 - 20:00

Twonkey’s Private Restaurant

@Prague Fringe

Divadlo Na Prádle - Kavárna, Besední 3, Malá Strana, Prague 1

Tues 26 May 18:15 - 19:15

Wed 27 May 18:15 - 19:15

Thurs 28 May 18:15 – 19:15

Fri 29 May 18:15 – 19:15

Sat 30 May 18:15 – 19:15

BRIGHTON

LONDON

PRAGUE

THE ACID HOUSE CIRCUS TOUR THE SHOWS:

SHOW ONE: Twonkey’s Stinking Bishop is a new show for 2015 about how things have moved on for Mr. Twonkey he now works in a sleepy hamlet Cow Shit How Shit. It’s not easy living like an 18th century farmhand sometimes the long winter nights can be painstaking pointless. In this parish everyone buys their own, it’s a hamlet of wallflowers. Mr.Twonkey now operates the cheese and drinks counter at the log flume centre. Cow Shit How Shit may only be a sleepy hamlet but the log flume’s catchment area is bonkers. Stinking Bishop Taco Tray with a pint? Part of the fun is watching them spill it all down themselves when they hit the Santa’s Mountain waterfall.

SHOW TWO: Mr.Twonkey says : "Twonkey’s Private Restaurant was inspired by my childhood pillowcase of Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti. The 2014 show had one hell of a good run at the Edinburgh Fringe. It does not feature any real food, which caused some controversy with a number of angry hungry people. Due to low blood sugar levels perhaps this lead a Keystone Kops style bust up during one show. So please eat before the show Its only set in a Restaurant its not an actual Restaurant".

Email: simplebounty@yahoo.co.uk

Pictures: Jane Barlow

JENNIFER’S ROBOT ARM-THE PLOT THICKENS:

Stage Two is a short run of the full show details below:

JENNIFER’S ROBOT ARM: @THE BREAD AND ROSES, LONDON.

THURSDAY 16TH TO SATURDAY 18TH APRIL 2015.

AT 7.30PM-Tickets £8. 75 minutes (including interval)

In an attempt to prove she's the sister of Pinocchio, Jennifer cuts through her supposed wooden arm with a circular saw, but this is to no avail. An inventor seizes Jennifer's dreams and then her stump to proffer a robotic appendage, holding her and her family's lives and emotions hostage.

The Progress so far…

It’s still very much in development but not arrested development. So far so good for Jennifer's Robot Arm, I’ve written a new ending and opening since the reading at the White Bear theatre, London. This is a big challenge and it’s wonderful to have Simon Jay taking the ship by the funnel and steering the wheel down south. My plan originally was to produce a B-movie comedy based on one of my most popular short fairytales. I planed to put it on at the Edinburgh Fringe with local talent.

Real Shoebox Theater with teapots for lights and a stage set made from orange boxes. Pity and daft theatrics played out in a drunken dockyard fashion somewhere in Auld Reekie.

However it makes more sense to develop it down south in old London town. The Budget (kindly supplied by the Tom McGrath Award) did not include a ticket on the mega bus gold for myself to get down to London for the rehearsed reading. I was waiting for the video evidence to hit my email box with some relish. It was heart breaking for me not to be there. I felt like Charles Dickens writing in a hovel on a diet of bread and maggots. I imagined pushing my ideas into cracks in the wall, all in the hope that one day they would be discovered by Kevin Spacey.

The cast did a super job by all accounts lead by the dominating presence of the glamorous and dry Myra Dubois. Conner Jones played a sympathetic and rather jolly father. The brilliant actress Miranda Shrapnel played an acrobatic and hugely convincing Jennifer. As for Simon Jay he performed a contorted master class with his Lon Chaney-esque hunchback. Nathan Cross punched in the scenes with the regal poise of an ageing king. However it was clear from the lo-fi video I would need to write more as the tale has more powder in its gun.Pete Harvey has written a Theme tune too. So on with the show…….. and this time Mr. Twonkey will be coming to the ball; I’ve booked my train.

WONDERFUL PICS-ANTONY OUDOT. Look out for his new book Shooting Kylie.