A bit on the side from Brum

The comedy world is so relentlessly London-centric that it is intriguing to sample an act that has built up a following elsewhere. Five-piece sketch combo Sideshow Society is Birmingham-based, but on the first Tuesday each month is hurtling down the motorway to air their slightly surreal wares.

So far the capital need not feel threatened. Pre-gig comparisons with Little Britain were always going to be a challenge to live up to. This quintet is certainly dark and twisted, however not dark and twisted enough.

A running gag in which a wife begs her husband to turn off her life support system if she is ever terminally ill and then berates him for callousness when he consents is undoubtedly audacious, yet most of the work which strives for darkness ends up feeling lightweight.

The trouble is that zesty performances outstrip material which is frequently hackneyed. Two further recurring characters are a pair of dope-smoking cops unable to take their job seriously. A joke in their interrogation routine came almost word-for-word from The Office. Elsewhere a gang of brutal Brownies parodying Reservoir Dogs had more than a whiff of Airplane! about it.

Mark Logan, Andrea Wilson, Laurence Saunders, Simon Ravenhill and Dave Nicholds should focus on their intermittently sharp ear for social awkwardness. Saunders' regional newscaster with irritable vowel syndrome was keenly observed and a couple of innuendo-laden skits had vaudevillian appeal.

But as their name modestly suggests, this troupe is currently more sideshow than main attraction.

The Sideshow Society