Dead Cat Bounce

Let’s get something straight from the outset – this show doesn’t involve dead cats. Not at all. To my relief there’s not a dead bouncing cat anywhere in sight (you can never be sure with the Fringe). Dead Cat Bounce is a sketch show written and performed by Irish comedy trio Demian Fox, Shane O’Brien and James Walmsley. The production features a series of sketches set in the same hotel room including three stockbrokers who have accidentally killed a prostitute, a terminally ill man who has guilted his best friend into cycling round the world on a tandem bike and a man rehearsing a break-up speech to use on his neurotic girlfriend (“my nutritionist told me to stay away from fat so...”).

The sketches in Dead Cat Bounce are on the whole, very funny. The writing is tightly organised, sprinkled with jokes in all the right places and flawlessly performed by the energetic and vivacious trio. Dead Cat Bounce is also a tribute to the art of the sketch-show with the loudest laughs coming when the trio work together and play-off one another’s tomfoolery – particularly apparent in a sketch about a troupe of clowns throwing in the towel after a disastrous birthday party.

While Dead Cat Bounce is undoubtedly a quality comedy show, well worth an hour of your Fringe-programming, it doesn’t quite reach the glittering heights of a "must-see," and is let down by a couple of misguided sketches. One in particular is a carbon-copy of the Orange cinema adverts and would be better omitted. That said, Dead Cat Bounce is full of Irish-charm; a clever and uproarious showcase of young comedic talent.