Comedy review: Ladies and Gentlemen - Free, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House (Venue 170), Edinburgh

This is a smart show full of fresh, good sketch ideas. We get running gags (the hapless football team manager who calls his club after natural disasters), surreality (cloud comedy), silliness (the Number Bee is a delightful, Mitchell & Webb-esque giggle of a piece), and smartness.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Free

Laughing Horse
@ The Counting House

(Venue 170)

Star rating: * * *

Horses ghost­write novels, meditation tapes become murder weapons, we get a new Facebook app, and a chance to see how good The Killing is without subtitles.

The writing is way better than average and for every puzzled pause, the audience lets out a hoot of laughter. The performances are strong – especially from Paul Foxcroft and Joseph Morpurgo – and the show bowls along at a high rate of comedy knots. I was particularly tickled by the medium who got through to “the other side” and finds someone promoting the next show in the venue. Littering the road to a punchline with extra laughs like this is never a bad thing. This is a properly accomplished show in a comfy little venue and a great way to spend part of an afternoon.

• Until 26 August. Today 3:30pm.

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