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Home arrow Archive: Earlier Fringes arrow Archive: Edinburgh 2012 arrow Frimston and Rowett: Huge Mistakes
 
Frimston and Rowett: Huge Mistakes
Published on Sunday, 19 August 2012
4

4 stars

Just the Tonic at The Caves (venue website)
Comedy
2-13, 15-26 Aug, 6:15pm-7:10pm
Reviewed by Martin Lennon

 Recommended for age 12+ only.

Sketch double-act Frimston and Rowett – aka the two young performers Rob Frimston and Ed Rowett – clearly have an exciting career ahead of them. Huge Mistake (which is anything but) is a show with a few surprises, and the duo have clearly crafted their act to satisfy a wide variety of ages and comedy tastes.

The pair, who met at University in Cambridge, are quick to acknowledge that they've been inspired by comedy duos like Morecambe and Wise. Thankfully, they are not stuck in the past, and bring a very 21st century style to the proceedings. They flip from sketch to sketch and add a real variety to the show, be that a parody of Bono or mafia impersonations.

Rob Frimston was marginally the more impressive of the two and, although they are a duo, Frimston has a comical wow-factor that will not go unnoticed. Not to be overshadowed by his colleague, Ed Rowett was also excellent in his own right and as part of the pair. The chemistry between the two of them was fantastic and they played up the “odd couple” trope very well.

The Palindrome section, where they performed sketch backwards, was intelligent and carried out to perfection. Other sketches, such as the impersonated mafioso, were outstanding and they nailed the New York accent perfectly. This is a testament not only to their comedic skills but also to their acting prowess.

Although there is very little to fault, I thought that some of their material could be quite repetitive. Repeating sequences did give people a breather, but also diminished their impact – the 'Hero' routine would have been more special if it was only done once. Other sketches were a bit overlong, such as the “Where's Wally” routine, which was full of complicated dialogue and took the audience to Soviet Russia (not often a land of laughs). And while the show was consistently funny, there were not many laugh-out-loud moments that will stick out in the memory.

All the same, I was won over by both show and performers. Their script was intelligent and surreal, without being condescending or elitist. Frimston and Rowett will surely be performing at the Fringe for years to come... but it would be a Huge Mistake not to see them this time around.

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These are archived reviews of shows from Edinburgh 2012.  We keep our archives online as a courtesy to performers, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.

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