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Potato Potato Saves The World (?)

 
Nicholas Abrams Review by Nicholas Abrams 3 Published: 5 Jul 2026 50 Tank House Ln Show Dates: 6 Jul 2026-11 Jul 2026

Technical difficulties are part of Fringe life. Before Potato Potato Saves the World (?) even began, co-creator Ashlyn Kusch stepped on stage to apologise for a delayed start caused by problems with the lighting rig. We’ve all sat through those moments before, and the audience took it in good humour. What followed, however, was rather less expected: a short monologue about the world’s dwindling water supply. It was an unusual way to open a comedy, but it certainly set out the show’s environmental credentials.

Funny, ambitious and occasionally muddled

The premise is delightfully absurd. Aliens have abducted every comedian on Earth, leaving sketch troupe Potato Potato as humanity’s final hope. Their task? Defend the planet in an intergalactic courtroom by proving, through comedy and song, that humanity deserves to survive.

It’s a framework that allows the company to revisit a selection of their political sketches and musical numbers, loosely connected by the ongoing alien trial. The result is part sketch show, part musical and part environmental satire.

Like most sketch revues, it’s a mixed bag. There are flashes of cleverness, but few sketches genuinely linger once you’ve left the theatre. The songs fare similarly. They’re perfectly enjoyable in the moment, although several hours later I found myself struggling to remember many of them beyond an amusing Cell Block Tango-inspired finale about Canadian provincial politics.

The political message is admirable enough. Climate change, environmental responsibility and government inaction are all worthwhile targets for satire. The difficulty is that the central argument never quite comes into focus. Somewhere beneath the sketches lies a plea to protect the planet’s finite resources – particularly water – and perhaps even to encourage audiences to write to their elected representatives. But the comedy never quite sharpens that message, leaving the production feeling slightly muddled.

The cast are all committed performers, even if there appeared to be one fewer on stage than listed in the programme. Ashlyn Kusch emerges as the natural focal point, confidently holding the evening together and delivering the strongest performance of the group.

The final revelation – that the aliens have been using AI-generated comedy all along – provides a suitably contemporary twist before humanity earns the right to keep Earth, provided it takes better care of it.

Whether the show succeeds as political satire is debatable. As an energetic hour of sketch comedy with environmental concerns on its mind, it’s amiable enough. Let’s just hope humanity has a stronger defence prepared if the aliens ever do come knocking.

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The Blurb:

The end is nigh. Aliens have arrived to take over the Earth, and now it's up to Potato Potato to save the day. Using a combination of their hit political sketch comedy and original music, this group of comedians will do their best to convince the intergalactic council that humanity is worth saving. After all, humans haven't been that bad to the planet... Have they??