Enid Blyton on acid...An eclectic comedy-mash of the bizarre and the ridiculous. Let the Children take you on a warped adventure with gorillas and Mexicans. Just who is Clever Peter by the way?
www.myspace.com/cleverpeter
| W | T | F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M |
| 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| £ 5.00 | £ 8.00 (£ 6.50) | £ 9.00 (£ 7.50) |
List - 6th August 2008
""Monty Python meets The League Of Gentlemen""
Sketch shows are generally hit and miss affairs, but Clever Peter's unswerving ability to hit the target would put Phil Taylor to shame. Don't let the inclusion of libidinous gorillas and plastic penises fool you into thinking their brand of humour isn't sophisticated: here are three performers of exceptional talent. Given the venue's sweltering heat, they may come to regret choosing their trademark of colourful jumpers. However, the energy – and the jokes – never let up as one brilliant gag follows another. With sketches that include a terrifyingly over-affectionate father-in-law and a possessed Enid Blyton, it's madcap yet dark, a little Monty Python meets The League of Gentlemen.
Voiceovers feature prominently, from a snooker-style commentary on a bad first date to two sexually frustrated office workers' inner monologues. Both Richard Bond and Edward Eales-White are excellent, but the Terry Jones-esque William Hartley, with his extraordinary facial expressions and uncanny ability to impersonate Russell Crowe, really stands out as a possible star of the future.
another source - 16th July 2008
""The confidence of gentlemen""
Sketch comedy is a notoriously hard medium to get right, often forcing the audience to cringe with embarrassment at sketches that were clearly funny in someone's head, but not when transferred to the stage. However, this sketch comedy trio were performing their Edinburgh Preview show at the Three & Ten with the confidence of gentlemen who were nominated for Best Comedy Show at the Brighton Fringe this year - and deservedly so.
Clever Peter breaks the mould of painful sketch comedy, as for the majority of the hour they performed, the audience were in stitches (as were the cast at times!) Clearly a group of friends, there are moments when it is clear that pub-banter has been turned into sketches, but in the main this is not a problem and the comedic skill of these guys carries the skits off.
Based loosely around bizarre premise that Enid Blyton had an evil side, and secretly wrote foul stories, the sketches that followed were re-enactments of these terrible tales. Particularly funny was the recurring ****** theme, which was initially so shocking and surprising that my companion spilled her wine! There was the compulsory amount of cross-dressing and falsettos which an all male troupe is bound to produce, but these sketches were off the wall and funny and certainly kept me amused.
The only negative product of the pub-banter-turned-sketch style of the show was the proliferation of 'gay jokes.' Whilst some of these were funny and all 'groups' can expect to be laughed at in comedy, there were too many for comfort, and I suspect some of my gay friends would have stopped laughing after the first one.
All this being said, it's a rare show that keeps the humour and momentum going for an hour without flagging, and Clever Peter managed this admirably. Catch them at the Pleasance Dome up in Edinburgh for the whole month of the festival.
fringereport.com - 15th July 2008
""Fast, irreverent, and very funny.." "
They're going to lose weight, this lot, what with all the rushing about and the costume changes. Maybe they had more to do the night I saw them (at the Canal Cafe) when there were only three blokes - the girl had been replaced by a wig.
If you are of a nervous disposition or cling to the values of your Victorian grandfather, this might not be the show for you, but it is worth the ticket money for the plumber sketch alone, over which I now draw the heaviest of polite veils. Often very funny and sometimes very funny indeed.
Watch out for the recurring phrases, characters and other stuff, which get better as this fast-paced show develops.
Graphic design by Paul Rawson. Site development by Simon Rawson.