Late Night Gimp Fight!

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It's a rare combination-crudeness and cleverness. And you won't find much more crude than sketch show Late Night Gimp Fight! But knob, cum and gay jokes will only get you so far. Where LNGF (it's on the t-shirts: it's fine) succeed is where they go the extra mile to ensure that the payoff to the gags isn't always to be found in the obscenity.

Where LNGF meet with greatest success is where vulgarity is paired with a campness which, rather than descending into crass homoeroticism, tends towards the ridiculous. You can't hear Sinead O'Connor sing "nothing compares to... Late Night Gimp Fight" and accept this as laddish, arrogant brashness. Similarly, the novel puppets created with legs inside a hoodie make for surprisingly cute physical comedy. The gimp theme requires one of said puppets to go down on the other but, really, the joke is over by then. The fellatio is, refreshingly, the lesser attraction.

There are indeed a number of sketches that are weak – not just weak by comparison, but plain weak. Jizzing on the face a poor punchline makes. Fortunately, though, we don't have to endure the jizz for long. Where LNGF appear to have really grasped sketch comedy is the pace of the hour-long set. They demonstrate a healthy fear of drawing out a sketch too long, only a few times indulging in extended set pieces. Videos are used to keep up the pace during rapid costume changes. It's a well-choreographed, slick and very funny sketch show.