The Boom Jennies: Shindig

Not a Y-chromosome in sight. The Boom Jennies—comprised of performers Anna Emerson, Lizzie Bates and Catriona Knox—are merchants of quirky, bite-size sketches that buzz with idiosyncrasy and display a keen eye for the comedic element of acute social awkwardness. They have recently been heard to profess a desire to make the careerist jump to television, and there's an air of confidence about their performance that will serve them well in this regard.

Despite the lack of any genuine, 24-carat moments of hilarity, the laughs are consistent and each sketch inevitably has a wicked sting in the tail. Viewers of Reno 911 will be familiar with this modus operandi. The material is admirably diverse considering the sparsity of the props, and the fact that there are no costume changes beyond a makeshift jellyfish outfit one character dons for a funeral.

The performers pitch between saccharine ignorance and a thoughtless honesty, and much of the humour is derived from the social tensions this creates. The sketches that deal with darker material—such as the aforementioned funeral fashion blunder—sometimes lapse into an area that's more macabre than cringe-worthy, although the uncertain tone that this creates is never more than fleeting.

The impetus to push boundaries is more or less ubiquitous at the Fringe this year, and it is refreshing when comedy works outside of this dynamic. As such, The Boom Jennies' best moments come in light-hearted moments of abject silliness. Luckily, there are plenty of these.