Astonishing, outrageous, side-splittingly funny are just a few of the epithets that spring to mind in the wake of Bob Kerr’s appearance with his Whoopee Band at the Basingstoke Irish Centre on Monday, 9 April; a two-hour show that left the ‘returns only’ audience aching with laughter, and reeling with disbelief at the whole surreal experience.

A miscellany of garish outfits, assorted props, hat changes to suit every mood – jazz hats, love hats, animal hats, flying hats (imagine this if you will: Biggles playing the sousaphone, or, alternatively, a goggled, leather helmeted sousaphone player flying a biplane), and you will have some idea of the spectacle on offer. Plus, of course, an array of instruments not seen since the Relief of Makeking from which to extract every sound and effect conceivable. Some tasteful and wonderfully musical in tone, others less so! All performed with vast doses of vim and vigour and little regard for taste. Magic tricks, a ventriloquist – this is a show that ‘had it all’.

Sandwiched between the breakneck strains of the ‘Looney Tunes’ theme to open the entertainment and the roars of ‘Tiger Rag’ to bring it to close, came a selection of gems drawn from the last hundred years of so of popular song. A surprise appearance of Popeye and Olive Oil lent an aura of class to ‘Bill Bailey’, while Bob Kerr was in good vocal form on his opening feature; what else but ‘Makin’ Whoopee’.

It was time to don cook’s hats on ‘Dinah’, while ‘Me and Jane in an Aeroplane’ introduced the dulcet tones of Richard White. Cutting a dashing figure in blazer and cavalry twills, he would not have been out of place stepping through a french-window in an Edwardian theatrical production and asking, ‘Anyone for tennis.’

‘Danger on the Saw’ featured the remarkable skills of ‘Professor’ Percival, who held the audience in spellbound rapture as he played the musical saw. This had been especially written for him by a well known clarinettist who had a hit with another original composition known to many as ‘Stanger on the Shore’.

The audience participation in ‘Spread a Little Happiness’ served as a prelude to a ‘classical interlude’. Mr ‘Spats’ Langham, ‘banjo player extraordinaire’ and the indomitable Malcolm Sked, he of the ‘dancing sousaphone’, took centre stage to present Brahms’ ‘Hungarian Dance No.5’; a remarkable performance of fleet-fingered virtuosity and oompah-pah. A study in contrasts as you might say.

The gravelly tones of ‘Professor’ Percival explained why ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Baby’, with his own variations on Dorothy Fields original lyrics before he totally upstaged Richard White’s sensitive rendition of ‘Am I Blues’ with a remarkable display of ‘vocal percussion. His cymbal crashes sounding every bit as authentic as the real thing.

The first half drew to a close with another venture into the classics with Bizet’s ‘Overture to Carmen’, featuring a kazoo duet by Messrs Kerr and Percival, followed by the cacophony of ‘Some of These Days’, which seemed destined to disintegrate but for the noble efforts of the rhythm section.

The musical mayhem continued unabated in the second half. How could you not ‘Look on the Bright Side of Life’ when there was a railway journey to ‘Pasadena’ to enjoy, or a visit to ‘Jollity Farm’? We greeted an ‘Urban Spaceman’, viewed the grandeur of ‘Winchester Cathedral’ and tasted the explosive delights of ‘Cocktails for Two’.

One could not help but sense the heritage which links Bob Kerr and His Whooppee Band to the past glories of fellow funsters the Temperance Seven, Spike Jones and the Monty Python team. Nor should we forget that Mr Kerr honed his skills in the Bonzo Dog Doh Dah Band and the new Vaudeveille Band.

As the ‘witching’ hour of 10.30 drew near, ‘Spats’ Langham paid tribute to George Formby on ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’. ‘Professor’ Percival stepped out from under an umbrella where he had taken shelter during ‘April Showers’ to conjure ethereal sounds from his musical saw on 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and then it was time for a rip-roaring ‘Tiger Rag’ and the grand-finale ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’.

Bob more than fulfilled his promise to send the audience home with aching sides. It was indeed an evening of ‘jazzy musical mayhem and outrageous comedy’ and one should add, incredible musicianship!

Our thanks to Anne and Dave Bennett, and their team of helpers, for making the evening possible, and helping to raise a substantial sum for Basingstoke Stroke Support Group, and to the Basingstoke Irish Centre for their warm hospitality.