What: Late Night Gimp Fight featuring Lee Griffiths, Richard Campbell, David Moon, Matt Ralph, and Paul Richard Biggin.
Where: Pleasance Hut
When: 11pm, until Monday 31 August
How Much: £7.50-£10
In 140 characters or less: “Late Night Gimp Fight: If you don’t enjoy this there is something wrong with you.”
There’s a lot of energy in the Pleasance Hut as Late Night Gimp Fight unfolds before the audience. Possibly the most frenetic thing you’ll ever see after 11pm at night, this is a gag-heavy and non-stop hour of gimp-based fun.
To be fair, this probably isn’t the wittiest show at the fringe but for something so puerile it’s ultimately very intelligent and gets the audience on-side very quickly. Gimp Fight uses music in its favour, and unlike some sketch groups isn’t trying to borrow the sexiness from the musical stings. Certainly not if their bizarre mutual sexual assault sketch to a Bonnie Tyler hit is anything to go by.
There are some good call backs and running gags, and its all very friendly despite the sinister and intermittent recurrence of masked gimps. This show was quite easily the fastest hour you’ll spend in at a Fringe comedy show: there’s simply no stopping these guys. The audience roared with laughter throughout, perhaps helped a little by the 11pm slot, but there certainly weren’t any dull moments.
Great skethces to watch out for include: Jurassic Park (as you’ve never seen it, or not seen it, before); a pre-war pep talk with more puns than you can literally shake a stick at; and a professional wrestler Dad (you will wince in fake pain).
Possibly the only criticism is that while the film and TV references are recognisable, that’s because they are all quite old references: these guys only get away with a Matrix parody because the girl next to me almost fell off her chair when they brought out the “bullets”.
If you’re looking for bawdy but intelligible fun the place to find it is the Late Night Gimp Fight. It does exactly what it says on the tin.
Festbuzz Rating:
Words: Elise Bramich
