The Joy of Sketch is a mixed evening of comedy ranging from average to hilarious. Thankfully there was more of the latter tonight. The evening is as much a good source for first time sketch comedy audiences and long term fans as it is a pick and mix of various groups doing short sets of their work, however as with all comedy line ups the stronger performances expose the weak.
Delete the Banjax, a quirky multi-disciplined troupe of relentless comedians, were a cracking opening act, their delivery was smooth and each sketch flowed through to the next effortlessly keeping the audience on their toes.
As the night progressed what was most evident about this group is that they were confident enough to let the comedy do the talking, as opposed to a number of groups that relied heavily on a mock mess-up style performance hoping to gain a few extra laughs in their supposed decent into chaos; it's not fooling anyone, it's tedious!
Another standout were The Three Englishmen, presenting slick imaginative sketch. The best and most memorable being 'Time Fiddlers', a mickey-take of a children's educational drama, integrating cheesy character jingles and hilarious, unnecessarily epic lines leaving the audience in stitches. These boys have crafted their comedy finely and having had a brief taste of their work I am itching to see more.
Adam Riches was surely the man of the evening with his outrageous interactive, extreme swing ball marathon. Hold on to your partners his character Pedro Azul, the spanish swing ball champion may try to coerce them into joining him backstage for sexual acts! There is an added element of danger to this piece as five swing ball poles are set up in the audience spinning frantically as Azul attempts to fight to the death to retain his honour as champion!
The fantastically absurd Cardinal Burns were hysterical. Having been a fan of one of their videos that flooded the social networks a while ago (Fiery Hawk), it was great to see them live; sharing cross dressing, larger than life, physical characters performed unashamedly. This duo are naturally very funny, and their ability to change into characters so dramatically different from the previous makes them all the more impressive.
The remaining two acts Max and Ivan and Pappy's simply didn't hit home as well as the other troupes, and although both presented some funny moments the big laughs were to be had elsewhere. It was almost proof that polished and slick is the way to go with sketch comedy, instead of disorganised and chaotic. The joy of sketch was a great evenings entertainment, and great for people looking for alternative comedy.
