For one night only at the Oxford Playhouse, student sketch comedy groups The Oxford Revue, The Durham Revue and The Cambridge Footlights entertained, confused, shocked and filled the audience with mirth.
First on the stage was the Durham Review, who blasted the audience with a series of quick fire, absurd sketches before settling in to the longer Director’s cut of a Monster Movie – arguing director and writer, cheap laughs over the guy with monster sign (no cash for CGI…) – mildly entertaining. Much better was duelling storytellers in the tale of the Congo ambush – fantastic comic timing, and just the right amount of silly sound effects. They brought an audience member up on stage for a very Monty Python-esque sketch where she was subjected to a series of ridiculously easy tasks, the highlight of which was a live game of Hungry Hippo. Other sketches of note included the incognito famous British golfer and the unfortunate time lag of a bomb’s timer.
The Cambridge Footlights were up next, opening with the hilarious internal monologue of one of the members trying to introduce the group. Lampooning comedians was a theme, as the set also included a satire of the American stand up comedian which was absolutely brilliant, not to mention lyrically very clever. The wittiness continued in a scrabble sketch – poor letter Q struggling with his dual role of being a game-breaker, lusting after letter U. Puns abounded in this fantastically timed sketch. Less impressive (but still entertaining) was the match of kissing roulette. I supposed that jokes about male homosexuality will always be a staple of such comedy shows, but it just didn’t seem that funny that one man would stab another to death upon the suggestion of a kiss, even if it did involve dashing around the stage and evoking the spirit of the Black Knight. The ‘it's funny because its true’ card was played in the relationship stereotypes in the Spaceman sketch (woman thinks he’s sexy because he’s a spaceman but doesn’t actually want him to go to space) and the Last Man on Earth sketch (woman agrees to sleep with man because he says something sweet, he’s too thick and loses out). It was all topped off with a bitter ukulele serenade about a bullied maths whizz. Quality.
The Oxford Revue took the stage last, as the main act. What the other two groups lacked in shock factor and lowbrow humour, they made up for. The lack of available knitting needles was mentioned in the Lamaze Class sketch (gasps from the audience…), followed by Nazi jokes (Hitler as a dithering idiot, wanting to call the party UREA), tampons and thrush in the ‘Made you look’ sporting event, and of course the rape practice in the Viking sketch. Was it really funny that the supply teacher had to teach sex ed? Maybe slightly. But his rescue by a Stalinist lunatic comparing sex and relationships to socialism didn’t have me in stitches, nor did the ‘Witche's fiddle hole’ Welsh caving experience. I just don’t find paedophilia that entertaining, though admittedly the guy who ended the sketch with his trousers down was good for a cheap laugh. The Smith and Jones sketch was funny because of its parallels with corny old movies, but again the male snog at the end seemed more for shock value than anything. I have to admit I didn’t get the Roald Dahl sketch, though I did find the charity addiction one quite funny (‘I felt I needed to start taking back…so now I’m crippling African children.’). The finale was spectacular, involving pyrotechnics, a giant Condeleeza Rice banner flanked by Nazi octopus flags and a Broadway-worthy song by the group about Ms. Rice. Why her? I have no idea. But I think that was point.
The three groups did not disappoint – because there were so many sketches, there were bound to be some that catered to different senses of humour. This is the epitome of student comedy, and no doubt some of them will follow the footsteps of previous members to find fame and fortune in the world of comedy…particularly those from the Cambridge group, which I have to admit I did prefer, despite my dark blue affiliations.
First on the stage was the Durham Review, who blasted the audience with a series of quick fire, absurd sketches before settling in to the longer Director’s cut of a Monster Movie – arguing director and writer, cheap laughs over the guy with monster sign (no cash for CGI…) – mildly entertaining. Much better was duelling storytellers in the tale of the Congo ambush – fantastic comic timing, and just the right amount of silly sound effects. They brought an audience member up on stage for a very Monty Python-esque sketch where she was subjected to a series of ridiculously easy tasks, the highlight of which was a live game of Hungry Hippo. Other sketches of note included the incognito famous British golfer and the unfortunate time lag of a bomb’s timer.
The Cambridge Footlights were up next, opening with the hilarious internal monologue of one of the members trying to introduce the group. Lampooning comedians was a theme, as the set also included a satire of the American stand up comedian which was absolutely brilliant, not to mention lyrically very clever. The wittiness continued in a scrabble sketch – poor letter Q struggling with his dual role of being a game-breaker, lusting after letter U. Puns abounded in this fantastically timed sketch. Less impressive (but still entertaining) was the match of kissing roulette. I supposed that jokes about male homosexuality will always be a staple of such comedy shows, but it just didn’t seem that funny that one man would stab another to death upon the suggestion of a kiss, even if it did involve dashing around the stage and evoking the spirit of the Black Knight. The ‘it's funny because its true’ card was played in the relationship stereotypes in the Spaceman sketch (woman thinks he’s sexy because he’s a spaceman but doesn’t actually want him to go to space) and the Last Man on Earth sketch (woman agrees to sleep with man because he says something sweet, he’s too thick and loses out). It was all topped off with a bitter ukulele serenade about a bullied maths whizz. Quality.
The Oxford Revue took the stage last, as the main act. What the other two groups lacked in shock factor and lowbrow humour, they made up for. The lack of available knitting needles was mentioned in the Lamaze Class sketch (gasps from the audience…), followed by Nazi jokes (Hitler as a dithering idiot, wanting to call the party UREA), tampons and thrush in the ‘Made you look’ sporting event, and of course the rape practice in the Viking sketch. Was it really funny that the supply teacher had to teach sex ed? Maybe slightly. But his rescue by a Stalinist lunatic comparing sex and relationships to socialism didn’t have me in stitches, nor did the ‘Witche's fiddle hole’ Welsh caving experience. I just don’t find paedophilia that entertaining, though admittedly the guy who ended the sketch with his trousers down was good for a cheap laugh. The Smith and Jones sketch was funny because of its parallels with corny old movies, but again the male snog at the end seemed more for shock value than anything. I have to admit I didn’t get the Roald Dahl sketch, though I did find the charity addiction one quite funny (‘I felt I needed to start taking back…so now I’m crippling African children.’). The finale was spectacular, involving pyrotechnics, a giant Condeleeza Rice banner flanked by Nazi octopus flags and a Broadway-worthy song by the group about Ms. Rice. Why her? I have no idea. But I think that was point.
The three groups did not disappoint – because there were so many sketches, there were bound to be some that catered to different senses of humour. This is the epitome of student comedy, and no doubt some of them will follow the footsteps of previous members to find fame and fortune in the world of comedy…particularly those from the Cambridge group, which I have to admit I did prefer, despite my dark blue affiliations.