Thunderbards[author-post-rating] (3/5)

We tell stories to keep ourselves going. To make us laugh, to make us cry, and to remind us that we’re human. Storytelling forms the crux of Thunderbards, a two-man comedy sketch show from Glenn Moore and Matt Stevens. They introduce the stories (“about education”, “about laguage”, etc) from a little black book before launching into a short skit. Some are one line long. Others last for five minutes. Each ends with a well-honed punchline.

Thunderbards doesn’t do anything particularly new with the sketch-show format; the only difference here is some kind of framing device. But the sketches therein are invariably funny, and have been rehearsed to a slickness which never feels stale.

The best sketches rely on a subversion of what we think has happened. In one, for example, a man who we think is in a toilet cubicle is actually somewhere completely different, and in another a language CD turns out to be far more than a recording designed to help with translation in foreign countries. The final sketch, which centres around a man who loves the sitcom Joey but has never heard of Friends, is particularly successful.

The duo sometimes rely a little too much on the taking literally of metaphors. Phrases like “proof was in the pudding” and “the pen is mightier than the sword” take on predictable meanings, making it feel like a dictionary of idioms has been swallowed and not really digested during the creation of the show. There’s also not much thought behind the sketch which deconstructs songs from The Sound of Music, whose jokes are visible a mile off.

Moore and Stevens rattle through their sketches with a relentless energy, however, and both have a strange charisma which makes them likeable as performers. They are at their best when heading to a world of whimsy and utilising their talents to the full. They even manage to create an hilarious elongated sketch about an interactive museum exhibit. It’s these simple, non-convoluted stories which work best, and if there were a few more of these, this show would be a hit.

Thunderbards is at Gilden Balloon Teviot until 26 August. For more information and tickets visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.