Review by Paul Fleckney

Something of a strange evening down in the Leicester Square Theatre, which has added to its New and Old comedian competitions this test of the up-and-comers on the UK’s sketch scene. We know all about Cardinal Burns, The Pin, Massive Dad, Sheeps, Minor Delays et al, but is there strength in depth?

Sadly, the quality was largely ropey, and won’t do anything to win offer the sketch-sceptic. The acts clearly revelled in the chance to stretch their performance muscles, but as a spectacle – or as comedy – it wasn't good.

Sketchfest – another sketch contest – has similarly been under-furnished in the quality department, but it always seems to throw up a handful of genuinely brilliant acts each year to carry things through. But that was sorely missing from the inaugural LST Sketch Off.

First up was Jasper Cromwell-Jones, a freelance adventurer who likes to flaunt his breeding to the point of having a ‘posh-off’ with someone in the front row. He wins, of course. It feels quite a limited idea, but there is a comic core to this character, and Joe Bor inhabits it completely. Bor is an established writer and stand-up, and it's no coincidence that his was the most polished and complete act, probably the funniest too. Whether in-character stand-up counts as ‘sketch’ is a moot point, though.

Sisters followed, played by Mark Jones and Christy White-Spunner, and trod similar paths to The Pin and Late Night Gimp Fight. Their clever use of University Challenge footage was the high point, between weak material. A short meta-play involving two audience members was messily performed and Sisters showed their inexperience in how to handle them as the woman in particular seemed to get more uncomfortable the longer she was on. It did, however, come to a comically neat conclusion – it seems Sisters are trying to run before they can walk.

Up next was another male double-act, (Lewis) Cook and (Alex) Davies, who present an immediately likeable energy, with a strong connection between them. There's invention, just not especially comedic invention – the opening skit of a job interview between two people with split personality disorders being a prime example. The subsequent sketch was similarly all set-up and no punchline, except for a lovely Guess Who? gag. To finish off they condensed the Lion King into a quirky two-minute version. Again, a feat, if not enormously funny. But there could be potential here, if they get their comic eye in and fulfil the promise of their ideas.

It was five-strong troupe The Jest who eventually won out. They wouldn’t have been my choice, but they certainly had a tightness and professionalism that was lacking elsewhere. They have two full-length Edinburgh shows behind them, and all that stage time has resulted in a pretty slick, fully formed proposition.

The quality of their sketches needs to improve though if they want to break through in the way Gein’s and Daphne have. I enjoyed their vision of a corporatised NHS, but their house-in-a-flight path sketch never really took off (sorry) and Luke Theobald’s impression of Maggie Smith was amusing and memorable but didn’t have the script to match. The comedy striptease is the cheapest gag of them all, and Tristan Rogers didn’t especially have a comic twist to it, though he wasn’t helped by the audience member/victim he picked out, who decided to ostentatiously enjoy it.

Speaking of unfortunate choices of audience member: Jerks. Lee Griffiths and Zara Radford waved goodbye to their set when they pulled onstage a man who had zero interest in playing along, and instead repeatedly stripped half-naked and sprayed food over the front rows. Griffiths, formerly of Gimp Fight, got some good ad-libs out of it, but for all his tightly-scripted sketch experience, working with audience members is a different kettle of fish, and the pair lost control of the situation. Before that, Jerks were a break from the conventional, presenting themselves as couple so smug and besotted that they’d become a single, amorphous blob. Their lines were pretty poor, though, and the novelty wore off, to reveal an act still languishing at the idea stage. Perhaps the intervention wasn’t so disastrous after all …

Dude Looks Like A Lady is an all-female gang with the bombast and snappy repartee of Lady Garden when they burst onto the scene, though their sketches aren’t so strong. I enjoyed the PPI cold caller who gets more than she bargained for – a clever idea that’s well-executed even if it wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny. The conversation about how many kisses to put at the end of a text was well performed but not made any more original for taking place in a gym. Their skit which spoofed how people talk about films was fun and had some lovely touches, but seemed to be based on an observation that I didn’t think was an observation, maybe it was just me … DLLAL did save their best to last, with a simple but effective pearler set in a toilet queue. On another night they could’ve ended up on the podium.

As it was, third-place spot went to Laughing Stock, and they merited it too. They had one of the strongest sketches of the evenin, in the recording session between a wistful folk musician and an egomaniac rapper, and in another, a fight scene using head massagers as weapons was a moment of flair even if it didn't translate into big laughs. What didn't work so well was the mime artist who came with a running commentary (why?) who you couldn't hear anyway over the Michael Jackson track playing. Still, they were dynamic and felt rather like a Massive Dad with a token dude.

Last was a visual bombardment of weirdness, courtesy of Kit Sullivan as the Silent Mmmm. Here's a guy who's had a bowl full of Boosh for breakfast. He also came across as if he's already decided he's a comic genius, although I found his 10-minute set often utterly incoherent, and containing so much over-production and pointless distraction that it had to surely be compensating for a lack of talent. However, little unexpected punchlines and moments of quality peeked through – but the guy badly needs an edit, or a director, or something, for there is talent in there somewhere. That’s why he bagged second place.

Props to Colin Hoult, the MC for the evening who kept things jolly as unhinged luvvie Anna Mann. If anything the night served to show that, of all the skills required to be a funny sketch act – invention, performance skills, chemistry, gags, to name but a few – the ability to ultimately deliver the funnies is so often the last one to develop.

Review date: 13 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett