Scotland on Sunday
Sunday, 22 August 2004

Reviewed by Jonathan Trew

...on a completely different tip, the Dutch Elm Conservatoire are a five-man sketch team with a wealth of absurd ideas and more than enough energy to romp through them. While straight stand-up needs structure and context, sketch shows depend on the grotesque, the silly and the exaggerated. They need chaos while stand-up needs discipline.

So the Dutch Elm Conservatoire deliver Mr Wimpy, the Little Chef and KFC’s Colonel Sanders squaring up to one another for control of Britain’s motorway stop-overs. We get a doll named the Baby Genius reciting pi and a macabre musical version of Oliver Twist acted out by dustbin men. It makes no sense out of context and not much more sense when watching it, but the relentless pace and up-close physicality keep the laughs coming.

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