Punt and Dennis on fine form in first touring show in a decade
Punt and Dennis at the Oxford Playhouse on Saturday, May 25 and the Corn Exchange, Newbury
on Thursday, May 2
Review by JON LEWIS
The Knowledge Show
Touring for the first time in a decade, Punt and Dennis, who performed at Newbury’s Corn Exchange on May 2, proved that the biggest laughs come from improvised, clever silliness rather than political satire, wordplay and puns, however good they are.
The duo has been performing together since their time in the Cambridge Footlights in the early 80s, and both have had successful radio, television and stage careers.
Their new show, entitled We are not a Robot, is in two formats.
Most of the content has Steve Punt feeding Hugh Dennis with punchlines. Most of their humour is related to topical events in the news with many gags at the expense of Tory politicians. Their jokes and targets do not stray too much from their radio content, are often whip-smart and wryly pertinent.
The comedy is not subversive and is relatable to the many in the audience who are of a similar age to the comedians. They throw in personal stories that illustrate the reasons for the funniness, experiences that are familiar, such as being stuck in a train outside a station giggling at the excuses for the delay from the driver’s announcements.
The second format takes in an extended sketch either side of the interval where Punt and Dennis adopt new characters, Punt the host of a YouTube wine and food channel, Dennis his drunken guest expert. Dennis’ routine is hilarious, not least when the fourth wall is broken and jokes set up earlier in the show explode meticulously within the cleverly scripted ad libs. Many of the jokes are visual, projected with pinpoint timing onto a screen at the back of the stage, such as newspaper front pages and items from the news.
Throughout the show there’s a running gag where Dennis notes the audience’s reaction to one-liners or cutely-executed punch lines to a story and goes to a clip board promising to lose those jokes in future gigs.
The audience laps up Dennis’ physical larking about that pretends to undermine his partner’s seriousness. It roars its approval for his simple comedy as when he pretends to be a sheep, bleating at everyone.
A fun night out.
