WitTank (Upstairs at Three and Ten)

They say that comedians have about a minute to either engage their audience or fall flat on their faces but the three members of WitTank didn’t need anywhere near that long to have their audience howling with laughter. Kieran Boyd, Mark Cooper Jones and Naz Osmanoglu burst onto the stage to introduce the act and, as their enthusiasm and energy permeates the room, the capacity crowd is left in no doubt that they are in for an hour of fast-paced and extremely funny sketches.

The trio all seem to be twenty something, but their youth is no barrier to success as they have been winning comedy awards since 2005, and it is extremely easy to see why. Osmanoglu is half Turkish, bearded, and has the most incredibly versatile facial expressions. Boyd, as well as being a comedian, plays guitar, sings and always seems to be the one playing the woman in their sketches. Without wishing to be rude, Cooper-Jones is a bit scary in appearance and maybe that is why he ends up playing the ugliest turkey in the world and even a particularly annoying House Fly.

The sketches come with frightening rapidity, with just a couple of seconds of blackout between them, and it here we see that the success of this comedy act is in their impeccably rehearsed performance. Each knows where the others will be and, despite Osmanoglu’s best efforts at trying to ad-lib and corpse his colleagues, they stick to the script throughout. 

With just two chairs on the stage, and minimal lighting effects, it is totally down to the comic abilities of the guys to keep the audience engaged and they never falter in this task. One after another the sketches come and, before there is time to calm down and stop laughing, the relentless comedy onslaught continues.

It is very difficult to review the actual sketches because, as they say, “you had to be there” but the Head teacher with a seriously unhealthy, almost unnatural, desire for gammon, which leads him to threaten to kill the school chef, is quite typical of the sketches on offer, and is seriously funny.

The act finishes, all too soon, with the painful scene when Lady Hamilton asks Thomas Hardy to recount Nelson’s last words. The trio play out their version of his dying moments but, I think it’s only fair to point out to them, having checked every available reference book on the subject, something should be made clear – he didn’t say THAT!   

WitTank are undoubtedly supremely talented comedians, masters of the surreal and, if I am not much mistaken, almost completely insane, but it is that same near-insanity and unpredictability that will ensure them the continued success that they so richly deserve.