What is it about sketch comedy that so often levels out the personalities of some (probably) amusing people? Idiots of Ants are the latest four-man sketch troupe to trouble the higher echelons of comedy. And, while their show is enjoyable enough, there is nothing to distinguish it from similar efforts by, say, The Dutch Elm Conservatoire or The Trap in Edinburghs gone by. Good manners, mild amusement and low-level homoeroticism come as standard, but there is nothing to frighten the horses, or the commissioning editors at Radio 4.
The sense of seen-it-all-before is not helped by the resemblance of the Ants' Yes or Nolan quiz show to Mitchell and Webb's Numberwang, say, or their skit about Only Fools and Horses' Del Boy falling through a bar, on which Stewart Lee based a whole routine last year. Some sketches are so middle-of-the-road, even Punt and Dennis might have thought twice. Witness the scene in which four babies exchange wry observations on adult behaviour.
It is not that old school is inherently bad: one sketch, in which two construction workers are commissioned to build a bridge out of love, is conducted largely in spoken song lyrics, and the wordplay wouldn't shame The Two Ronnies. But the Ants lack the clown appeal of, say, Pappy's Fun Club or We Are Klang. They don't look funny; they have to work at it.
To an extent, they've succeeded. There is a well-constructed retrospective joke about Where's Wally? Another scene, in which a standup comedian (James Wrighton) is haunted by invisible ghosts, is intriguing and surprising - until a subsequent scene boringly demystifies it. We're left with a sketch show that is always capable, but seldom seems remotely distinctive or fresh.
