comedy review

Friends Of Old Joe

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The programme states quite clearly that this show is "guaranteed to entertain". I am now looking for a refund. The two most important things that improvisational comedy needs to be successful are a quick wit and a notion of what is funny; the improvisers comprising 'Friends of Old Joe' demonstrated neither. The first "warm-up" game involved the performers solving random crises with equally random objects. In practice this consisted of little more than reading out words from pieces of paper, looking bemused, then repeating them more slowly and expecting a laugh. The main feature of the hour is an extended, improvised play. While the attempt to draw some disparate, improvised sketches together into a larger narrative was brave, it most certainly was not funny.

Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House, dates vary, 10.10pm (11.10pm), £7.00 (£5.00), fpp 52

tw rating: 2/5

published: Aug-2008

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