The art of good sketch comedy is in the timing - not just in how gags are delivered, of course, but in realising that some jokes are best done as one-liners while others can be played out over several minutes before being punctuated with a killer punchline. The four-man sketch group Idiots of Ants are masters of knowing when to end one sketch and get on with another - and that, allied with smart writing and committed performances, makes them leaders in the field.
The show is called This is War and does indeed start with a sketch set in an aeroplane above wartime Germany, but which doesn’t develop in any way you might expect. Two British soldiers (James Wrighton and Benjamin Wilson) are guarding a Nazi general (Andrew Spiers); he has been “persuaded” to help them on a top-secret mission in which they will parachute behind enemy lines. There’s a stream of “you Nazi Hun” and “doing one’s duty” clichés, played very knowingly before Elliott Tiney comes on stage to tell them they are not soldiers, not even characters in a wartime movie, but actors in a show. It’s a very clever construct, a show within a show within a show, if you will, and typical of the neat twists Idiots bring to their comedy.
Much of the humour, as you might expect from four blokes is, well, blokey, but it’s done with an ever-present sardonic eye on proceedings. Yes, there are fart jokes, crotch-scratching and references to penis size, but they freely admit the wankerish pun in Idiots of Ants - idiots savants, geddit? Even a sketch where a group of “Pink Ladies” on a hen night turn into blokes after getting bladdered doesn’t offend because the writing is so well observed - “Laura, were you just being reasonable?” Don’t tell the sisterhood, but I laughed loudest at this sketch as I find women giving names to their cars remarkably stupid, too. Besides, the payoff is at the men’s expense - so honours even.
Other delights are the two engineers who are detailed to build a bridge made out of love, a sketch conducted entirely in song lyrics; the idea is old hat, but the wordplay is worthy of the Two Ronnies. And the training school for dads, where Spiers (in ill-fitting casual wear and with a homemade haircut) teaches new fathers to “make the most mundane situations embarrassing” and to speak forever in weak gags - “I’ll put the kettle on” instantly gets the reply, “Only if it suits you!” - is simply inspired and I never tire of seeing it.
Idiots of Ants have been touring this show since last year’s Fringe (at which they received an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination) and it shows in their tight performances. They pack a lot of material into an hour of often very physical comedy, making good use of both sound effects and the large video screen above the stage. They may rely too heavily on Spiers being the butt of the joke and there's a touch too much homoeroticism, but overall this a hugely entertaining show.
Much of the humour, as you might expect from four blokes is, well, blokey, but it’s done with an ever-present sardonic eye on proceedings. Yes, there are fart jokes, crotch-scratching and references to penis size, but they freely admit the wankerish pun in Idiots of Ants - idiots savants, geddit? Even a sketch where a group of “Pink Ladies” on a hen night turn into blokes after getting bladdered doesn’t offend because the writing is so well observed - “Laura, were you just being reasonable?” Don’t tell the sisterhood, but I laughed loudest at this sketch as I find women giving names to their cars remarkably stupid, too. Besides, the payoff is at the men’s expense - so honours even.
Other delights are the two engineers who are detailed to build a bridge made out of love, a sketch conducted entirely in song lyrics; the idea is old hat, but the wordplay is worthy of the Two Ronnies. And the training school for dads, where Spiers (in ill-fitting casual wear and with a homemade haircut) teaches new fathers to “make the most mundane situations embarrassing” and to speak forever in weak gags - “I’ll put the kettle on” instantly gets the reply, “Only if it suits you!” - is simply inspired and I never tire of seeing it.
Idiots of Ants have been touring this show since last year’s Fringe (at which they received an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination) and it shows in their tight performances. They pack a lot of material into an hour of often very physical comedy, making good use of both sound effects and the large video screen above the stage. They may rely too heavily on Spiers being the butt of the joke and there's a touch too much homoeroticism, but overall this a hugely entertaining show.
- Idiots of Ants are at the Soho Theatre until 22 May London W1, then touring until 1 June
