WitTank

100487 original

Three-man sketch group WitTank have the right early-evening slot for their hour of easy-going comedy, setting you up for the more challenging, intelligent shows later on. It’s a polished act, though, fast-paced and with some immediately funny ideas—a yeti in disguise, a flirtatious duck and what your brain does when being shown someone else's holiday photos—but it's also lightweight, as though the threesome haven’t squeezed every drop of comic potential from their material.

They have some easy targets—posh boys, estate agents—but the guys do often manage to come up with inventive ways of poking fun at them. It’s all quite gentle, though, and a more barbed approach might have set the performers apart, maybe given them a stronger sense of identity among the sea of sketch trios. The sketches’ starting points are often striking, but sometimes seem to run out of steam, and there are a few times when they just stop mid-air.

It’s Mark Cooper-Jones who's the strongest in the show and, although his over the top antics sometimes fall on the wrong side of overacting, he’s charismatic and establishes an immediate rapport with the audience. Naz Osmanoglu has developed versatility this year – whether mumbling as the murderous yeti (who coins the show’s catchphrase) or trying to impress the ladies as a horrific Mexican seducer. Kieran Boyd doesn’t get as much time in the spotlight, but he’s an effective foil for his colleagues' antics. There's few real misses, and plenty of laughs, but by the end it does feels a little bit thin.