They’re bald, and they’re blue’tiful, and they have managed to attract more than 17 million people to their show – a visually stunning performance that combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics.

The trio boasts characteristic “blue skin”, which is grease paint and takes more than an hour to apply to their bodies, heads and faces. No patch of skin is left, er, unblued! The paint never actually dries, which is what gives the blue men their distinct wet gooey look throughout the show.

These highly animated characters explore popular culture and appear eternally surprised and perplexed by what they discover. They are self-conscious and naïve to cultural norms, which was evident when they attempted to stage an elegant dinner for an audience member with Twinkies or followed a rock concert instruction manual to stage a real rock concert.

A signature element of the Blue Man Group performance is the drum wall, a two-story structure with seven percussion stations, where neon-coloured paint splashes into the air when the drums are played. The drum wall has been a show fixture since a 1999 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The group is accompanied by a live band whose haunting tribal rhythms help to drive the show to its climax, which features a lot of toilet paper! In 1999, they released their first audio recording, appropriately titled Audio, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. Since then they have produced four more albums.

The original blue men – Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton – still perform but have since taken on more administrative roles in the parent company, Blue Man Productions, which produces all the Blue Man Group shows around the world. Blue Man buzz has been felt in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Berlin, Zurich and Tokyo. South Africa is yet to experience the thrill of the Blue Man Group, but here’s hoping this theatrical experience will hit us with their colour soon.