The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek - Live

Matinee idols in the making—given their propensity for playing extra afternoon shows before their regular evening slots every year—this hard-working trio will take to BBC2 in their own series come October. Their final pre-fame Edinburgh show is a greatest hits affair, collecting the best bits from their previous four runs, but does raise some concerns. It's by no means bad, just not the perfect hour of power you might have expected.

The 3Gs really stand out from the sketch crowd due to a few key attributes rather than any particularly sparky material, super-skills that can raise an average sketch into something memorable. Most striking are the thespian chops and boggle-eyed demeanor of Kevin O'Loughlin, aka The Geek; imagine Peter Capaldi's awkward younger brother. His finest moment comes early on, playing a bewilderingly realistic dummy in a ventriloquist love triangle.

Their other mighty weapon is the wondrous dancing of Graeme Rooney (The Ginge), bringing a wow factor that other troupes just couldn’t match. That's particularly true of their big final number, a movie scene that’s been over-aped already, but never quite like this, as a ludicrously costumed Paul Charlton plays a dieting man’s dream date. That proves the most satisfying of these sketches, chiefly because it has a proper ending.

Many of the preceding efforts leave one feeling distinctly unfulfilled, as early promise fails to be fully explored, before the lights go off. They’ll presumably offset that in the series with running gags. But there's no substitute for decent punchlines.