Pajama Men interview

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Monday 4th July 2016

The finest nightwear-clad figures since Douglas Adams invented Arthur Dent (for The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy), The Pajama Men are living proof that less can definitely be more. Why do they wear PJs onstage? Well, it keeps things simple, and effective.

The widely-popular Albuquerque duo need no props - ok, there are usually chairs - and no costumes, just a couple of bewilderingly inventive minds. So much so that seeing them for the first time can be slightly bittersweet, when you realise how many brilliant shows have been and gone already. That's a lot of great material to miss. The good news is that many of those classic bits will be getting a welcome restage at the Soho Theatre this week, as part of their big-hits-and-new-bits show, Pterodactyl Nights.

Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez met at High School in 1993 and have performed together an awful lot since then, often on their own, with no audience. That's how they conjure up quite so many odd characters and cutting one-liners - by improvising until the gold emerges. Those nuggets then help build seemingly random sketches that invariably turn out to be deviously linked. Clever fellas.

If you can't make it along to those shows, Pterodactyl Nights has been captured on DVD, and the chaps have also successfully crowdfunded their own sitcom pilot, more of which below. Exciting times in PJ land.

Tell us about Pterodactyl Nights: does it all still link together?

Mark: Pterodactyl Nights, or 'T-Nights' as we sometimes incorrectly call it because we don't like the way 'P-Nights' sounds, is essentially an evening of our favourite bits from past shows, as well as new material and plenty of improv. There are certainly small threads stitched throughout but the nature of the show is a bit more unwieldy and more raucous, than our other shows. It's incredibly fun to perform, and more so to watch. Really!

What made you return to the classic stuff now?

Shenoah: We took a departure this year to write and shoot a pilot so there was less time to write a new show: we'd rather put something in front of the audience that we know works than spin too many plates. Plus there are bits that we just really love doing. That said, this less-narrative more-sketch format allows us to experiment with some new stuff in and around the guideposts of zippy routines.

For Pajama Men virgins, could you give us a little flavour of how yours stuff works, generally?

Mark: We are, fundamentally, two guys who play many different characters, jumping from scene to scene telling jokes and being ridiculous. On a more nuanced level, we explore many different aspects of the real and the surreal, like the lives of bored, middle aged, middle class housewives, and the relationship between a tiny, unidentifiable cute thing, and a mysterious chain-smoking, French woman. So I guess the flavour is... 'delicious'?

What stage is your crowdfunded sitcom - Brothers In Law - at now?

Shenoah: Thanks for asking. The working title is now Maple Maple Town. We've nearly finished it! We shot the show in Albuquerque a few months back and the finishing touches are just being put on the edit. It's fair to say we're damn excited by the result.

You did a kickstarter to fund it - have you carried out the rewards yet?

Mark: We have carried out many of our rewards! I think it's safe to say one of our favourites was getting our audiences to shout out phrases of the funder's choice. Hearing a crowd of 200 Norwegians shout "Pedro, I'm pregnant" was pretty hilarious.

Have you done any TV stuff that you've been really happy with in the past?

Shenoah: Yes and no. This has definitely been the most satisfying attempt we've made. There are scripts we've been commissioned to write that we've really liked also. The difference there though is, those scripts never went into production. Going the Kickstarter route meant that we actually got to shoot the thing, not to mention the luxury of creative control

What's the most interesting response you've had to your stuff over the years?

Mark: We once had a guy stand up during our show, get on stage and hug us both, and then fall off a staircase. He might've been drunk.

There's a DVD version of Pterodactyl Nights too, released via the Soho Theatre. How did that come about?

Shenoah: We've shot several DVDs over the years, which has been great to get to do, but we've never been that happy with how they came out. We wanted to do something our own way in an intimate venue - and some on a green screen so we could occasionally add backgrounds and animation. Serendipitously, Steve Lock - and the rest of the team at Soho Theatre - were throwing around the idea of creating an independent label. So we all said, hey, let's do this together.

We assembled a team and shot our special down in Soho Theatre's cabaret space, Downstairs. And, in spite of the fact that Soho footed the bill, they let me direct which was a great experience and allowed us to create something in a different way than we were able to with the more corporate DVDs we've shot. Hopefully this endeavour will go really well for Soho. We feel in good company already with Nish Kumar and Josie Long who are also part of this new, tiny and great catalogue.

Pterodactyl Nights is at the Soho Theatre from Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th July. Tickets are available here - as is the DVD of that show: sohotheatre.com