Show Rating:

Hopkins and Glover make an assured Edinburgh debut with this smart, skilful and witty collection of characters and sketches.

Each of them is a warm, natural performer, capable of grasping the intangible aspects of a character that makes them inherently funny, rather than driving their show by punchlines, catchphrases or anything too obvious or formulaic.

Their creations, all expertly played, include a lascivious French folk singer, Jesus Christ returning as a cocky Cockney or the annoying middle-class hippy traveller whose only adjectives are 'spiritual' and 'a-mazing'.

Some are more subtle, and work the better for it. In place of sitcom's traditional wacky neighbour, Richard Glover's is agitated and suicidal ­ and may or may not have murdered his cuckolding wife. Yet still the audience feel sorry for him, so professional is the performance. Similarly endearing is Charles 'Big Face' Davis, a man painfully shy and gauche in front of an audience ­ until he's brought out of his shell in an hilariously daft finale.

A couple of sketches relying more on the traditional double-act dynamic work well, too, and a ridiculous police interrogation in which each hard-hitting question and defiant reply is a tongue-twister is an instant, memorable, classic.

While the hour is sometimes more impressive than laugh-out-loud funny, the pair have captured a distinct, classy atmosphere, with a sly, obtuse wit influencing their writing.

There may not be quite enough to excite in The Men Who, but there's certainly enough to entertain ­ and to suggest a promising future for such an obviously talented duo.