Tim Vine - Punslinger

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Anyone familiar with Harry Hill's early TV work—that is before he became the face (and voice) of middle-of-the-road comedy on ITV1—will also be familiar with the work of Tim Vine. That is simply to say that Vine is doing now what Hill did a decade ago, making awful puns. Then it was funny, now it's old.

The title of his Fringe show gives more than a hint as to what to expect. For an hour the formula stays largely the same: set-up, pun-chline (geddit?); set-up, punchline; set-up, punchline. While Jimmy Carr made popular the previously disparaged joke-heavy comedy style, he did so because of the irony and offensiveness of his routine. Conversely, Vine's act is positively child-friendly. When he first appears on stage, dressed like Woody from the Toy Story films, with the line “this hat's not a direct relation, it's my Stetson,” a rather grim tone is set for the rest of the performance.

Vine bounces around throughout like a desperate, gurning idiot provoking groans instead of laughter as the quality of joke barely rises above that found in a Christmas cracker. Indeed the only real laughs come during the odd musical interlude and as Vine recovers from early-festival slips in his routine.

There is one inspired moment, featuring ventriloquists' dummies practicing ventriloquism that is almost worth the entrance fee itself. Unfortunately, there is a solid hour of repetitive boredom to sit through before one gets the opportunity to see it.