Review by Steve Bennett

This is probably the best marketed of all the smaller shows on the festival. For years to come, you’ll see faded, dog-eared stickers across Edinburgh proclaiming ‘This Belongs To Lionel Richie’, troupe member Barry Ferns changed his name by deed poll to match that of the great soul singer, and they’ve got special shows up Arthur’s Seat or round at your flat.

Sadly, the show itself doesn’t live up to the hype, though it has its moments.

Monument-defacing publicity aside, the one thing that does set this show apart is the fact that they’ve got an older cast member. It’s odd that this is unusual, but most groups comprise only people of a similar age – but Lionel Richie features a well-spoken old man called Julian alongside three other thirtyish middle-class men. Why isn’t there more diversity within sketch troupes?

Anyways, Julian (whose existence isn’t acknowledged on the official website, hence no surname) lends some gravitas to the proceedings – which is, of course, ripe for the puncturing. Indeed, they do humiliate this authority figure in various ways in the name of comedy.

It’s a show of two halves, threaded through with Lionel Richie references that aren’t as inherently funny as they seem to think they are. The first half is the most traditional, with shortish sketches based on silly ideas, but performed with poker-faced sincerely. On the whole, they’re inventive enough to provide an unexpected twist, and there’s a reassuring class about the performances.

But they squander all that goodwill in the second half with a patience-sapping brace of tediously long-winded scenarios with such repetitive dialogue that it seems like it’s been written by cut-and-paste. Once we’ve got the joke, there’s no need to keep ramming it home, lads.

The real Lionel Richie had an album called Can’t Slow Down. If only this lot ran their show by that mantra, we’d all be dancing on the ceiling.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett