Review by Steve Bennett

Following in the sensible-shoed footsteps of Mrs Merton, Ronna and Beverly are two mature matriarchal interviewers, disorientating and disarming their subjects with their unabashed directness.

Like Caroline Aherne’s grey-permed creation, they disguise their double-edged comments as concern; although theirs is certainly a more barbed approach. For rather than being sweet old pensioners, they are archetypal meddling Jewish mothers, queens of the passive-aggressive putdown.

Their guests are substitute sons for them to simultaneously fuss over and be disappointed by. And since they are inevitably drawn from showbusiness – tonight’s was Royal Court actor Daniel Ryan – there are plenty of wellbeing issues to fret about. The pair have attracted an enviable A-list to their good-natured humiliations, too. In Los Angeles, where they are usually based, Matthew Perry, Will Arnett and Russell Brand have sat in the hotseat.

Although perhaps without the perfectly judged one-liners of Mrs Merton, the talk show element is clearly the most entertaining segment of an hour that also includes more general character comedy as the straight-talking busybodies – the creations of thirtysomething comedians Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo – hawk their self-help book for the newly divorced, You’ll Do A Little Better Next Time.

As they dole out unwanted advice and bitch about the characters in their self-contained world, unable to disguise their prejudice, their onstage banter seems largely ad libbed. If it is scripted they’ve certainly hidden it behind a naturalistic performance, talking over each other and occassionally meandering off-topic. Like a lot of improv, it’s an uneven show in which you can never quite be sure when the jokes are coming, or from where. But when the laughs do explode – which the do – they come from convincing characters rather than a well-honed punchline.

They Kvetch and bicker in a shrill manner, that can be irritating, but can also conjure up the spirit of Joan Rivers as they deliver a dismissive but sharp insult. Elsewhere there are les fruitful character-establishing routines about them being obsessed by the Jersey Boys musical, getting all knowledge of the world from Yahoo news headlines, or talking out of turn about an unwelcome house guest.

But this is a show that’s more about the overall shtick, rather than specific gags or routines; and in that spirit Chaffin an Denbo have created a pair of credible, yet comically exaggerated, characters with tongues of sharpened steel.

Review date: 10 May 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Brighton Otherplace at Bar Broadway