Nadia Kamil and Luke Roberts do not conform to genre with The Gently Progressive Behemoth.

Instead the pair fuse sketch-type humour and children's television style presenting to create a wonderfully invigorating joke-packed hour.

Their writing is best when warping and inverting expectation: the sad letter from an old person trying to stay young turns out to be from Derek Jacobi, while the gently progressive behemoth does not make sad people happy, he just gives them some space, and Anne Bancroft reviews not just shows, but Orion's belt (three stars) and afternoons ('achingly traditional').

Consequently, the show is a collated scrapbook of gags and cameos, with phone-ins and guests, along with educational segments with surreal mnemonics.

Many of the silliest scenarios retain interest through the deadpan delivery and interaction of Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil.

Never acknowledging humour, the presenters undertake each segment with the utmost seriousness. This worked best with the very witty 'surely it's a foot' sketch and in interactions with the audience.

Audience participation during the show is perfectly pitched, fun and juvenile but never too intrusive.

For example a spotlight lit a spectator when a prize was won, implying that the unsuspecting man had it. The performers held that the man's refusal to give up the prize was the behaviour of a very strict prize-keeper, and insisted he give it up. They then told him to look under his chair, where, of course, the reward was found. At moments like this, the audience become children playing a game in which they do not know the rules.

Similarly at the end, the audience were tricked into giving the show a standing ovation after being told to stand up and sing a David Bowie song.

The Gently Progressive Behemoth succeeds because all its cleverness and parody is unacknowledged. Nadia Kamil is quirky and jubilant from start to finish, and makes her characters shine.

Luke Roberts has a warm and self-effacing stage persona that allows the audience to laugh both at and with him. The Gently Progressive Behemoth possesses a Mighty Boosh-esque quality, but in an original format.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Nadia Kamil. Luke Roberts. With Tom Basden and Tim Key.

Company Credits: Writers - Nadia Kamil and Luke Roberts. Sound and Lighting - Sam Hansford. PR - Tom Powell. Producer - Staggered Spaces

END

(c) Sara Pascoe 2007

Reviewed August 07 / Gilded Balloon

Subeditor - Bo Wilson

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008