Evening Standard, 15-Oct-07

LO-FI COMICS, HI-FI LAUGHTER

If the second of three if.comedy London showcases did not quite match the grandstanding pyrotechnics of the opener, one cannot blame Pappy's Fun Club.

This brilliantly stupid sketch quartet launched proceedings with a manic, majestic set that confirmed their Edinburgh potential.

You have to be smart to appear this daft. Red-cheeked Tom Parry, for instance, played Julius Caesar, the direction "left" and a taxman with a toy cash till on his head.

I worried that their lo-fi comedy might fizzle out on a big stage but it blazed brighter than ever.

Pocket-sized Irishman Andrew Maxwell also received a 2007 if.comedy nomination, but was already a well-established yarn-spinner.

As he perched on a chair he evoked the spirit of countryman Dave Allen, a spirit equally evoked by his irreverent attitude to organised religion - or anything organised.

Maxwell was rusty, but there were still gloriously funny flourishes.

Highlights included his thoughts on the demise of manly UK industries (steel, coal and, erm, lace) and his tale of nearly being arrested for swimming illegally in a Hampstead pond ("I'll take your towel," threatened a PC).

Best was his account of meeting Irish PM Bertie Ahern in a Dublin pub after he had publicly insulted the "potato in a suit". Beautifully told and acted out by a small man with a very big talent.

Bruce Dessau

Original link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/comedy/...