Just when it seems as if sketch comedy might be a dying art, along comes Crybabies to give it the kiss of life. This youthful trio’s first show, Danger Brigade, picked up an Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nomination last summer and, now transferred to Soho, as calling cards go, their debut definitely makes its mark.
It is not subtle though. In what is effectively one extended fast-paced sketch masquerading as a spoof Second World War spy mission, James Gault, Michael Clarke and Ed Jones take on a plethora of characters from a cleaner in love with his mop (Gault) to sentimental football fanatic (Clarke) to an entire parade ground of British officers (Jones).
Somewhere along the way there is an undercover mission to Germany, stopping off en route at subterranean Berlin club the Wine Bar Republic (“Dress code: Nazi”). The flimsiest of plots allows scope for songs, dances and gratuitous absurdist humour. The writing is efficient but it’s the chemistry between the threesome and their contrasting funny bones that keeps the laughs flowing. Gault is pipe-cleaner thin, baby-faced Clarke is the high-energy linchpin and Jones has the type of malleable face that can be dashing matinee-idol handsome one moment, grotesquely saturnine the next.
There is a loose, cheap-props ambience of an end-of-term revue yet at the same time their show is clearly tightly scripted and precision-tooled. It feels traditional rather than genre-busting, though it would be churlish to pick holes in such exuberant performances.
Are Crybabies the future of sketch comedy? Not necessarily, but they are a welcome reminder that the format can be thoroughly entertaining. And we will certainly be seeing more of them.
Don’t go looking for subtext in Danger Brigade. Just revel in the sheer silliness. Mission accomplished.
Until Saturday January 11 (sohotheatre.com)
