Umbilical Brothers bring stand-up slapstick to Hampton

By Carrie White

Correspondent

Shane Dundas and David Collins met during an acting class in Sydney in 1988 when Collins accidentally broke Dundas' nose. That broken nose became the basis for an enduring friendship and an award-winning comedy duo.

The Umbilical Brothers, a high-energy comedy duo, are beginning their latest American tour with two shows this weekend at The American Theatre in Hampton.

After their chance meeting, the two practically became joined at the hip, booking agent Margaret Selby says in explaining their name. Very quickly, the duo won a stand-up comedy competition in Sydney and the 1991 "Australia's Star Search."

They then began touring and haven't stopped, hitting Edinburgh's Fringe Festival, Melbourne's Comedy Festival, Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival - and winning Germany's United Slapstick Award, among others.

In 1999, they debuted in New York and performed there for a year, being featured on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "Late Night With David Letterman" and "The American Comedy Awards."

"Entertainment Weekly" even selected them as two of the "100 Most Creative People in Entertainment" that year.

Since then, in addition to touring and winning other awards for their comedy, they have produced several DVDs, provided the sound effects for the children's cartoon "Maisy Mouse" and co-created the children's television series "The Upside Down Show," which won a Logie (for the most outstanding children's series) and an Emmy.

Describing their shows is a difficult task, Dundas said in a recent interview: "Describing us is a nightmare for marketing people and Twitterers. I like to call it stand-up slapstick - we have the same attitude to slapstick that stand-ups have to the world. It's a lot easier to say than 'sneaky existentialist absurdism packaged as childish physical comedy.' "

Their shows are a mix of mime, physical humor, puppetry, slapstick and renditions of every sound effect possible. Selby said that when she first saw them, "I fell so in love with them that I bought 15 tickets to their show and took friends - and I never buy tickets (since she is in the business). They create an imaginary world - they are so funny and such great movers - and you believe you're in that world. There's no one in the world doing what they're doing. It's the most fun you can have in the theater. I never get tired of it."

Dundas said, "It's a kids' show for grown-ups.... It's structured childishness, in a way. And I think we can all benefit from that a little bit."

Carrie White, caramine2@aol.com