Gein's Family Giftshop: Volume 1

As befits their serial killer, specialist vendor name, Gein's Family Giftshop excel in the delivery of dark and uniquely depraved sketches. With James Meehan as the de facto leader, Kath Hughes as the put-upon woman and Ed Easton as a constant force for chaos and childish intemperance, this is a really distinctive debut hour that glories in its own silliness, scatology and twisted masturbatory fantasies, without ever growing overpowering.

That's partly because the relationship between the three is warped and opaque, but also because of the satisfying, gluey substance linking the sketches together. Some of these turn on wordplay but generally they plump for a single, transgressive action or revelation that completely flips the situation and leads to a chorus of recriminations – though strikingly, they can usually be relied upon to wring a couple of excellent gags out of the aftermath.

From the legend of Scary Mary to the misremembered manufacture of luxury coffee, to the training of a chimp in sign language, they're shrewd in selecting subject matter on the edge of urban myth or hazy popular awareness. Establishing their setups with speed and economy, there's an ever-present feeling that anything can happen. And invariably it does, with nary a predictable twist in the hour. Yes, it's all a bit juvenile, as they nakedly acknowledge. But the writing by the Mancunian trio and offstage member Kiri Pritchard-McLean is tight and impishly inventive, while the performances flow easily from nuanced subtlety to frenzied slapstick.