Cardinal Burns, Double Act 06/12/14 4OD
After first seeing this sketch act perform a hilarious show at Edinburgh Fringe, I had to see their impeccable character comedy on 4OD.
Banksy is a character to remember, taking our cultural expectations and turning them on their head.
Bad Robots, By Ben Spiteri 06/12/14 4OD
Loved the prank in Bournemouth with the two 'Ride the Dinosaur' machines; The mother puts her daughter on the alternate one which works, then stops working when she places her on it. Such a simple idea, to take small technologies and mess with them, but very funny.
As writer Ben Spiteri explains;
“It’s like a hidden camera show mixed with a sketch show. A lot of our stuff isn’t horrendously mean. We are preying on natural frustration of self-automated equipment that companies want to make."
Other memorable ones included the intelligent Pub Quiz machine (where they made them think they'd won but fooled them at the last minute), my all time favourite being the Photobooth (making them stand on the seat and producing warped, cartoon versions of their faces.
Life: Ryan and James Comedy Sketch Show, Bournemouth University 05/12/14
After the unnecessary blind-folding of the audience, which Ryan insisted was integral to the show (and it wasn't - Paying for entry in the form of root vegetables rather than money was a good idea though, they're definitely going to have a good Christmas dinner), the show began, and was a pleasant surprise.
Despite too many long pauses, and many sketches having a lack of direction, there were some very funny moments they could have capitalised on more; The 'We've Had Every Conversation' sketch, where two blokes meet in a pub garden and realise they've said everything was my favourite - it builds so much on that socially awkward notion of being stuck for what to say, which was heightened by the Beckett/Pinteresque pauses this duo seem to rely on so heavily. At a deeper level it may also have been inspired by Life's bleakness in relation to the shows title theme, but I digress.
The desert island sketch, though also too long, was also memorable; When James made the suggestion to resort to Cannibalism, it gave the sketch dark humour twist and some kind of resolution, which others were perhaps lacking. Take the 'Shop' sketch series, where though the repetition of the James (The Shopkeeper's) directness "This is a Flower Shop/Barbers/Airport" was a good stylistic gag, it lost direction - there was something missing. It had set something good up, only to kill it in a minimalist way which both smacked of complacency and offered no pay-off or satisfying resolution.
The use of slidehow pics was an inventive way of showing setting, however; such as the pub garden, vinyard, or desert island beach. It's a clear that a lot of thought had gone into the production and the audience experience and that paid off in the end.
My favourite issue of Viz, though only my second so far. Packed full of dirty humour, a memorable article includes; 'Man calls the police after spotting a lion in the woods, but it turns out to be Beegees Singer Barry Gibb having a shit in a bush.'
This Mitchell and Webb Book By Mitchell and Webb