Telly Visions: A Sketch Show – Review

ELLA ROY enjoys, but is not impressed with, this sketch show.

I do miss watching telly at uni. I miss flipping through endless channels only to settle to watch something as mildly ingenious as ‘Meerkat Manor’, and this sketch show was comfortingly reminiscent of that feeling of watching mindless, pleasantly amusing filler. Witty mockery of television this was not.

There were moments of surprising funniness. Each performer’s strengths were milked for all their worth – Jonathan Beilby’s impersonations were particularly well used. I spent the majority of the show trying to decide whether his Anne Robinson or Alan Carr was funnier. I could also be tempted to concede that Ben Walsh’s Alan Rickman actually stole the show, but Beilby’s diversity was the most impressive.

ELLA ROY enjoys, but is not impressed, with this sketch show.

Haydn Jenkins endearing displays of various hapless dweebs were largely reliant on his ability to rock the quadruple chin; I’m not going to deny the temptation I had to do a quick sneaky add on snapchat (as a snap friend he would provide some true gems). Disappointingly, this was about as far as his performance stretched.

Similarly, Aurélien Guéroult couldn’t shake off his image as a deep-voiced teddy bear, perhaps why he then played a series of other animals/inanimate objects. Still, his elephant moment was near genius, which I applaud. Lily Lindon seemed somehow to recreate the same performance in every sketch, which wore a little thin despite her Eve being nicely done. Lindon does deserve a positive mention for her direction, which ensured a smoothly run sketch show.

Sadly, the promising trailer featured the funniest parts of the show.

The simple set, silly noises, and obligatory but nevertheless laugh-inducing audience participation, did somewhat replicate the homey sensation of watching TV. While it was largely unfunny material, the cast came across as a friendly, endearing bunch of folks who would be lovely to spend time with. So despite flat moments, I wanted the show to succeed.

The production was mainly a series of potentially obvious zingers, minus one or two bitingly hilarious moments, and watching this was rather like hanging out with the ‘funny friend’, who is determined 24/7 to prove how funny she is. Funny, but more generically amusing, and slightly over-hyped.

54: a lukewarm but generally pleasant 2:2.