Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen

New York comedy pairing Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords, The Daily Show) and Kurt Braunohler make an admirable but not entirely successful attempt to revive the variety format with their mix of standup, singing, sketches and puppetry (of a sort).

The two play their respective personas well: Kurt—repulsive but also creepily charming—and addled, childish Kristen combine for the sort of odd, socially awkward couple you might expect to live in some remote corner of middle America with a nasty secret hidden in their freezer.

There are small number of brilliant gags that show a very deep love for and understanding of comedy – chief among them a meta-joke in which Kristen appears on stage dressed head-to-toe in pink rubber; or a chain smoking whoopee cushion full of bitterness and bile at being overtaken by more modern, sophisticated pranks as the years have gone by.

A pseudo-puppetry act in which Kurt manipulates a manic puppet Kristen is another highlight, but apart from this, there isn't really much else to comment, and what would have been a tight 40 minutes drags horribly into an interminable, arse-numbing 85. The gaps between the different segments are filled with cheesy musical numbers from the musically but not comedically talented Adira Amram, who manages to sing for what seems considerably more than five minutes about her "tiny vagina".

This really is Marmite entertainment: some of the audience are doubled-up with laughter throughout while many others remain completely unmoved and at £15, it probably isn't worth the risk to find out which you might be.