Sketch Crunch

C Soco

Typically, sketch comedy is a hasty business.  That’s its appeal, of course.  If one particular sketch disappoints, there’s always the possibility that the next one will be funnier.  And so it is with Marigold’s Sketch Crunch, which has a frenetic, rapid-fire quality that compensates for its weaker moments.  It doesn’t break any new ground, but the sheer vitality of the performers – Huw Beynon, Simon Brant and Richard Hanrahan – makes for a good hour’s entertainment.

The opening sketch sees Hanrahan bewailing his excess weight to a barely sympathetic Beynon.  In their embarrassingly poor series for the BBC, Horne and Corden successfully proved that obesity in itself does not provoke laughter, except perhaps amongst infants and imbeciles.  For a moment, I was concerned that Sketch Crunch was going to follow a similar track.  Thankfully, the sketch does not outstay its welcome, and by the end of the show it is clear that Marigold have a decent range of comic ideas, and the versatility to pull them off.

The show is something of a mixed bag.  A few scenes are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.  There is a terrific sketch in which a man proposes to a duck, and the three public school boys attempting to feign the stereotypical language of the council estate is effective, if not especially original.  The sketches that fall flat – such as the terse, stentorian headmaster, or the father who imagines that his son has an imaginary friend – feel somewhat half-baked, and cry out for further development.

It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but there are enough laughs here to make it a worthwhile way to spend an hour.

***

I liked the words terse and stentorian. Plus we got the same rating as Russel Kane  - Russel Kane! Thank you again for coming to see us – do come back again!

During the Edinburgh Festival, the desire for fetid pig meat that grips most drunkards at midnight changes into a compelling urge to find a comedy act in the arse end of the C venues to laugh at. You could probably do worse than ‘Sketch Crunch’ – this comedy trio have plenty of energy and a couple of good gags – but you could certainly do much better. Most of the sketches are weakly written, fizzling out with poor punchlines, and there are few genuine big laughs to be had. Much like a greasy kebab or an intimate experience with an ugly stranger, mediocre sketch shows like this one are best enjoyed whilst heavily under the influence. Do not attend sober. C soco, 5 – 31 Aug, 11.55pm, prices vary, fpp 99 tw rating: 2/5 published: Aug-2009

I don’t know about you but I quite like a greasy kebab, almost as much as I like intimate experiences, even if the stranger is ugly.

Thanks for coming though!