In Awkward Productions’ Gwyneth Goes Skiing, Linus Karp and Joseph Martin very much live up to the tenor set by the infamous trial on which this show is based on. What we see over the course of this production is an amalgamation of all the comedy and storytelling techniques that they have been refining over the course of their past productions, and it’s really amazing to just see the level that the pair operate at as writers and performers.
Gwyneth Goes Skiing is Awkward Productions’ hilarious retelling and satirisation of the fateful ski crash between the Gwyneth Paltrow (Linus Karp) and an optometrist from Utah (Jospeh Martin) and the subsequent court case. With high energy songs by Leland and vocals by Darren Criss and Cat Cohen, Karp and Martin turn a key pop culture moment into an iconic one.
The gift of Karp and Martin that just keeps on giving is their ability to push seemingly simple comedic techniques to the extreme in order to keep us constantly entertained throughout, laughing with us as they establish a sophisticated satirical piece through the use of over-exaggerated and over-the-top character comedy techniques. It’s the hint of melodrama that promises to completely and utterly ridicule every aspect that Karp and Martin can possibly think of. They constantly use blatant and leading reference points to form the base of their jokes, oscillating between pointing us in a given direction and letting us fill in the gaps ourselves. We always know why we’re laughing which keeps the comedy extremely accessible. Martin and Karp have a way of writing a joke that pointedly reach beyond the 4th wall and take on a self-awareness, and whilst that is often its defining characteristic, it is not the only reason as to why we’re laughing at a given joke and why this style of theirs will never get old. Even if the jokes are ‘obvious’, Martin and Karp’s delivery and commitment to the moment sells it for us, to the poitn where we start hoping for certain puns and references.
“truly a Gwyncellent and gooptastic show”
Karp and Martin these embody perfect foils to each other, and the contrasts and parallels that they find and create through their writing are, like everything in this show, rife for enjoyment. Karp plays the overly nice, if detached Paltrow, adopting a Disney Princess-esque persona that is made all the real by occasional the acerbic and patronising commentary. It’s a really life-like impression, uncannily so. His effervescent and clueless ingenue characterisation is such a goldmine for comedy. As the personification of the saying “aw shucks,” Martin absolutely delights, providing some relative realism and grounding in a show full of absurdity. He presents such a normal and mundane character that it almost becomes a point of abnormality.
A pop culture moment is not truly a pop culture moment until Linus Karp and Joseph Martin satirise it. Gwyneth Goes Skiing is performed against a near constant laughing track, which is well deserved. There isn’t a joke that doesn’t hit its mark; everything lands neatly as if clockwork. This is truly a Gwyncellent and gooptastic show.
Pepper & Salt 
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