Story Platform comedy review: Promising improv showcase
Story Platform is a live sketch comedy format that zips through its freshly created routines at a bewildering rate. Kevin Fullerton admires the concept and salutes the performances
Pity the critic evaluating a show which is purpose-built to change in its entirety at every performance. Story Platform offers one of those quandaries, with its brand-new writing and revolving door of cast members; vouching for its quality is like reviewing a restaurant that murders its head chef every few weeks. Yet its warm embrace of straight-out-of-the-oven comedy (some of it pulled together the morning before a performance) is something to be unequivocally championed.
Taking the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants process of Saturday Night Live as its inspiration, a pleasant but ramshackle air pervades this sketch comedy experiment. A motley crew of local talent meet up on the last Monday of every month, spend a few days cranking out sketches on a particular theme, then road test an hour or so of useable gags for Friday night’s shows (there are two performances, at 7.30pm and 9pm).
A degree of grace is to be given by the audience; as Story Platform regular Chris Thorburn recommends in his introduction, be enthusiastic for the material you enjoy and nod politely at the material you don’t. White-knuckling the comedy writing leads to a wealth of sketches that zip by at an incredible speed, playing to the strengths of performers accustomed to tailoring their skits to the lean world of Instagram and TikTok. There’s a decent hit rate, and one or two home runs (a sketch about an animatronic corpse, one involving a blottoed driving instructor, and an orientation class for American tourists were personal highlights). Plenty of others bombed or needed tweaking, while a few brilliantly written skits simply failed to connect (a parody combining BetterHelp ads with the ballistic beliefs of Sigmund Freud was met with stone-cold silence despite whip-smart pacing). Whether wins or losses, the buoyancy from everyone involved makes even line stumbles and fumbles resemble Peter Cook’s well-timed corpsing more than an amateur hour of patience testing.
Joining in with the fun is a who’s who for anyone familiar with Scotland’s current crop of stand-ups, with turns from Kim Blythe, Amelia Bayler, Maddie Fernando, Eleanor Morton, Chris Thorburn, Daniel Petrie, Rebecca Bain, Heather Kondak Ross and Alana Jackson. Some sketches feel like well-worn shoes (no one does a brusque tour guide quite like Morton, and Blythe’s gormlessness is a tried and tested crowd-pleaser) while others gamely swim out of their depth.
You won’t receive a highly polished hour if you visit Story Platform and it would be unfair to expect otherwise. What you can enjoy is watching a group of up-and-coming performers given time and space to tease out new and exciting ideas. If nurtured correctly, this format could run and run, becoming as much of a fixture on Edinburgh’s comedy scene as Red Raw and Top Banana.
Story Platform happens at The Gilded Saloon, Edinburgh on the final Friday of every month; pictures: Louise Thomas.