This time last year it was obvious that Pappy’s Fun Club were going to be legitimately entitled to charge for their show. Having stormed the Free Fringe with an accomplished show performed on a stage little bigger than a shoe box, the troupe’s imagination was patently bigger than the venue they were sharing. Thankfully there’s no such problem this year.

After having assembled such a collection of memorable characters (oh dear god, for the day this lot replace Little Britain), the group have bravely decided to write an hour of all-new material. Unfortunately the quartet’s discernible chemistry isn’t quite enough to carry them through what appears as a relatively disappointing first half hour. The first few sketches don’t quite hit their mark (though the band’s ‘Bob Dylan’ sketch is almost worth the price of admission alone just to see Matthew Crosby ‘on’ drums) and the group occasionally play the chaos just the wrong side of am-dram on occasion. But that’s when things kick up a notch to reveal a depth previously only hinted at but that has been there all along. The finale is one of the most inventive things you’re going to see on the Fringe all year, cleverly orchestrated and betraying the illusion that permeates the rest of the show that Pappy’s Fun Club is just a well-tuned shambles. A special mention should also be made of Tom Parry’s ‘Taxman’, a character of such giddy comedic carnage that he threatens to steal the show.

It seems change is good after all. Pappy’s Fun Club is the kind of caper in short supply at the Fringe, a healthy antidote to your common-or-garden variety sketch show.

Original Link:
http://thevoidcomedy.wordpress.com/2007/08/17/fringe-review-pappys-fun-club/