Hold onto your butts, because nothing can save you now. Not on this boat. Aardvark Boat Tours is a beautifully silly tour around Downtown Portland, and sails away with your heart and straight into certain doom. Great writing and #I-Ship-It chemistry make these wacky tour guides a tag-team not to be missed. Though the ship has set sail away out of the Port(…fringe), whatever is next from these two is certain to make you shout both “this is hilarious!” , and “WHY?” and “oh god, no!” and “am I drunk or just sea-sick?”. The tourist economy has some notes to take, because Aardrvark Boat Tours was the best (and also maybe the most educational, somehow?) trip around town that I’ve ever had.
— MACKENZIE BARTLETT, PortFringe 2019 Review Team
Sweaty. This was a sweaty show. The venue was hot, but boy, these two fellas from Aardvark Boat Tours brought the heat. The premise of the show, a tour of Portland on an amphibious vehicle with two overzealous tour guides, takes a decidedly unexpected turn about halfway through. What starts as a humorous exuberant overview of Portland history (with some interesting tidbits for even the most well-read local historians) becomes a high-energy bromance that had a packed house of Fringe goers “awwwwwwing.” David and Evad begin as oddball slapstick cartoons, but their chemistry develops as their tour goes awry. This show has heat, high energy that was hanging from the roughshod ceiling of the venue as the show began. It’s not asking any questions, except perhaps whether or not a puppet can die. Rather, it’s asking you to take a moment and explore this fantastic city we have around us, and maybe do it with someone who shares your passion for safe fun. For fans of: Accordionists, puppet seamen, shipwrecks, local history, dehydration.
— ALLEN BALDWIN, PortFringe 2019 Review Team
All aboard Aardvark Boat Tours and get ready to embark on a rib-tickling, surreal, wild and wacky ride through the streets and waters of Portland! This show is a fast-paced delight with Nolan Ellsworth and Jared Mongeau giving wonderfully energetic performances as our affable yet hapless tour guides. Like the tour boat itself, the show takes some fun twists and turns and is surprisingly informative at times. Jared and Nolan are an inspired team and prove to be real pros at physical comedy. They have created characters that you definitely want to see more of. Great fun!
— MARK MAGEE, PortFringe 2019 Review Team
Dave (Nolan Ellsworth) and Evad (Jared Mongeau) are your Combo Pack of lovable, hapless tour guides aboard Aardvark Boat Tours. If you’re looking for a high-energy, super-silly ride through Portland history, tales of shipwreck, and even some well-spoken Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poetry, get yourself down to the Apohadion for their second and final show Wednesday night at 9:30. It’s true I’m a sucker for accordions and salty puppets, but these performers hit all the right notes with well-timed physical comedy, just the right amount of “inappropriate” humor, and a genuineness that’s pure joy.
–BESS WELDEN, PortFringe 2019 Review Team
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