What the world needs now is laughter, sweet laughter. The Play What I Wrote, starring Hamish McColl, Sean Foley, and Eddie Braben, directed by Kenneth Branagh, gives us plenty of that!

McColl and Foley are this generation’s answer to Laurel and Hardy (or maybe George and Gracie) at their slapstick best, which may have you grabbing for oxygen while rolling in the aisles.

The jokes are oddly topical. Sample humor: McColl’s character has decided to write a serious play about the French revolution called A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple. At one point, he drapes himself in the Blue-White-and-Red, saying, “I’m France, and parts of me are revolting!” What happens next is anybody’s guess, complete with Shakespearean antics of mistaken identity, silly sight gags, musical numbers, and—drum roll please—every night, a mystery guest star, in a rotating cameo role. Opening night brought us Kevin Kline, clowning in a lovely French lady’s gown.

Viva la France, Kevin? “I couldn’t look at myself in a mirror, or I probably wouldn’t have done it,” he quipped.

We much prefer him dressed in trousers!