The Beta Males in... Superopolis

Over a handful of Fringe runs, the Beta Males have developed a reputation for tightly written, physical, themed sketch comedy and this year is no different with this hilarious and loving homage to the comic book hero.

From the opening murder of a gang of superheroes through a series of appropriately shabbily choreographed fight scenes—complete with 'KAPOW' signs held admist flailing limbs—to the closing showdown with a stock German villain intent on carrying out his 'semifinal solution', the gags (good, bad and so-bad-they're-good) come thick and fast. The Beta Males show both a mastery of and love for their craft that is a delight to behold.

While their audience seems to be entirely under 30, they don't make the common sketch annoyance of playing up the student vibe too much and—some inevitable geekiness and internet meme references aside—the humour here is fairly universal and accessible.

Though the density of the hour is enormously impressive, the time it takes to digest everything means the Betas always seem to be a few gags ahead and some lovely lines get buried. There's a good 90 minutes of material here and the hour does feel somewhat overstuffed, with sketches not given room to breathe and promising ones feeling cut short.

The comic book theme is not just a vehicle for their humour but something that they get into thoroughly and intelligently. They send-up expertly the superhero with the tragic background trope and between all the gags you can detect them championing the colourful, old-school superheroes of the '60s against their slicker, colder modern successors.