Comedy trio Beattie Edmondson, Camille Ucan and Rose Johnson aren’t backwards in coming forward. At the start of Party Vibes they promise “the most exciting and rewarding hour of your life.” This is probably overselling their enthusiastically delivered if fairly formulaic sketches.
The subject matter in their set is pretty much a check list of cultural tropes, from a Game of Thrones skit in which Edmondson playfully mocks the obsession with avoiding spoilers, to a scatalogical version of The Great British Bake Off — cue soggy bottoms.
They are more interesting when they break out of this format. There is a mid-point scene where Ucan tells Johnson some home truths, creating an enjoyably awkward frisson, but this is not developed. Instead they prefer to dance about and play safe with a TV dieting spoof entitled Piggy Piggy Fatso and a hipster wedding planner routine.
The emphasis is on pure, uncomplicated laughs and all three certainly have comic talent. Edmondson really should have funny bones, her parents are Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders. One sketch in which she portrays a sozzled life coach almost feels like an Ab Fab outtake.
Ucan and Johnson are not short on skill or silliness either, both majoring in physical clowning. Exciting and rewarding? I’m not sure. But for simple escapist fun when you want to put your brain in neutral there is much to appreciate here.
Until Saturday (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)
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