Reviews from Edinburgh 2008.
The Dubliner 
These guys were hailed a few months ago by The Dubliner as the next big thing in Irish sketch comedy, and we haven’t changed our mind. Sketch shows are invariably uneven. But by our count, at least 5 of the sketches in this offering are comedically perfect: beautifully conceived, incisively written and superbly performed. If RTE had any competance regarding comedy, this show would go straight to TV.
Three Weeks
This is the boys’ second sketch show in less than two hours, not that you could tell, because they are as effervescent as the Andrew’s Liver Salts that they use as a sound effect during this midnight show. With just their voices, a few sound effects and some atmospheric ivory tinkling, they take us back to the golden age of radio, via sketches containing characters so vividly uproarious that a laughter track is highly unnecessary. Their sketches are in good company with their songs, which easily manage to surpass the genius of Tenacious D and Weird Al Jankovich combined. Laughter is good for the soul, so do yours a favour and go see this comedy hour of power.
Chortle 
As the audience files in, a woman lies stone-still on a hotel room floor while a radio blares out snippets of news over a menacing guitar track.
She is a prostitute, accidentally killed by a group of city traders on a bender and now nothing more than an inconvenience. When one of the men makes noises of concern about the situation, he is blown back by the roar of machismo from his colleagues and condemned as a ‘whinging sissy’. And whinging sissies don’t get to be vice-presidents, so he should drink another Braveheart (whiskey and aftershave) and shut up…
Dead Cat Bounce is a sketch show with a brain and a black sense of humour. In place of cartoon and slapdash caricature, the Irish trio (Demian Fox, Shane O’Brien and James Walmsley) conjure up imaginative situations with believable characters. Each a fine actor, they gently mock the nuances of relationships and milk the humour in their dynamics.
A wheelchair-bound academic is forced to share a bed with a bitter rival; a terminally ill cyclist on a record-breaking tandem bike ride wonders at his stamina while his companion staggers in exhaustion in the background; a row blows up between a group of clowns after a bad gig.
It’s not a laugh-a-minute, for sure. While thoughtfully, tightly written and performed, the sketches are at times an exercise in beautifully observed drama rather than straight comedy. It’s more Nighty Night and League Of Gentlemen than The Fast Show.
When the group does do silly, it’s still flawlessly controlled, as demonstrated when the idiosyncratic conventions of musical theatre are lampooned in a jazz-hands and cartwheels scene starring three sailors on shore leave.
The show can, at times, be too clever for its own good. You find yourself distractedly admiring the elegant dialogue or the way a scene has been crafted, rather than laughing at the product. The thoroughly researched characters are not always accessible.
Still, the depth and scope of the sketches and their consistently immaculate realisation makes this a show that stands out from the rest and suggests a group of which to expect yet greater things.
Hairline
It bodes well for a company when you have written “brilliant” four times in your notes, but perhaps not as well for the review itself, as one doesn’t want to spoil any of the surprises of this tightly-performed, winningly frantic show. Ostensibly a take on old-school radio, with live sound effects performed by a ‘foley artist’, Late Night Radio boils down to a series of excellent sketches, some of which recur during the hour (the epically silly Indiana Jones-ish adventure story), some blinding one-offs (such as the pitch perfect Pharrell Williams-style song about a big ass), all hitting the mark dead on. It is hard to fault them or the show, and perhaps the only drawback was my indecision of which guy to watch – the foley artist is worth watching the entire time, but the three others command the stage equally well. The show starts at midnight, but rather than being a drawback, this is probably one of the best shows with which to end your comedy night – mixing character comedy with songs that are actually funny, there’s enormous energy and brio in their performances and you leave feeling elated. The writing itself surprises and delights, with familiar themes that consistently side-step cliché, that are silly, surreal and sometimes dark. And discovering that there is a better way to make hoof-beats than coconuts is a quite a revelation, although celery sticks now hold a macabre connotation that I will never shake off. Highly recommended.
Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
A high-octane, snappy hour of sketches all taking place in the same hotel room, this show restored my faith in the genre after having seen several disappointing attempts elsewhere. Four young men play a vast range of characters in scenarios of varying ridiculousness… Although there are some definite weak moments, the strong scenes are so contrastingly good that it’s easy to forgive them. The sailors on shore leave were a hoot as they joyfully anticipated painting a town red through song. And best of all, the final number where a musical about the Irish famine is pitched over the phone, was so spectacular that the audience were howling with laughter and begging for more. I wish more of their sketches had included song; all the performers are strong, charismatic singers and their comedy seemed to reach higher levels when there was a melody involved. I’m certain this promising and exciting comedy quartet will only continue to bring gems like this to the table.
Fest
The sketches in Dead Cat Bounce are on the whole, very funny. the writing is tightly organised, sprinkled with jokes in all the right places and flawlessly performed by the energetic and vivacious trio. Dead Cat Bounce is also a tribute to the art of the sketch-show, with the loudest laughs coming when the trio work together and play off one another’s tomfoolery – particularly apparent in a sketch about a troupe of clowns throwing in the towel after a disastrous birthday party… Dead Cat Bounce is full of Irish charm; a clever and uproarious showcase of young comedic talent.