Review by Lorelei Mathias at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Calm Tessa Ryan is the ‘The Hammer’, while sprightly Kimberly is the ‘Tongs’. Together they offer a varied and colourful mix of characters. They work the room and aren’t afraid to get up close to the punters. If they’re not clambering over the seats, they’re throwing food at the audience, or squirting water at them in the inexplicable ‘Mamma Drips’ skit.

The hour begins with a Siri-style automated voice singing a ditty about dating, which is funny despite the continuous R & B music seeping through the walls from the adjacent DJ booth. The girls do an admirable job of fighting through this unfortunate sound bleed. Props to them for that – but sadly technical hitches aren’t Hammer & Tongs’ biggest problem.

As a whole, they are far, far too reliant on puns, some of them groansome. At one point, one character comments on how many puns they are dropping, and suggest they could find a place sketch show. Sadly, a postmodern pun is still a pun, and while it might read as witty on the page, in this context it lacks the dramatic prowess needed to move an audience to laughter. 

Some scenes work well, from the satirical song about feminism and activism, to the surreal advert for a brand called La Porchetta, in which they throw dry pasta into the audience. The doctor’s surgery scene, though baggy and laboured in places, has well-observed performances, and a funny premise, but it has an ending beyond obscurity that doesn’t quite land.

The fake adverts are amusing enough, and make a welcome audio-visual break, as do the two isolated PowerPoint ‘Crime-Stoppers’ slides, The second slide about endometriosis is much more successful than the first about politician Pauline Hanson who, halfway into the festival is beginning to feel hack.

Some of the characters are enjoyable to watch, but none of them knock you sideways with 'oh my god! I can so relate to this!' insights. Barb and her sidekick discuss Ajax, Mornington Peninsula and eczema. The sketch about a Russian character, Elina has a good twist at the end. Ken the Farmer is well-acted, but nothing about his right-wing attitudes towards gay marriage are in any way surprising.

The absolute highlight though, comes towards the end, in Lisle’s one-hander about a girls’ night out playing pool being sabotaged by a sleazy, misogynist letch. Her acting is impeccably timed with the sound effects. Lisle owns the stage as she mimes hitting balls on the pool table, skilfully reacting to a disembodied voice in a way reminiscent of Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

As her sexist pursuer tries in vain to woo her and then turns abusive, we can picture him entirely. We’ve all met douchebags like him. This well observed and cleverly executed sketch stands out like a Belisha beacon compared to the rest of the hour. 

This sketch duo have energy and potential – they just need to take a hammer to the puns and the clichés, and explore more inventive stuff like this.

Review date: 16 Apr 2017
Reviewed by: Lorelei Mathias