Original Review:

Show Rating:

It's easy to see why powerful comedy agent Avalon snapped up the unknown Colin and Fergus so quickly, bundling them up to Edinburgh for this assured, promising debut.

This frisky duo offer an appealing package of quirky, silly and energetic comedy, with just enough of an original twist on the sketch-based double act to feel fresh, even sexy, and certainly very easy to market.

Their publicity tries to play up the mystique of their onstage relationship - "Are they lovers, or are they brothers?" but either, or neither, way their interaction with each other and the audience is warm and appealing. They seem, in short, to be nice young men, despite the false arrogance they sometimes adopt.

All that's really missing is a wider range of inspiration for their material. They haven't quite lived enough, so sketches tend to focus on universal themes like religion. And there's rather too much on acting lessons, theatre in education, the five types of drama and the production of government advice videos that all-too blatantly suggests they're probably not long out of stage school. That said, their take on the needy insecurities of a partner forever fearful of being dumped is superlative.

But whatever topics they chose, they execute with style and distinction, with a natural ease in the spotlight that enables them to get into silly pantomimed dances or mimes without a hint of selfconscious restraint.

It's a fun, enjoyable hour, carried by the pair's innate good nature, tinged with cheekiness. This may be the first time the comedy world's herd their names, but it surely won't be the last.