Comedy Bitch (Manchester)

Venue: The Deaf Institute
Where: Manchester

The funny gang of six are doing Manchester a disservice by playing one night only to a packed out Deaf Institute audience. The Comedy Bitches – Ben Kewin, Sophie Wright, Jonathan Broke, Louise Howells, Tom Cottle and Hannah Gittos are a mad-gaggled, ram-shackled bunch of ne’er do wells; clever in their literary one-liners and political solipsisms. Born out of acting schools in Manchester and London, they have found a funny home together in all that is perverse, stupid and maniacal.

The hour-long show is part nod to The League of Gentlemen’s absurd and dark characters and part wink towards Tina Fey and her disregard for conformity. Not that they aren’t original, they are – not only with the delightful recurring sketches about Dog-Boy, half dog, half boy complete with his own theme tune but also the weirdly wonderful Spelling B Sketch, “Missile? Can I have that in a sentence please?”, “Yeh, nuke ‘em.”

There are too many truly wonderful and hilarious moments to mention. The performances are strong (perhaps due to the acting training) and characterisations clever. Ben and Sophie tell us how they met, firstly from her point of view; housework all day until she’s exhausted and the unappreciative Ben comes home then, from his point of view; Sophie, eating cakes all day whilst sitting on the sofa until an exhausted Ben comes home. It’s this sort of wit that stands Comedy Bitch apart from many sketch shows doing the rounds.

Underscored by an excellent soundtrack which lifts the sketches into something all the more interesting, this Bitch is comedy gold. It deserves packed houses every night and a return trip to Manchester soon.

– Lucia Cox