King Of Everything – Fringe 2009
Live Review

What a sloppy, unfinished mess: forgotten lines, fluffed cues, corpsing, sketches that peter out just because they get bored performing them, and obscure in-jokes for the benefit of their comedian mates…

Sorry, I missed out an adjective: What a magnificently sloppy, unfinished mess. Michael Legge and Johnny Candon are experts at arsing about, and this very loose hour lets them do just that.

As an antidote to the many well-polished but soulless shows on the Fringe, this Irish duo look like they’re actually having fun on stage, and happily address the flaws with an impish shrug, as if to say ‘it’s only comedy, it’s not important’. That relaxed spirit of lighthearted fun pervades the whole hour, generating laughs out of nothing.

There are sketches between the banter – and it’s definitely that way around – sometimes inspired, sometimes not. The channelling of a momentary frustration at bad sandwich-bar service into a full-blown sketch mercilessly and meticulously laying into the O’Briens chain is brilliant in its petty revenge, while the childishly silly list of names Vincent Furnier is suggested to adopt for his new glam-rock career proves that Legge could get laughs out of reading out the phone book – if only he was allowed to write it, too.

When it matters, the duo have a finely-tuned sense of timing and skilful way of verbally misdirecting the audience, leading to some genuinely unexpected punchlines, delivered with a killer blow.

A few of the scenes misfire sometimes, though it generally doesn’t matter. Only Fiddlesticks, the parody of the gentle comedian (or ‘twee twat’ as they describe him) really comes a cropper. The barely-disguised Mark Watson caricature will probably baffle anyone not au fait with the comedy circuit, and even then there’s a risk of smugness here that’s thankfully absent from the rest of the show.

Actually, ‘show’ seems a bit of a formal name for what’s essentially an hour of Legge and Candon trying to entertain each other with silly banter. Thankfully, the audience get caught in the crossfire, too.

Michael is one of the funniest comedians in the country. I've seen him about five times now and it's been belly laughs all the way.

Richard Asbury, January 2011

Saw Michael last Friday. He is brilliant-had the whole room roaring with laughter.

Chris Watts, September 2010

Michael just gets better and better

Big Al, August 2005

The recent improv stuff that Michael has been producing is great, he seems to be in his comedy element with the extra risk factor. If you have only seen him compere (which he is also very good at) go and have a look. Very funny and terribly exciting

Tamsyn Payne, January 2004

A funny compere and a sound bloke to boot... Very impressed

Tombola, January 2003

Simply one of the best comperes around

[Anon], June 2001