Original Review:

Show Rating:

Sketches often deal in stereotypes in order to establish a point quickly, and lacking a cast list I have to do the same here with the Tall Posh Baldy One, the Bearded Oik, the Silver Haired But Boyish One and two under-used gals, the pretty dark one and pretty fair one.

The writers and performers clearly love their comedy and their influences are frequently apparent. Starting off with a newspaper vendors sketch in a battle of the cries of London where each vendor outdoes the other in extreme headlines (printed) as their sales pitch becomes less articulated and more territorial. The funniest bits are the headlines. They move into the familiar ground of the Mastermind pastiche, with Posh Baldy One making a good fist of quizmaster and Silver Hair taking the questions. It's all very well but having just caught the 50 Best Sketches on Channel 4 a couple of weeks ago, it really reminds me how damn good the Two Ronnies were at this kind of thing. It's not to say nobody else should try a Mastermind sketch, but a very high benchmark has been set.

We then have the inane conversation sketch, with three gormless blokes in brown overalls (removal men? Store room keepers? Morecambe and Wise could tell you, maybe Mel and Griff) where the humour is extracted form the pompous bullying ignorance of two against one. There we had Posh playing rough and then to show they're all a bit versatile, Oik does yacht club vowels in the next sketch. Back into Two Ronnies territory for a moment , where the uncompleted sentences in no way interrupt the flow of conversation. Then blow me down if we don't get some Silly Walks courtesy of Posh Baldy One's comically bad dancing.

Jambalaya cover the well trodden routes into sketches via restaurants, inappropriate sports commentary manners in social situations, news reports on nursery rhyme events, meaningless office jargon, man at end of tether, buying porn not being the most embarrassing thing you ask for in a newsagent, cop-show argot and discomfiting the vicar.

Their enthusiasm is not in doubt . This lot are not wet-behind-the ears students ­ they probably have a generous decade on most university sketch troupes - but seem to be very new at the business. When they use material that is likely to be drawn from their own experience rather than reflecting their observations of others they are at their most successful. There is modest fun to be had here.

 Julia Chamberlain