This review is not representative of my experience of seeing The Cowards or, I think, of the audience's experience of it. Everyone seemed to love it. Yes, the sketches are formulaic, but so is the majority of successful comedy. I think The Cowards are doing something new and very gracefully executed too, with flashes of real genius (the only thing that this reviewer picked up on, but in my opinion made the show worth the ticket price). It was a very satisfying Edinburgh experience compared to alot of the dross you might well stumble upon, so don't be misled
Ben, September 2006
Mark Watson, no. How very noble that you agree with 95% of Chortle reviews but sadly not this one. Well I happen to agree wholeheartedly with it. Agreed, the Cowards are competent actors, especially Tim Key and Tom (the others are more average, which is maybe why they very notably don't get much to do), and the direction is pacy and theatrical. But that doesn't make a trailblazing sketch show, nor (gauging from the audience reaction the night I was in) a laugh-out-loud one. Cos that's the surely the point. For "quiet brilliance" read "doesn't make you laugh very much". Pinpointing the annoying way blokes talk to each other again and again doesn't to me show much imagination. It's samey, mean-spirited, and lacks any joy or warmth. And it's been done endlessly! Some sketches were a little bit better, such as the Winnie the Pooh one, but come on!- they rely on big obvious reveals which are the hallmarks of the trad "black out" sketch comedy that Mark Watson obviously hates so much (I wish I'd gone to these Terrible Six Shows he mentions, they sound fun). Can we all stop being pseudy for a second and call this what it is, a slickly rehearsed piece of cynical fluff. Will still go back next year, hopefully someone will have written some jokes.
James, August 2006
55 minutes of high quality sketches. Well paced and beautifully performed. Weird yet poignant. Well observed yet unobvious. Clever yet laugh-out-loud funny. Cowards made me happy.
Clara, August 2006
It seems redundant to argue against the review after Mark Watson's eloquent comments below, so I will merely say why I loved this show. For years I'd felt that sketch comedy had gone about as far as it could go. All sketch shows, even the good ones, seemed to be cut from the same cloth. So Cowards surprised me. It's managed to do something genuinely new with a tired genre. To my mind this is because it has concentrated it's innovation on the content and not the form. Python and Q may have radically changed sketch structure, but Cowards changes the very language of sketches. It is the first minimalist sketch show. The laughs, by and large, come from minutely observed detail - such awareness of subtle tics and gestures that it makes you aware of quite how widely the 'beautifully detailed observation' tag is misused in reviews for other performers - and the script sings with a love of language that is almost Pinteresque in its quirkiness. Cowards don't need to get their laughs from grotesques or catchphrases or crudity or gross out, they get their laughs through understatement, warmth, naturalism and sheer wit. A stunning show with effortless charm.
John Dorney, August 2006
I think that the reviewer has this pretty spot on. The guys seem nice, inoffensive and quite dull and have, to a great extent, forgotten to actually entertain the audience. Bit disappointed by Radio 4's lack of original thought. The fat one has quite a funny face though
Sketchistheway, August 2006
I agree with about 95% of Chortle's reviews, at the Fringe and away from it, but I'm amazed by this one. I know I'm not alone in considering Cowards to be by some way the best show of its kind at the Fringe, and the most refreshing addition to Radio 4's roster in years. Every Fringe there are so many lazy sketch shows with 'what if Tony Blair met James Blunt at a speed-dating night'-type premises. We've all seen these people with their howlingly obvious 'crowd-pleasing' gag and blackout at the end, and their strategy of using each idea exactly three times for that 'please put us on TV' catchphrase appeal. Cowards steer miles clear of all such sketch- show cliches - that is why they've built a cult following and landed a radio show in a very short time. That, and the fact that the script is so laced with quiet brilliance that I imagine you would have different 'favourite bits' if you saw it ten times. I mean, I know reviews are subjective and all that, but it's exasperating to see something as fresh as this being painted as some kind of reactionary Python-lite when it's actually one of the most original takes on the sketch show since those gentlemen. Especially when there ARE people at the Fringe claiming to be 'alternative', while doing versions of pop songs with the words changed to ridicule George Bush. I can name six shows which would be nicely suited to the review Mr Love has written. But not this one. Radio is just the start for Cowards; I reckon this reviewer will end up feeling like those hapless A+R men you read about who turned down famous bands.
