Would you pour out your innermost secrets to three strange comedians? This is the premise of Jim Smallman’s afternoon show Group Therapy, which promises to solve all its audience’s problems in one dangerously under-qualified hour and manages to be entertaining even if it does want some more rigorous structure.
The show is a sort of informal chat hour hosted by comic and self-described ‘tattooed idiot’ Jim Smallman, along with a few of his comedy pals. Interestingly, we were assured that none other than Al Murray had been in attendance on the previous outing, however today was the turn of Chris Brooker and Hal Cruttenden, both funny men who helped create an enjoyable atmosphere. Before getting stuck into the show proper the three comedians engaged in a light banter session, introducing themselves and chatting about their Edinburgh experiences, with some particularly amusing comments concerning flyerers on the Royal Mile. It was funny enough, though did go on a bit, and it was hard not to feel a little impatient for the show to get going.
Eventually, Smallman opened up the floor and invited the audience to spill their problems so that the comedians could sort them out. A girl (all names are withheld to protect the innocent) was first to volunteer with a dilemma concerning two boys. Next was a pair of brothers who had an unfortunate surname, and finally a young man dissatisfied with where he was living. The trio of hosts listened attentively and offered amateur solutions that were generally amusing and sometimes even practical. As you’d expect from having three comedians sharing a stage, it took very little input from the audience to prompt several minutes of jokes, tangentially related comments and stories, many of which were very funny indeed, especially some of the delightfully middle-class observations from Cruttenden. Despite that, the rough, improvised nature of proceedings meant it wasn’t always gold material; there were a few lulls in the laughter and a couple of long stories that didn’t pay off as much as you’d have hoped.
It’s difficult to know how to recommend Jim Smallman’s Group Therapy, as it is undoubtedly very different from show to show. The performance I witnessed, while not spectacular, makes me think you won’t regret spending the money. It was a perfectly enjoyable hour, it just felt as though it could have used some tighter control to keep the pace up and the laughs steadier.