Review by Corry Shaw

Jacob Edwards and Phil Gilbert have put together a rather charming little hour, alternating between sketches, a double act and a play. Both are decent performers but Gilbert is certainly the straight man to Edwards’s exceptional comic timing and natural eye for what's funny.

The highlights all feature Edwards ad-libbing or gently encouraging Gilbert to corpse, frequently heading off script or playfully pulling faces to lead his partner away from the planned lines and towards something much more entertaining.

There is a narrative running throughout, examining the nature of friendship. The duo play themselves and also their own fathers as Edwards Snr tries to split up the pair, worried about the bad influence Gilbert has on his son. This is even before he finds out that the two lads are planning to get married. It is as contrived and complicated as it sounds and sadly this pair are just don’t write convincingly enough to make it a real treat.

When they stick to what they do best, bouncing off each other and their audience, they are superb. One of the finest sketches was also the most ridiculous and almost endangered the completion of the show, as audience and performers lost themselves to hilarity. Anyone who can reduce a room to hysterical tears for such a long period is certainly one to watch, and it again falls to Edwards to lead the charge. One block of Red Leicester cheese, some beautiful facial expressions and a genuine and obvious joy for his craft sees Edwards reduce the entire room, including Gilbert, to stitches. Absolutely and completely stupid but pure brilliance.

Hopefully this promising pair will strip back to something more simple for their next outing and cut away the needless theatrics to provide a clean, honest sketch show which draws on the talents that are on display here.

Review date: 14 Aug 2010
Reviewed by: Corry Shaw