Delete the Banjax: Pigs and Ponies

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Two years since they were the fois gras of the Free Fringe, the Banjax foursome retain their grassroots gaucheness with Pigs and Ponies; another Pappy’s-esque patchwork of silly sketches and banter. 

Conspicuous PowerPoint slides sum up how the crowd can get past the pains of the year since their last show. “I say ‘Tax!’ You say ‘Party!’” goads an authoritarian Gareth Cooper until the two actions mulch together disastrously with an image projected of Cameron and Clegg in a limo. This is by far their most topical gag – for the most part Banjax’s unsophisticated sketches spring from their cosy, quaint comedy bubble but the audience is decidedly within it. 

For every comedy convention that Banjax adhere to—a requisite Hitler skit, over-liberal takes on Dress Down Friday, recurring snickers over a Cyndi Lauper song—some stuffy social convention gets shredded. A combative mock pub quiz is conducted from the lap of a second row female punter by the uninhibited Daniel Cook. By the end of the show everyone feels a part of Cooper’s winning team ‘The Fellowship of the Quizlings’. 

Only a couple of sketches approach any real substance – a version of 24-hour news reported by strained staff who have actually stayed awake for it, for instance, or two grandmotherly polite kidnappers. It’s really Banjax’s benign silliness that forms the underrated source of their mirth.