Cardinal Burns review: Hot and cold

After a disappointing start, Cardinal Burns hits its stride.

Cardinal Burns could save the British comedy duo

Bar a few gratuitous bestiality gags Cardinal Burns was a strong debut, breathing laughter into the corpse that is modern British comedy.

Cardinal Burns, E4 - review

Sketch duo make a very strong debut with their parodies with a dark twist.

Perhaps I have become a little jaundiced towards sketch comedy in general, but I sat stone-faced through huge swathes of E4's latest offering. Writer/stars Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns have a fine eye for character detail, and are both strong performers, but when they do come up with an authentically funny idea they can't let go of it.

The vomiting homicide officers, the improvised audition and the French stunt fly sketches all had their respective charms but went on for far too long.

Other sections were cleverly filmed but failed to deliver any satisfactory laughs, most notably the zombie chase opener. Top marks for the stylish and atmospheric movie pastiche, but the build up simply served to make a disappointing punchline look all the more feeble.

On reflection, Cardinal Burns showed more than enough potential to merit revisiting, although I have a horrible feeling they might follow the popular sketch show trend of introducing all their best ideas in episode one and then regurgitating them throughout the rest of the series. Come on boys, prove me wrong.

Review: Cardinal Burns (C4)

If subsequent weeks keep this level of quality, are they destined to nab the British Comedy Award from Horrible Histories next year?

Live comedy favourites Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns kick off their sketch-show series with skits veering from puerile to awkward to totally random. They introduce and weave a range of recurring characters throughout this half hour - the trustafarian beat poet, the smug office flirt, the real Banksy - but their best work lies in the standalone segments. In particular the desperate jobbing actor willing to be sexually violated by an imaginary hawk, and the up-chucking police detectives who should come with a disclaimer: do not watch while ingesting. The gags sag in the latter half, with unfortunate stereotyping sinking a reality-show spoof, but this is frequently laugh-out-loud funny.

TV review: Cardinal Burns

Those man-eating zombies might be puerile but they're dead funny.

Cardinal Burns review

The production of Cardinal Burns is entirely original for a sketch show, and visually it looks exceptionally stylish and polished.

Cardinal Burns: meet TV's new comedy double act

Critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe act Cardinal Burns make their small screen debut tonight. Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns talk Steve Coogan, vomit and more...

Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns have already won critical acclaim for their Edinburgh Fringe shows and sold out their recent run in London - no surprise the pair's sketch show debut comes with high expectations. The pair excel at taking well-worn situations (office romance, undead invasions) and taking them to their absurd conclusions. The best sketches are the most believable: reimagining Banksy as a middle-aged surbuban house husband is a stroke of comic genius.