Chris Kendall
Chris Kendall

Chris Kendall (I)

  • Actor and comedian

Press clippings

If you get aroused at sketch and character mirth, Russell Kane tells us, you're in the right place (actually he puts it in a more sexual way) because this show is a platform for fresh comedy talent. We're at the puerile end of the humour scale here, with some skits so surreal as to be almost pointless. But there are flashes of wit and the occasional gem.

YouTuber Chris Kendall's Film Fizz celebrity interview is very clever, while Kane's attempt to take the Bard to Essex in The Only Way Is Shakespeare (Sharonetti and Daveutio speak in Shakespearean blank verse) is ingenious.

Jane Rackham, Radio Times, 4th July 2013

The BBC must've been delighted with the first series of Russell Kane's Live at the Apollo-for-yoofs - a third season is already in production, before the second batch has even aired. The format remains largely unchanged for Live at the Electric 2.0: Kane introduces a mix of character comics and sketch acts with a younger, trendier edge than McIntyre's relatively geriatric affairs.

But, wisely, most of the pre-edited VTs that lead the first series have gone, replaced by greater focus on the 'live' part of the title. Welcome new additions to the line-up include suave French misanthrope Marcel Lucont (the character creation of Alexis Dubus), who dishes out some inventive sex advice, and weirdo Northern Irishman Paul Currie, who silently, and absurdly, recreates the iconic Russian roulette scene from The Deer Hunter with the help of a monkey puppet and some theatrical gestures.

Not all the skits hit the mark, though. YouTube star Chris Kendall (know as 'Crabstickz' on the interwebs) spoofs Robert Pattinson's Twilight turn about five years too late, and Kane's own The Only Way is Shakespeare sketch has one joke: saying rude words in a thespian tongue. But the rotating cast make this well worth sticking with, and there are some cracking acts to come later in the series.

Ben Williams, Time Out, 4th July 2013

As befits a sketch show that made its debut online, this takes aim at the internet and gaming culture, beginning with a Facebook morality tale that's as likely to make you wince as guffaw. Appropriately, the comics include YouTube stars Chris Kendall and Jenny Bede, who made a name for herself after spoofing Cheryl Cole, while Peter Serafinowicz supplies a deadpan voiceover. Highlights include a Sherlock sketch in which the investigator's ability to see clues everywhere proves more hindrance than help, and a prime minister who can't tear himself away from his laptop.

Claire Webb, Radio Times, 14th September 2012

Initially created for the BBC's online Feed My Funny series, DBF delivers more hit sketches than misses. The wonders and absurdities of our continually advancing technology are heartily embraced, resulting in some truly funny spoofs: the witty Facebook-stalker rap is on the money, a Sherlock Holmes parody is wonderfully silly, and The Pirate Movie Awards will raise a few guffaws from downloaders (you know who you are, you naughty peeps). However, it's the iPad for horses, with its Longfacebook app, that's most worthy of myriad social media posts. Cariad Lloyd and Chris Kendall are standout performers and the writing - delighting in our obsession with new media - is fast, fresh and funny. More please.

Debra Waters, Time Out, 14th September 2012

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