2010 Edinburgh Fringe

Horse and Louis review

Horse & Louis' Special Offer. Image shows from L to R: Nick Horseman, Louis Fonseca. Copyright: Associated Television

First thing you should realise - 'this is not a coffee morning'. But it is in a cafe. Back to that later however...

From the rock and roll intro, to the song about how to entice lovely ladies, it's not hard to see why these guys did so well at this year's Musical Comedy Awards (runners-up to Abandoman), and not hard to see that they are destined for continued success either.

Comedy songs aren't the end to their reportoire - they have some well constructed characters, that work better because of the relationship the pair have with each other - they are able to bounce off one another even in character, and have a varied selection; enough to keep anyone entertained, they range from Rooney and Rudy - a pair of South African trackers, who can track anythig you like, no questions asked. Well, just about. Brian and Jason - the kind of TIE you don't want your kids to see, and the wonderful Greg, with his lovely bassy voice and infectious laugh.

However, it is in the songs that these two shine, with ridiculous notions and genuinely catchy lines, you'd have to be pretty dead inside to not laugh, or at least raise a smile. A genuinely funny and endearingly silly 45 minutes, in the company of a very gifted duo.

The resounding issue with this show is the venue - why Laughing Horse Free Fringe have picked it seems strange - it's a working cafe with no dedicated performance space, the sound quality is pretty poor, and when you are lucky enough to get respite from the coffee machine, a car will be stationary at traffic lights, drowning out enough of what's being said on 'stage', before being interrupted further by a siren or a crying baby. It's a shame that such a great show can be interrupted by things like this, but, please don't let this affect your judgement of Horse and Louis, and see them before they're big, otherwise you'll regret it.


Horse & Louis' Special Offer listing

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