The Funny Brothers

When one of the eponymous Funny Brothers gets a girlfriend, gets a life and leaves the act, remaining sibling James is left to try and reconstruct their upcoming Fringe show with the assistance of Rhys, a gawky, nervous and improbably gullible stranger. The result is presumably intended to resemble a hilarious disaster. Precisely half of this goal is achieved.

What follows is a variety show without any real variety, where the sketches seem listless, unimaginative and awkward more often than not. In character, James and Rhys are meant to be two stumbling, immature comedians whose lack of finesse is amusing in itself. Unfortunately, their emulation of comedic failure is usually indistinguishable from the real thing. When an extended segue between sketches brings up how badly the show has been doing, assessing its financial despair and measuring their meagre laughs in decibel levels, what should feel self-aware just feels uncomfortably accurate.

The Funny Brothers half-heartedly attempts various styles of comedy, from improv to elaborate running gags, with little rise or fall in general quality. But the nadir is the audience participation segment, which encompasses almost all of the practice's worst habits: punters are dragged on stage, dressed up, forced to read from pre-written lines, and generally used as tools to generate the comedy the Funny Brothers are incapable of producing themselves. The only redeeming factor is that their 'volunteers' are not actively insulted – but that may be because the Funny Brothers cannot take risks with what little audience they have.