Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser have returned with their anarchic Christmas show, The Christmas Thing. The vague title is perfect for a show that veers wildly between songs, slapstick, games and skits. It harks back to the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Specials of the 1970s, with music, sketches, slapstick, cracker jokes and a bit of topical satire thrown in – if that legendary duo had been high on magic mushrooms. The set-up is a live TV studio, with members of the audience offering up their party pieces as they become the show’s “special guests”. So in between songs and sketches, audience members gargle the National Anthem or do the splits or hunt for a missing box of Christmas cheer.
The frenzied pace is interspersed with some whizzy and technically clever video pieces introducing a range of characters. The video isn’t just a gimmick but is used to advance the narrative. For there is actually an overarching if slender storyline, even though it might not feel like it in the midst of the chaos. The ingenious and innovative montage from ThingFlix TV is a highlight and a witty delight, riffing on well-known and beloved Christmas movies and shows. Online interactions and their deficiencies, the lagging, the muting, are spoofed and current theatrical trends hilariously mocked. Some of the humour is decidedly puerile, and some doesn’t hit the mark but the pair mostly stay within the realm of the type of silly comedy that has the audience laughing out loud.
The set of a ramshackle TV studio, with a cobbled-together computer that spews out the name of the audience member chosen to perform, is full of random items that then form part of the show. A nutcracker soldier, items of seasonal clothing, a Christmas tree (of course). It all looks as crazy as the show itself. The conceit is that behind the randomness lies a well-thought-out and technically smart production.
As the show relies heavily on the willingness of the audience to participate, it’s Tom and Owen’s interactions that gets people agreeing to be on stage. Their asides about audience members are good-natured but sharp. Clarkson and Visser are playing two lovable characters thrown into the chaos of live TV, a bit out of their depth, while lurching between segments but somehow keeping it all together. The Christmas Thing is a mostly bonkers show, a great fun evening of entertainment that has brilliant ideas amid the mayhem.
The Christmas Thing is at the Seven Dials Playhouse until 20th December. Tickets are on sale at Seven Dials Playhouse.
Reviewer: Carole Gordon
Reviewed: 3rd December 2025
North West End UK Rating: