The Beehive Inn,

Grassmarket,  Edinburgh

Saturday 28th May 

—

We arrive early at The Beehive Inn for an evening of Monkey Barrel Comedy… and it’s already heaving. It’s not surprising that it’s sold out; the line-up contains some of Scotland’s most popular comedians. We are shoe-horned into the small attic room above the bar and take our seats among the high-spirited crowd into an atmosphere of excited anticipation,  the crowd primed for a good heckle. As tonight’s compere, Rick Molland, takes to the stage; he finds he has a battle on his hands with a few lively hen and stag parties, one of which is accompanied by a giant inflatable penis that makes its way round the room almost earning a guest spot on the stage. Molland gets interactive with the crowd, finding out who everybody is, getting the banter flowing and warming up the room  for the frolics ahead.

Vladimir MacTavish

Material : Delivery :  Laughs :

Vladimir MacTavish is the first stand up on the bill and his opening line “I bet you are all thinking Philip Schofield has let himself go a bit” gets everyone laughing straight away. Vladimir’s material is a melting-pot of  everything, from current affairs, through sports, to travelling the world. His topical monologues are peppered with quick & witty jokes, while his observational humour is fresh and well received. Alas,  Vladamir sometimes falls prey to the sterotypical mocking of we Scots, but still unleashes a brand of laugh-out loud comedy  we would go to see again.

—

Derek Johnston

Material : Delivery :  Laughs :

Comic, Derek Johnston, was probably the most unique act of the night. Taking to the stage armed with a saw, he looked slightly mad with his menacing eyes as he loomed over the audience. Derek’s droll delivery and macabre story-telling was an unexpected surprise; although he may have lost the crowd a little as those stag and hen parties were probably not his target audience. An eclectic mix of anecdotes of family days out teamed with ghostly tales of psychotic dolls, the latter accompanied by creepy sounds supplied by Johnston while playing the saw as a musical instrument.

—

Daniel Downie

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery:  

Daniel Downie is full of energy; bouncing on to the stage with a confident “take no prisoners attitude”. Tonuight’s audience are a feisty bunch, and they challenge Downie – but the fella thinks street-fast on his feet and was quick to hit back with witty responses. He regales us with tales of phone sex with his Spanish girlfriend and the hazards of learning a new language = a lesson to be learnt here is don’t get your nouns mixed up in Spanish, or you could be asking your girlfriend if she wants cock instead of chicken for dinner across a busy supermarket. This, along with Daniel’s up-to-the-minute material had the audience in stitches.

—

Harry Garrison

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery: 

Earning the biggest laughs of the night was Harry Garrison, an instantly likeable character with a cheeky grin and a glint in his eye. Garrison cleverly uses music to deliver his quick witted, dry, black comedy. He starts to play his guitar and confuses the crowd into thinking he is here to perform an acoustic love song, this quickly evolves into the entire audience singing along to a dark and hilarious song about a mail-order bride named Fred.

Harry has a cracking blend of Kevin Bridges’ nonchalant attitude and Bill Bailey’s musical genius; his set is full of belly laughs and inappropriate songs that will stick in your head for days. This is a brilliant value for money night out; where else would you get four well-established, high quality comedians for only a tenner? It’s a great atmosphere with crowd participation and friendly banter in a cosy wee venue. There were maybe a few too many location specific jokes that were lost on our friends south of the border, but overall this a great night out that we will be coming back to and would highly recommend.

Reviewers : Laura and Emma Murray

Drygate Brewery

Glasgow

Friday May 6th

When MC Scott Agnew paced onto the front of the stage at the Drygate, clutching a bottle of the his inhouse ‘bear-faced lager,’ – I knew it was going to be a good night. I’m a big fan of Scott & his in-your-face gestapo-gay humor, such as ‘my mother hoped for one of those decorator puffs, not one daft for cock.’ So, listening to Scott haranguing the two bald-headed stag parties at the front, & drinking my own bottle of the bear-faced – conveniently & regularly brought to my table by the barman – I settled down for what I hoped would be a good night.

—–

Michael Redmond

 Laughs:   Material:    Delivery: 

Dubliner Michael Redmond is in his mid-sixties, but you can’t really tell from this ever-ebullient fella.  His passage as a comedian began in an 80s barrel of deap-pan – well more like corpse-pan – one-liners, which won him a slot on Friday Night Live. It was at that time he created the famous-among-comic-circles ,“a lot of people say to me – get out of my garden”  and “do you ever notice how nervous people get when you follow them up a ladder?”. Stewart Lee writes of the garden joke, retold by Joe Pasquale at the Royal Variety Performanceof 1989 – & Redmond

The joke defines him perfectly as an odd, outsider character and hints at a host of other weird situations as yet unrealised. For once, the audience is made to use its own imagination. There are no clues, or helpful pointers… The everyday phrase, “hey you”, is disrupted and made bizarre by being followed by the unexpected “what are you doing in my garden”. It is, to invoke a now wasted phrase, a moment of pure comic genius. 

Three decades later, Redmond is a looser cannon, chit-chatting along with some terrible jokes which are mystifyingly brilliant. A self-admitted member of the bad-hair brigade, his comedy is something akin to listening to Slovakian humour in translation, but as Redmond himself would say, ‘fair play to ya, it was funny as fuck.‘ The funniest bit for me was when he brought up, as Irish comedians so sardonically do, the potato famine… but adding the disastrous ‘mange-tout’ famine into the mix.

—————-

Julia Sutherland

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery:  

The Gilded Balloon Comedy Night’s are designed to showcase Scotland’s best talent to the wider world at large, & into every session are thrown the staple albacentric gags, such as the Edinburgh-Glasgow rivalry, & the such-like. To a seasoned comedy-watcher, this can drag a little, but if it is treat like a an artistic distinction, then you really can gauge the competence & quality of a comic through the sub-genre. Weegiewoman Julia Sutherland – who only socialises with people who would forgive her – gets a B+ for her role in putting the tourists at ease with her stabby-Glasga quips, including all the females in the audience with titbits such as the H&M mirror gives a you skinnier image. Watching Sutherland is like going on a logflume – an incessant & rapid descent into her comic universe, which twists into fresh material & insights every few seconds.

—————-

Ben Norris

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery: 

And so to the night’s headline act. The guys cool, a possessing a sparkingly bright mind, which combined with his wonderfully witty observations of the familial mundane makes for a damn-fine comedian. A real crowd pleaser, we all burst into laughter as one, as if we were an orchestra who had been tuning up & just hit the note of harmony. Among his many great moments, I loved it when he went through the age demographic of the audience decade-by-decade, warming us all to him  the hypnotic, electric chant of his storytelling voice. Towards the end he began to stutter a little, his chit-chat I’d say not quite as strong as his material, but this guy really is what the quintessetial comedian ought to be

The Mumble:  Hello Paul Vickers, or should I say Mr Twonkey, welcome to Mumble Towers, Now, who the hell is Mr Twonkey?

The Mumble: So which installment in the Twonkeyverse is this, & what other incarnations have their been?

Mr Townkey: This year’s incarnation is Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel, & previously there have been… Twonkey’s Cottage (2010) / Twonkey’s Castle (2011) Twonkey’s Kingdom (2012)  / Twonkey’s Blue Cadabra (2013 – but I was also still performing it in 2014) Twonkey’s Private Restaurant (2014-2015) & Twonkey’s Stinking Bishop (2015). This year, alongside Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel I shall also be performing Twonkey’s Drive-in, Jennifer’s Robot Arm – this one’s actually a play, the second part of a double-bill at the Edinburgh Fringe, at Sweet Venues, where I’ll be doing a play with some actors & myself at quarter past 5, & then at nine o clock in the evening I’ll be doing  Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel, which is my solo show

The Mumble: What is the future for Twonkey?

Mr Twonkey: Well, the future is a series of Fringe performances at the Brighton Fringe, the Wandsworth Fringe, the Museum of Comedy, the Buxton Fringe, the Prague Fringe & then finally ending up at the Edinburgh Fringe – so there’s a lot going on this year, I’ve got a lot more gigs than normal. What I’ve done in the past I’ve sort of flipped between two shows, at the beginning of the year I sometimes perform last year’s show & then later in the year bring in the new show, but this year I’m just gonna go all guns blazing with a completely new show from the off. The idea behind that is that’s its easier – I just need to practice one show & make sure I remember that. The hard thing about it is that I’m in the glare of the lights from the word go – so the first performances of Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel in its entirity will be at the Brighton Fringe, where usually I have perhaps a few more little warm-up gigs beforehand. Although I have been doing little spots here & there, sort of under the radar gigs that I haven’t been telling people about where I’ve been trying out the new material.

The Mumble: So what is this latest incarnation of Twonkey all about?

Mr Twonkey: Well.. the overall storyline of Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel is inspired by retail parks, because, y’know, of an evening I sometimes need things like paint, or a screwdriver, or a drill, that kind of thing, so I make my way up to the local retail park. But when I lived in Marchmont, I didn’t have the convenience of a retail park, so we had to go out of town in cars or on busses. It was when I was sitting in a retail park that I started thinking about Twonkey’s Mumbo Jumbo Hotel. The idea sort of stemmed from the new Frankies & Bennys that was being built at my local retail park. And it made me think about Frankies & Bennys & how they’ve started cropping up all over the place, offering sort of New York Italian food, fast & simple. I looked on Trip Advisor & found big variations in the quality of the stores depending on the management of the individual stores. I started thinking about the idea of the boxes arriving with all the vintage black & white photographs of baseball stars from years gone by, & thinking about how they would erect a store from scratch in the same way they do with McDonalds, where they basic look of the store so they almost look completely identical… & of course there’s also the idea of globalisation – none of which is funny. But then I started thinking about if there was a slightly dilapidated run by me & Chris Hutchinson – who’s is my lead puppet – & it was for some reason not achieving its financial goals. A little bit shoddily run, a bit Fawlty Towers I suppose  – but the idea is its under threat – the bulldozers are gonna come – they’re gonna bulldoze it down & then replace it with a Frankie & Bennys. But what’s happened is that its sort of evolved as a storyline & now its told in Miniature Theatre -so I’ve basically got a little doll’s house, a small one, which is now called The Mumbo Jumbo Hotel, & I’ve got some small figurines & starting to tell the story, essentially, so the story is sort of taking place in another place, which is difficult for me to access, so I talk about the idea that I could, like in Alice of Wonderland, I could drink a magical potion, I could shrink to the size of a needle & then I could drop down a chimney and into a fireplace & then I’d arrive in the lobby of the hotel. A lot of it is like I’m the microscope & the show is the paper, so its a viewing vessel & I use my own head to explore the ideas & the possibilities of the characters inside the miniature object. Its working out rather well. There is a positive message about gay marriage as well, that comes across very strongly towards the end of the show, very strongly. There are also a number of murders that take place during the show, & there’s a few people locked in toilets trying to avoid attacks & difficult questions about accountancy.

The Mumble: What does Mr Twonkey have in common with Paul Vickers?

Mr Twonkey: Well, we’re essentially the same beast, of course, because I am Twonkey. But really, Townley is like me if I was allowed to just be a really imaginative, interesting person all the time. Of course I’m not allowed to be that person all the time, its not fair on people. I need to do other things like work a job & provide people with money.

The Mumble:  What is your favorite Twonkeys?

Mr Twonkey: My favorite Twonkeys is always the one I’m working on, because that’s the one where you have all your current ideas that are fresh & exciting to you obviously. But, you know, in time, when I stop doing Twonkeys, if I ever stop doing Twonkeys, I will be able to work out then which are my favorite ones. I think a big turning point for me was Twonkey’s Blue Cadabra, because that was the year that I got nominated for the Toast Award for best cabaret, & it was quite an explosive kind of year & I think the thing was that was the year I became Mr Twonkey because before that Twonkey had been a little small puppet that was half-dragon, half-witch, & also an accountant, but then she died during Twonkey’s Kingdom – we had her death – so I decided that I would continue the show. Originally it was only supposed to be a trilogy – Twonkey’s Cottage, Castle & Kingdom – & that was supposed to be it – but then of course people liked what I was doing, so I decided I had to continue with it, so I did Twonkey’s Blue Cadabra. So, from Twonkey’s Blue Cadabra onwards its been a slightly different show because I’ve been Mr Twonkey, & I’ve embodied Twonkey’s character, well supposedly. That’s partly to do with the fact that during Twonkey’s Kingdom Twonkey fell off a chair & her arms fell off, & then I tried to pick her up, I dropped her again & smashed her belly open & her legs just went flying.

The Mumble: & finally, what can Twonkey fans look forward to this year?

Mr Twonkey: Well, they can look forward to me trying, as ever, to top the last show. I think the way I’m doing it this time is to have, a sort of build with the tension towards the end. I always like the idea of a show which ends on a sinister note, where you’re left with a lot of questions about what you’ve just experienced, & I think that this show has definitely got that aspect to it. A lot of its about finding a good pace throughout the show, you need to feel like you’ve had your dinner, but also you don’t want people to get bored, so that means keeping it a little bit fizzy & whizzy throughout.

Kings Theatre: Glasgow Comedy Festival

25 March 2016

The Griffin, Glasgow

15th March

 Laughs:   Material:     Delivery:

One-hour Comedy shows are rather like corn sheaves; they are planted in the winter, show their first green shoots in the Spring, start creating the cornbuds in May & are ready for the golden harvest in August. In the same way, comedians will start their Edinburgh Fringe show rolling in March – at the Glasgow Comedy Festival – hone it down Brighton in May & then reveal it to the world at large, fully ripened, at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Gemma Flynn, then, is very much caught in this cycle. Having survived last years ‘madmax dystopia’ of the Fringe, this diminutive delight set to work doing stuff, seeing stuff & picking out the funny stuff in all that stuff. Glimpses of brilliance glittered through a slightly jerky set, not helped by the clumsy use of her applemac in giving us clips of various things from modernity – mainly based upon the Kardashians (?!).

Watching Gemma in full flow is rather like joining her on the couch for a TV chat show. The room was packed, although most seem to have known Gemma, who she included in her patter; which, I must admit, had a really enjoyable & intelligent burr. Gemma is young, & so is her material, but she just kinda has it. As the year progresses, & she gets used to her material, sorting out the wheat from the chaff, come August we’ll all be sucking on her succulent cobs.

Jamie Dalgleish:  Pablo Serski:  Jonny Thomson: Keir McAllister:

This comedy show went down in a popular pub in one of Edinburgh’s most well known streets and the venue itself was small so probably not hard to make it appear busy (I estimated capacity to be about 60-70 seats) but still, as embarrassingly-empty-yet-tiny rooms have proven time and again at the Fringe Festival, it takes a lot more than a small footprint to create a crowd these guys must be doing something right because the place was heaving. No doubt the presence of 2 testosterone-saturated stag parties and 1 gaggle of semi-soused hens added to both the numbers and the atmosphere, all 3 groups becoming the collective butt of many a biting joke throughout the night.

One gets the impression that this comedy night will always deliver the goods and at a fairly reasonable price for a Friday night- yes, there are many cheaper or even free nights out in Edinburgh but they are a bit ‘hit and miss’, at best, whereas the quality here was consistent and the performers obviously racked up a fair few comedy miles on the clock.  Overall, the show was well organised, with loud music pumping out of large speakers helping build the excitement of the crowd, and the room was packed well before the start time. In total, the night lasted around 2.5 hours and was very well spaced out, with 2 decent breaks in between the 3 sets allowing for ingestion or excretion of liquids, according to individual needs- there’s even time for both, if you’re quick…nothing more annoying than racing out and back again, only to find that the show has already started and you get picked on for the rest of the night by a scathing comedian looking for an easy target.

—
The compere, Rick Molland, was animated, sharp as a razor and flashed his sardonic smile often, which made him likeable (when he was looking at anyone else) but somewhat frightening (when his beady eye was leveled near a defenceless review writer). His style was tough, fast and decidedly un-PC so if you like your comedy sugar-coated then please stay home with a cup of cocoa and a slanket because he pulls no punches and will push the boundaries of what is considered savoury, as one poor, unsuspecting father-of-the-bride found out…I’m still cringing at the memory of it! His comic timing was excellent, as was his ability to constantly engage the audience and keep the pace trotting along nicely but this comes as no surprise since he is one of the most in demand comperes around, with extensive experience working at The stand, Breakneck Comedy and The Beehive. He has also gigged at T in The Park, Wickerman and Rockness festivals, and was runner up in the 2010 Scottish Comedy of the Year (despite being a Scouser) and makes his own films, to boot.

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery: 

 Act 1 was Jamie Dalgleish, a wee Weegie with a winning smile and winning record- he was Scottish Comedian of the Year 2011. His comedy had a heavy slant on Glasgow life and Scottish stereotypes- think alcoholism and a staple diet of frozen breed- and he touched heavily on the class cliches that are so often completely true. His chat was cheeky, sweet and raised giggles throughout but did not lead to side-splitting laughter- my lasting impression is of someone who has heaps of potential and the ability to win friends with no effort but who needs to be braver and, frankly, meaner- I imagined, expected and wanted him to soften us all up to then deliver a killer line that would make the audience scream with glee and horror but it never came and there is definitely space for it. Come on, Jamie, find your dark side, it’s in there somewhere!

Pablo Serski

–

–

 Laughs:   Material:   Delivery:  

 –

Next up was Pablo Serski, a relatively new name on the scene but one who has garnered much attention.  His name conjured images of a huge Russian wrestler and, although a foot smaller than the image I’d created, he was pretty fierce nonetheless.  His jokes were fast, fluid and some really rather brutal (Frankie Boyle styley).  His material made all sorts of references to recent current events, from ice-creams and ISIS, to life in Glasgow, crude references to the reality of married life, working for Scottish Gas and a Lost Prophets joke that was…just…er…let’s move on now, shall we!  He is a confident performer that oozes intelligence but be prepared for a few sharp intakes of breath at his material- then again, what’s comedy for if not to make us laugh and then be shocked that we did?!

 Laughs:    Material:   Delivery:  

Jonny Thomson was third and very different to the others, a loveable, lanky bloke who has one of those faces that just makes you laugh instantly (and I mean that in the nicest possible way).  His expressive features had us in stitches more than once and, after the audience members being mercilessly targeted by the compere already, it was a sigh of relief to sit back and enjoy his calm yet entertaining observations about the little things in life.  He has a real knack for pointing out the obvious and making it seem very, very funny, with a particular focus on awkward and ridiculous social situations that we’ve all experienced (you know the ones- someone sits right next to you on the bus despite there being 50 other empty seats…cringeworthy but oh so real!).  His style is quirky and unique, and his gentle humour reminds us that jokes don’t always have to go for the jugular in order to be funny.  If the show were a meal he would be the soothing sorbet between the heavy courses.

–

 Laughs:    Material:   Delivery:  

–

The headline 4^th act was Keir McAllister, a well known face on the Edinburgh comedy scene but one who burst forth out of absolutely nowhere and was a winner from the start.  After a real-life stint as a born-again Christian he decided to change tack completely over a decade ago and entered a Jongleurs competition in Dundee, only to find himself the winner of both that and the next heat, in Glasgow, then found himself thrust into the limelight at the final in London (at the famous Criterion Cafe with hosts such as Jasper Carrott) where he came second.  He has since had his ups and downs but has been a stalwart on the scene.  His material ranged from the mundane to the ridiculous, with great audience interaction and banter, and covered all manner of things from sex to jogging to Scottish truisms, perfectly timing his swings between pure, Meldrewesque grumpiness and bright, boyish charm.

Eden Court, Inverness

1st February 2016

Material  Delivery   Laughs

Not to be confused with the Boston University student residence, Rich Hall is a familiar face to anyone who watches panel TV shows like QI, Have I got news for you, 8 out 10 cats and many  more. However as with many comedians his TV appearances do not give justice to how, funny and dark he really is.

A brash and unapologetic American he has much affection for the UK and this comes across in his comedy. Like an angry firecracker he was straight into a tirade of profanities and blues guitar, his jokes came out like bullets of side achingly funny observations and super sharp jibes. The audience immediately took to him and there was absolute hysterical laughter coming from all round the theatre.

Although his style is that of an angry man (he is apparently the inspiration for Mo in the Simpsons) he certainly is not that at all and he takes great joy in his art. His ability to make up hilarious lyrics on the spot is also quite amazing.

His act consists of many parts, he tells straight stand up, then improvises a song, he has strong observational humour and sharp wit and he jumps between these styles with the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD. At some points he is so fast that you find yourself lost in laughter, in his story telling he dances along boundaries of political correctness before crashing head first over it with devastating effect. Rich is obviously a savvy and astute observer and showed this throughout his observations on the American and British political scenes, but even when talking about more complex subjects he never excludes the audience.

Overall it was a brilliant night in an excellent venue and a great time was had by all.

Certainly for an adult audience Rich Hall is one of the funniest acts you can see live.  Rich is next taking his show to Shetland, Kirkwall, Ullapool, Skye and Forres and if you can go just go!

Reviewer : Stewart Tonkin

Hot Bed

Opium Bar @ The Cowgate

28.01.16 

Planet Caramel – a duo, with a guy who keeps following them about to all their gigs and endlessly writing himself into their sketches.

Imagine a man who looks like a cross between Lois Theroux and Frankie Boyle, performing with another man who looks like the love child of Orlando Bloom and Tim Minchin, then imagine watching them bulling a man, who can only really be described as a Crazy Wee Bear. Well, thats basically Planet Caramel. The trio took us on a journey through around ten, creative, slightly abstract and at times, pretty funny sketches. All lasting between thirty-seconds, to a minute and a half long. The pace was good and it suited the material well. Down lights signified the end of each sketch and on one occasion, they even managed to pull off a punchline which was essentially a sound effect, and actually got a really good laugh from the crowd.  About 46 heads were in the house, mostly students, but a couple of mature audience members made it out too.

The introduction was an explosion of ridiculousness, not ever quite reaching hilarious, but certainly lubricating the comedy chords, ready for a good giggle further on in the show.  The guys used lots of props, some insinuation and played on literal meaning, to execute punch lines and I enjoyed the variety a lot. The nervous paper aeroplane, the drums and the back gammon gags were my favourite; I think the audience agreed too. A theme of Robert Burns ran loosely throughout and a lot of gags could be particularly appreciated by 90’s kids.

The next act was made up of two guys and a girl. The entire audience had been well prepped for the style of comedy by this time and everyone was in the correct mood. It’s a difficult thing to warm up a bunch of strangers, mid week, on a windy and wet as shit evening in January. Watching the second trio was like being a fly on the wall in a typical student flat, and watching them do their housework on ketamine. They made a good gag at the start which made reference to the venue, and they performed throughout with good comedic timing and annunciation. They had great body language techniques for delivering insinuated lines which all built towards the punch line, and also used a change of props to signify a sketch change, instead of lights, making for a very dynamic performance. The material content was nothing short of brilliant, just when you think it was getting grown up, it didn’t. They played friends we all have and don’t need when sharing advice, they did a rather “Christmas in Holland” type homage to an international treasure; which was either gonna make or break them, but luckily they pulled it off well and got many laughs. And I have to say, their Taggart style sketch was excellent. Listening to them was like watching the cast of Made In Chelsea preform Trainspotting. So funny! And the Africa sketch had my eyes on the verge of precipitation. Was almost sad it ended, but by now it was time for the interval. Usually I notice these things, because I am not great at sitting still for very long, but I have to say, I was being so well entertained that I barely noticed the chair on my bum.

Post drink and loo break, I took to my seat and my notebook, for round two.

We were warmed up again with more by Planet Caramel, which was actually much better than their first slot, especially since “Frankie Theroux” had relaxed somewhat and was a bit less awkward on stage. They had asked the audience to write a short sketch of 8 lines or less for them to preform after the break. It actually went quiet well, with one joke getting good laughs all round. Another actually tickled the “Crazy Wee Bear” a lot, and I personally got a lot of enjoyment out of watching him have a proper wee giggle to himself of stage. They went back to doing a couple of sketches before introducing the final act. Tea in a tiny lift gave me emotions of meeting my mother-in-law for the first time. But, my favourite was the Italian sketch, particularly as my partner whom was with me, is Italian. I was doing “Tiny Hands” at him for the rest of the evening. I may get years of enjoyment from that joke, so thank you very much Planet Caramel. Shortly after, the next and final act were introduced, The Twins.

The Twins were compered by a pair of really annoying Scouser’s who were dressed like a pair of 18th Century hippies. Anyway, they were annoying me so much, I decided to take another toilet break. Even my bladder agreed we needed a prompt excuse to leave. If there is one thing that gets my goat, it’s when a compere pre-emptively apologises on behalf of the act. Piss off if you think it’s gonna be shite, why the hell I’m I gonna want to stay now?  So, anyway, you can imagine my disappointment when the lights dipped and lifted again to reveal the final act, was in fact the same two people, minus the outfits. My heart sank as I checked the time. Shit, I thought.

But then something happened. The twins, Jack and Annie started being themselves, and oh my god, they were absolutely hilarious. I mean, at times I was doing that laugh thing where no noise comes out but your nostrils are just flaring at 60mph. They had me absolutely decked. They were doing classic twin jokes, but you know, one is a tall bloke and the other a tiny wifey, so that was pretty funny, but actually what made them wasn’t their material as such, it was their chemistry. Their ability to banter ad-lib at an incredibly high speed, and finish each others sentences with a flow that makes their communication seem subliminal, all made the comedic timing seem well practiced and professional, but actually, as a sibling myself, I realise that biological chemistry can just come naturally like that for siblings who get on well. These two used it to their advantage well on the stage. They made you want an invite to their family’s house for Christmas, in no time at all, and soon you felt like you were less watching a show in a club, and more listening to a conversation between siblings over the phone, when they think no one else is listening. It gets weird as fuck, but what comes over is how normal that is. I loved the way they gave fast response banter to the audience, it’s different to observational comedy, it makes you feel like one of their pals, rather than a subject source for them to create material on. Party in America made me lose my shit. I remember talking like that with my sister when we kids after watching some American crap on telly, and the nostalgia made it seem even funnier. These guys nailed it.

Planet Caramel came back on to wrap up the show, finishing with Babadook Dave, played by the “Crazy Wee Bear”. I actually nearly had too much fun at this show. Totally wanted more. For £2, go and see them when they are back in Edinburgh on 25th Feb / 31st Mar. They should be charging more.

Reviewer : Bobbi McKenzie