EDINBURGH 2025: Review: SKETCH THIEVES at The Laughing Horse

When it comes to comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, you have to find a way to stand out. A show where multiple sketch comedy troupes perform their sketches before swapping their ideas and performing each other's is certainly one way to do it. Not only that, but it seems like one of the few shows that could offer a good time - you’re either going to see some great comedy or a total car crash. What’s not to like?

In the case of Sketch Thieves, both are somehow completely false and totally accurate. On the line-up of the show for this particular performance were The Bad Clowns, Jeromaia Detto, Two Bananas and The Burton Brothers, a diverse line-up (as the show’s MC joked) of all white dudes. 

Each performing a single sketch - including one about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, sideshow performers looking for freaks, a noble quest, and two men trying to outdo each other over whose dad has killed more people - the groups presented their works with varying results. From tech malfunctions to audience participation to genuine laughs, the show offered an entertaining, if light, afternoon of laughs.

As far as the original sketch performances go, The Burton Brothers were undoubtedly the best of the four acts (though Christian Dart of The Bad Clowns may well have the finest hair of the festival). Not only were they funny, but their performance felt smooth, well-paced and charming.

When it comes to the latter half of the show, where the sketches are swapped, the chaos that ensued was simply too good not to laugh at. Jeromaia Detto performing the two-person sketch about serial killer fathers was true mayhem, whereas The Bad Clowns took The Burton Brothers’ sketch about looking for freaks and added some fresh improvised lines that brought even more laughs to the proceedings. 

It must be said that none of the sketches felt like they were the best that any of the groups had produced, providing more chuckles and snickers than outright laughter. More like samples to introduce you to each group rather than anything that might make you fall in love with them, persuading you to see their individual shows. It is in this sense that the show never quite manages to be a car crash, nor hilarious, but instead, is simply fine.

Sketch Thieves’ particular formula is one that certainly provides a fun and easy-going afternoon of laughs. It might not be one of the best shows of the Fringe, but it is sure to be a reliable hour of comedy for anyone looking to fill that midday slot.

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