Bad Bread: TV Times at Brighton Fringe 2011
Live Review
Brighton Marlborough Theatre

Bad Bread are the sort of comedy trio you really want to like; they are affable performers especially off-the-cuff when they have to cover various line-learning and technical screw-ups. But the writing, though occasionally inspired, largely produces the sort of sketches that generate a faint grin and a polite smattering of applause, rather than anything more satisfying. The unavoidable conclusion is they can’t yet cut it – no bread pun intended.

The loose premise here is that these three pleasant young men are pitching for their own TV show, so showcasing their talents in various parodies. However tongue-in-cheek their appeals to imaginary TV producers might be, you suspect there’s some truth in their naked ambition. If so, they might want to readjust their sights for the moment.

Too often their ideas seem formulaic: What if you could take your baby back to the shop for an upgrade, like a phone or iPad? What if Bob The Builder were played out as an adult kitchen-sink drama? What if you went out with a Sun headliner-writer who only spoke in tabloidese? And, look, here’s another Injury Lawyers 4U style parody.

These are probably the weakest examples, and sometimes the finished sketch is much better than their inspiration, such as their Tarantino-directed episode of the Teletubbies; or the anthropomorphism of monopoly pieces or even potatoes. However, one problem of the format they’ve chosen – in which they move thematically through genres – means that similar sketches end up sit next to each other, robbing some of the element of surprise.

But even with their strongest sketches, there’s little sense of identity. They might be reasonably funny. but could be the product of any of the myriad of sketch groups who have chance their arm at Edinburgh in the past 15 years. In today’s crowded comedy marketplace, mere competence is not enough.