If you’ve been handed a flyer for Watch List in the street, you might expect what’s written on it –a show about an insecure police officer on a journey to clean up the streets and maybe get laid in the process. That’s only a taster to lure you into the sketch show. And that sketch show does not disappoint.
Watch List is a very funny show
So what – apart from a lonely police officer looking for love – can you expect? Watch List is action-packed, tightly written and doesn’t hesitate to run smack through the audience’s boundaries. (Although please be assured the performance isn’t offensive - they’re only trying to ruin your childhood). Some of the sketches begin in familiar premises: a western, or a game show, but the script soon shuns familiar comedy. Most of Watch List is feverishly creative, high-spirited anarchy. Nearly halfway through the show Dobby was being given a cum sock and although I personally have mixed feelings about house-elf exploitation the audience were having a wonderful time. Did I mention Jack Whitehall’s father? Or the musical number about being unlucky at the end?
If I was trying to find a pop culture reference to explain the show, they are strongly influenced by (but not derivative of) Python or Not the Nine O'Clock News. What I’m getting at is the feeling of sitting down to watch a bunch of well-meaning weirdos do a show about British life in the 70s. That’s the feeling Watch List gave me. With some time adjustments.
The talented performance troupe themselves are called KEITH. There isn’t just one KEITH, there are five, and all five are more than up to a challenging script through their strong comic presence and generosity toward the audience. I wasn’t at all surprised to find after the show that half the group is involved in a professional show in London. Arthur Drury and Kit Gale write for and perform as the separate group Specific Cabbage, with Isabel Lote also on the writing team.
Could Watch List tighten the screws in places? Yes. There are few sketch comedy shows that don’t need to. But watch list is a very funny show and I had a great time. I made sure to check with the audience, so I know you will too.
