Shirley And Shirley Unleashed
Underbelly, Bristo Square
Until August 27
★★
CHARACTER comedians Shirley And Shirley are like a cross between The Fast Show and Little Britain. However, as the double act change quickly between one pair of ludicrous caricatures and another, their work lacks the intelligence and the underlying satire which often characterised those television shows.
The Shirleys' procession of absurd characters includes Kate and Pippa Middleton, who are reinvented, preposterously, as warring sisters with African-Caribbean accents. Then there's the sexually desperate Italian TV presenters "The Gay Brothers", who turn – as the Shirleys often do – to a comedy of audience embarrassment, to say nothing of a pair of drunken posh girls, or the Scouser-hating "Mancie Girls" (whose pride in their native Manchester is accompanied by a string of obscenities).
Shirley And Shirley are fast and furious and the format of their show looks suspiciously tailored for TV. Their material may be shallow and riddled with single-entendres, but given the show's focus upon celebrity culture, they might just find their brand of comedy finds a niche in some corner of the televisual firmament.
Mark Brown
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