Sketch Comedy at the fringe has had a checkered history. It has always garnered a wealth of award nominations, and provided a springboard for an astonishing number of great comics, mainly from the footlights, but let's not forget Beyond the Fringe and (more recently) Cowards. But as the fringe has grown, the largest arts festival in the world by god, the sketch scene has become inundated with smug student revues and crude amateurs. There remains a super-league of top sketch troupes pushing for greater recognition and becoming fringe favourites, of whom the most obvious two are The Penny Dreadfuls and the "self-styled penny brilliants", Pappy's. These two have established themselves as firm festival favourites over the past few years, and deadly rivals. The Penny Dreadfuls have shed the elaborate comedy play format, and the victorian melodrama that made them famous, in favour of snazzy blackyellow outfits and a sleek, traditional sketch medley boasting a modern feel. Happily they have lost none of the sharp writing and tremendous comic acting which characterised Aeneas Faversham and The Never Man, and the laughs fly thick and fast. A big entrance is not over-long and a brilliant parody of driving movies swiftly follows, and a cascade of parody, pop culture and manic originality continues to the end. Their ability to create characters convincingly and instantaneously is what earned them the place in the pleasance one in the first place, and they merit it yet. If they are to be criticised, it must be said that the shows polished edges have curbed the spontaneity of the former Improv team. But if you are looking for off the cuff additions, look no further than the revamped Pappy's. Having picked up a host of five star reviews and all the plaudits last year, Pappy's Fun Club had earned themselves an E4 pilot and looked to be flying high. But their brand of comedy was never right for that sort of telly, and the pilot was dire. After weighty re-examination, Brendan Dodds left the group, taking two words of their name as a divorce settlement, and now Pappy's claim to be All Business in their new show. Fans will be relieved to know that their shambolic, maniacal brilliance has only intensified, and that their show is more spontaneous and changing than ever. Tom, Ben and Matthew sing, riff and joke without cease for the whole hour, bringing joy to the children's faces- or at least to mine. They are unafraid to mock each other's mistakes and failings on stage, and have some razor sharp comic writing to back them up. Sketches about winning an olympic medal, being crucified, turning up in the same shirt to a party and dealing with abrasive technology are the best examples of how they can tackle everything with peerless comic invention. If you see one sketch show this year, see this.
Penny's 4*
Pappy's 5*
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