Review by Steve Bennett

More pub rockers than comedians, Rayguns Look Real Enough serve up a barnstorming selection of top-grade musical mash-ups, interspersed with unspectacular jokes and mediocre banter.

If you need a plot, it’s that Ray Guns (Ryan Beange) and Luke Real (Paul Flannery) are the last remaining members of one of Britain’s biggest stadium-rock bands, now down on their luck, dropped by their record label and forced to play a converted car-park in front of fewer than 50 people.

They still have the spirit of glam rock, though, with Guns spending the hour in a shiny tiger suit – fetchingly designed to reveal his sizeable naked belly – and similarly-themed hat. He thinks he’s feline – albeit a lactose-intolerant feline – while dominant Real tries to puncture his dream with an unwelcome dose of reality.

And that’s about it for their relationship or characterisation. There are a few perfunctory gags here, but the biggest laugh comes from an exchange pretty much nicked from The Beatles: ‘I’m the greatest rapper in the world!’, ‘You’re not even the greatest rapper in this room...’ This precedes a rap battle interlude featuring guest comics – tonight Luke Benson and Kai Humphries – which won’t be giving Jay-Z any sleepless nights.

Still, the banter’s not the selling point, the music is – and for two blokes, one guitar and a tambourine they make a pretty decent noise, although sometimes the lyrics are indistinct, which could be down to them or the acoustics. The way they smash brief refrains together from a diverse range of originals is impressive, too. Black Box segueing to Lady Gaga, to The Kings Of Leon to Cornershop is just one example of a run of covers they can pack together space of a few bars.

It makes for a lively party atmosphere – or as much as can be expected with these audience numbers – and the pair certainly strut around as if they were at Wembley, helping to infuse the atmosphere with energy. It’s great, if unsophisticated fun… just gloss over the comedy.

Review date: 22 Aug 2011
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett