NewsRevue

NewsRevue is one of those shows that feel embedded in the very fabric of the Edinburgh Fringe. Established as a university comedy revue group way back in 1979, it has been an annual fixture at the festival ever since. Among the constantly changing award-winning line-up have come the likes of Rory Bremner, Michelle Collins and Bill Bailey. NewsRevue, then, is a show that people go to in order to see the potential stars of tomorrow.

This year’s cast deliver as solidly dependable a performance as is to be expected from the world’s longest running comedy show (as certified by the Guiness Book of World Records no less). This year’s ensemble of Amy Westgarth, Annabel King, Tom Connor and Richard David Crane are each perfectly accomplished performers, whose breezy charm easily carries this set.

However, perhaps as is to be expected from a revue show, this production is pretty hit-and-miss. There are certainly some very good skits—one highlight in particular is the opening musical number in which the inexplicably popular TV show Glee takes a pounding —but there are an equal number which fall a little flat. For every brilliant song about Greece becoming the “pikey-est” country in the world, there is a mundane skit featuring a poorly caricatured Barack Obama chastising some BP oilmen. Furthermore, with the exception of a poorly conceived sketch about a face-off between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, NewsRevue very much caters to a safe, Radio 4-friendly brand of comedy.

This is a perfectly satisfactory show, without ever being mind-blowing.