Checkley and Bush: Comedy Riot

This is more of a jumble sale than a riot to be honest, as Checkley and Bush rummage through a varied collection of songs and sketches.

The best bits are the song pastiches with amusing reworking of well-known tunes. "I Predict A Riot" is done as a kind of opening credits theme tune; Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" is done really well as a meditation on being  a bit too old for clubbing; a spoof of Rihanna's "S&M" hinges on a fairly lame joke but is done with energy and excellent choreography.

C&B aren't afraid to interact with the crowd, happily performing while standing amongst the audience and dragging punters onstage for slo-mo egg & spoon races or violent couple's therapy. It's mostly good and keeps the audience engaged. The weaker moments arise when the pair do straightforward sketches, with a monologue from a police community support officer being especially tedious.

It's pretty patchy and there's simply no getting around the fact that it's not as good as some of the other female sketch acts at the Fringe. A sketch about a American pre-teen beauty pageant contestant is slightly reminisicent of the Female Christ sketch by venue-mates Vinegar Knickers, but is done with far less imagination. Checkley and Bush really only stand out when they ditch the scripted stuff and try to create a party vibe; if they concentrated on that then the show really could be a riot.