G3: The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek

Edinburgh trailer

The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek
Live Review
Soho Theatre

I’m sure that at the time Monty Python’s Flying Circus must have sounded like a terrible moniker for a comedy group, but it’s hard to get excited by the name of this trio, which seems to herald three easy comic stereotypes put together like a boy band.

But, in fact, The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek don’t exhibit much personality at all. That might be helpful when you need a blank canvas to project your characters on to, but it does lead to a generic feel. In a world crowded with enthusiastic young men performing sketch comedy, these three don’t have much of an angle, however high their competence.

And, talking of Python, there are a couple of sketches here that are watered-down versions of their forebears’ 40-year-old scripts, most notably the self-defence instructor who murders his students with a gun. The treatment of Scottish ‘neds’ as the subject of a natural history documentary, complete with David Attenborough-style narration, is equally an idea that’s as old as the hills.

While it can’t be their fault that the concept of the tooth fairy as a burly bloke is the same premise as a new film starring ex-wrestler The Rock – the similarity should perhaps worry them enough to think about not including it any more. Likewise, the sketch about annoying Edinburgh flyerers should probably have stayed at the Fringe, where it might have meant something.

These are a collection of old-fashioned ‘blackout’ sketches, sometimes going for easy laughs about, say, James Blunt, sometimes lazily bad-taste, such as the unthinking scenes about paedophiles or quips about rape; and at one point going blatantly for the ‘eeeugh’ factor – and admittedly getting it, unequivocally.

They have their moments. The sketch about a scarecrow’s unrequited love is fresh and witty, while a drawn-out scene involving a tortoise is amusing for its sheer audacity – though it’s a gag they didn’t need to reprise in a second sketch. That the Little Britain Fallacy, the misguided thought that if an idea’s funny once, it must be twice as funny twice. A couple of other scenes entertain, too.

The three – Graeme Ronnie, Paul Charlton and Kevin O'Loughlin – are decent performers, and the show is very well put-together, setting a cracking pace and gutsy performances. But technical aptitude doesn’t necessarily equal funny, and there’s only limited glimpses of inspiration here that might set them apart from their peers.

They’ve just been signed up by Maverick Management, the same company that represents cult favourites Josie Long and Wil Hodgson, so maybe someone somewhere can see something special. But it’s slickly unexceptional to me.