Join Sammy J And Randy On A Rollercoaster Ride Through Their Latest Live Show

As business plans go, lending $3 million dollars to a musical comedy duo, one-half of which is made of purple felt, to build their own theme park is at best a bit risky, but dubious financial planning aside, that's the basis of touring act Sammy J And Randy Land.

Kicking off earlier this year, Randy, he of the purple stream of profanities, voiced by Heath McIvor, fell sick halfway through the Melbourne stretch, enforcing an extended hiatus including various side projects, but the gang is back together and ready to take their occasionally fractious hijinks cross country once more.

"This show takes the Sammy J and Randy rivalry up about a billion percent," Sammy J says. "I tend to take advantage of Randy more than I should and he certainly gets his revenge."

Scoring Australian comedy's top gong, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Barry Award, for their first big show Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane in 2010, the irrepressible duo have gone on to conquer TV, most notably with their recent sitcom of the same name. Funnily enough, that first show was initially intended as a sitcom, so they go there in the end.

Writing for TV proved a very different experience. "We wrote this new show straight off the back of making Ricketts Lane and it was a relief not having lawyers checking every line of the script," Sammy J laughs. "We love the TV show, but it was a long process. Even after we made it, it took a year to show on TV. Live on stage, you get audience response in about half a second, for better or worse."

"Naturally Randy wanted the theme park to be called Randy Land, and I wanted it to be Sammy J Land and that's pretty much the first two minutes."

Sammy J relishes the in the moment challenge of live comedy and believes audiences get just as much in return. "You get out there and you feel something, you're in the same room and it's the antidote to this Facebook, reality TV world we live in," he says.

While working on Ricketts Lane, their live shows were stripped back, becoming more like stand-up, but Sammy J and Randy Land sees a return to narrative structure, with the theme park idea providing a zany backdrop. "That's our favourite aspect, with all the songs, costumes and props," Sammy J says. "We just put anything we wanted in the script. Naturally Randy wanted the theme park to be called Randy Land, and I wanted it to be Sammy J Land and that's pretty much the first two minutes. The rest just goes downhill from there."

The goal is to strike a good balance between the live show and their TV gigs, including Sammy J's election series Playground Politics. "We'll nibble on the crumbs of TV when some middle-aged executive sweeps them off the table, but in the meantime, live is what I've always done and will always do," Sammy J says. "It's the ultimate fun thing, being able to say something to a crowd with no filter. Even in theatre, actors are often saying someone else's words. In comedy, it's just you and your thoughts and the audience. Well, that and the abuse and violence from Randy."

Randy is quick to point the finger of blame back on Sammy J, insisting that his partner in showbiz stuffed him in a freezer overnight with the couch up against the door all because he put the wrong number of sugars in Sammy J's coffee. "It did actually convince me to freeze my sperm, so now I'm officially a sperm donor," Randy reveals, if any would be mothers out there are keen. 

The theme park theme is an odd one for Randy, given he tells me, "I don't like rides, being around people in general and definitely not children," but the purple one says he goes where the money is, and that includes merchandise.

"We're actually putting out a new line of lingerie, and Sammy has his scent, Eau de Ribcage, coming out for Christmas," Randy reveals. "We take most of our cues from the Kardashians. I've also got a new line of shoes with Adidas that are purple with little eyeballs on the toe."

Whether those projects pan out or not, for now, the guys are pumped to hit the road again together. "I'm not going to lie to you, when we first did our gig, we thought of it as a bit of a dare," Sammy J levels. "Man and puppet musical comedy duo, we thought, 'that will last about a week,' so we're as shocked as anyone else that people are still buying tickets, but we'll happily take their money."