The Three Englishmen – Ben Cottam, Nick Hall, Jack Hartnell and Tom Hensby – are a comedy group based in London, formed in early 2009.

The Three Englishmen at the 2010 Brighton Fringe
Live Review
Brighton Upstairs At Three and Ten

On the face of it, the Three Englishmen could just be another post-university sketch troupe, slick twentysomething middle-class lads going through the motions of comedy.

But the quartet – oh yes, that’s the first joke right there – have got some sharp comic instincts to match their unquestionably strong performances, and although they sometimes falter, their strike rate is remarkably high for such relative newcomers.

Stylistically, they are not going to rock any boats, although they do tinker a little with what you might expect, performing one sketch in mime, for example, or making a cute musical number out of such an everyday task as making breakfast. But while what they do tends towards the middle of the road, they do execute it very well.

There’s an underlying sweetness to most skits – even one revolving around an Al Qaeda kidnap video. Their affectionate mockery of middle-aged, God-fearing Irishwomen discussing their vacuum cleaners is particularly effective, while a teenager stumbling awkwardly though his French oral exam is given heart and pathos.

Sometimes they over-indulge themselves, the physical humour of their Top Gun spoof isn’t as funny as they think it is, and a couple of scenes outstay their welcome – although for the most part a fair pace is set.

And can sketch groups please stop writing the same sketch three times? A clever callback is one thing, but their scene when a dramatic moment is interrupted by cheesy organ music is not improved by being played out with three different set-ups. On TV such repetition can be infuriating enough, but an hour-long live show doesn’t need to try to establish catchphrases in such a blunt way.

But quibbles aside, there’s a lot to admire here – not least in the stage presence of all involved, which is usually brilliantly professional, but loose enough to let their obvious choking back of giggles only add to the good humour. At times, various of them bring to mind the instant grotesques of Matt Lucas or, surprisingly, the sardonic deadpan of Iain Lee – but they can turn their characters on a penny, so it’s never derivative.

Like so many sketch teams, there’s a bit of work to be done to increase the strike rate, but this charismatic foursome certainly has the raw materials for an impressive future.

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