Two good things: this show is free and the Masters of Drip, Michael Friederich and Gavin Rankin, don’t seem to have dripped anything on their immaculately clean white shirts. It’s not fall-off-your-seat hilarious, but some of the short sketches are amusing and bonus points for laundering skills. I appreciate a clean shirt. With a little more experience and polish, this charming absurdist sketch comedy duo might produce floods of laughter, not just drips.
They could definitely go with a different opening sketch- all I can remember about it is that it was forgettable. There are some very wonderful gems hidden in the Drip mix though. The two are at their best when they don’t try to provide any kind of context for the perambulations of their delightfully messed-up minds. My favourites of the sketches involved the mythical substance of Toe Jam and a very lonely pit-dwelling gorgon. ‘I killed him because he liked popcorn so much.’ was one particularly memorable quip. While both Friederich and Rankin are accomplished at many different accents, they tend to play similar characters in every sketch; one is always hysterical and one is always sedate. Also, they could benefit from choosing a variety of music to play between sketches, rather than the same song over and over. Granted, they are teching their own show, but selections of appropriate songs after each sketch would do wonders.
While some sketches are stronger than others, Friederich and Rankin are likeable sketch comedians and their absurd, deadpan humour has lots of potential. They work very well together and never compete for laughs. With some technical assistance and refinement of their sketches, these drips will make a puddle worth watching.
