Salesbears! is a great idea gone terribly wrong. It has a delightfully surreal premise; giant bears who sell advertising space. However, this seems to be the only gag, and if you don’t like that then you’re in for a long hour…
Alun Maxwell uses ventriloquism and manipulation to voice and give life to four giant teddy bears. We learn that polar bears are naturals whereas panda’s just can’t close a deal. They all sell space for Third World Aid Technology (TWAT), you can see where we’re going with this, and boy does it take a long time to get there.
There is a paper-thin plot, which wouldn’t be a problem if the gags were coming thick and fast, unfortunately they’re not, and the show meanders from bad gag to bad gag without any real rhyme or reason. By the end of the hour the tables have been turned on the boss JD, but no one really cares anymore.
I really wanted to like this show but as JD runs around the stage encouraging his bears to pick up the pace, you wish he’d heed his own advice. At best this is an in-joke for anyone that’s ever worked in telesales, at worst it’s a one trick pony, and that pony is dead. Maxwell is unnatural when communicating with the audience and rather than generating the air of absurd silliness you think he may have hoped for, by the end of the show he is greeted with general apathy.
1/5
Ciaran Murtagh
