PAPPY'S FUN CLUB
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL 2008

Like most people, I have an inherent - perhaps genetic - aversion to undergraduate sketch comedy, but there's no other way to describe the inane, self-indulgent antics of Pappy's Fun Club. And somehow it's a glorious success. The cherub-faced UK foursome pull gags that echo the history of British comedy (think The Two Ronnies more than Monty Python), but gradually the momentum produced by their sheer commitment to daggy humour takes on freight-train force. There's nothing offensive or edgy about the act - quite the opposite, in fact - but it's through rediscovering the humour in tired routines and lame characters that the Fun Club really succeeds. And despite it's apparent looseness, there's a tight structure undergirding the whole debacle. You won't learn a thing from these jokers, but you might remember how to laugh at stupidity and silliness without feeling superior.

John Bailey

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