Review of A Night in the Show

I could be wrong, but I believe this early Chaplin comedy was based on one of his music hall sketches for Fred Karno (and for which a young Stan Laurel served as understudy). Chaplin plays two characters in this one: Mr Pest and Mr Rowdy, both of whom create chaos in a theatre. One of them (I forget which) is dressed in an evening suit, suggesting a character of some breeding, while the other is sat high up in the cheap seats. There's only a few scattered laughs in this one, and quite a bit less physical and slapstick comedy than you'd expect from the little man. Chaplin makes a convincing lush, however, and is barely recognisable as the guy in the cheap seats..