In a well-evoked dive bar in the vicinity of Schenectady, New York, Chip and Gus play a monthly game of table tennis amid the abandoned Solo cups that are a fair stand-in for the detritus of their personal lives.
Gus (John Ahlin) is a Dr. Seuss-quoting philosophy professor and hobbyist inventor, and Chip (Christopher Patrick Mullen) is a somewhat marginal musician and adjunct instructor, and the ping pong is both real and metaphorical at the same time.
Chip and Gus, co-written by the actors, succeeds largely on the strength of the performances. Amidst a barrage of jokes and gags, both high and low, both men offer a nicely differentiated physicality and some great clowning. The anxiously kinetic Chip, especially, is well observed; he’s a lounge lizard in his natural habitat, and it’s hard not to feel like you’ve met the guy before. The skilled naturalism of the acting goes a long way to offset the inherent staginess of the high-speed dialogue, which at least varies in its ebb and flow, allowing both performers and audience to occasionally catch their breath.
Just as one starts to wonder whether the informal unstructuredness and apparent pointlessness of the men’s game is also part of the metaphor, the story finally gets going. It does so with a sharp and unprompted lurch that underscores how little we know about these men, and, especially, the length and intimacy of their friendship.
Chip and Gus is subtitled “a comedy with balls.” That might be interpreted to mean “has something bold and brazen to say.” Let’s dispatch that one immediately: it doesn’t. What it does mean, other than ping pong balls (lots and lots of them), is that this is a piece centred around men in isolation (double meaning intended) and their friendships.
That’s a promising area for exploration. But the depiction of awkwardness and emotional stuntedness in those relationships seems unrelatable and extreme, bordering on caricature. And that’s nothing compared to how the absent women are reduced to commodities, with less apparent autonomy than Chip’s mp3 streamer that comically seems to have a mind of its own.
To stick with the Bluetooth analogy for a moment, the serious elements of this comedy never successfully pair with its overlong but often funny set-up. As a result, its dramatic revelations lack credibility and narrative cohesion.
The terrific acting in Chip and Gus and sheer volume of jokes, ensuring that at least some are bound to land with everyone, make for an entertaining hour. Its pursuit of its larger ambitions, however, has to be ruled a fault.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
