Wankernomics plays on a single punchline for an hour: the language of business as designed to obfuscate meaning. The show’s structure of a seminar on how to polish up a recently unemployed member of the audience manages to keep the joke as fresh as it can be, given that it has been doing the circuit since approximately the 1980s. The duo’s interplay and audience engagement is impressive, but their humour-based modules for converting bystanders into consumers of comedic content falters through its emphasis on surface-level observations.

The final routine, which generates a contemporary advertisement for an imaginary company goes some way to broadening their targets, but there is no meaningful attempt to understand or critique the reason why business can’t just call a hilarity-orientated discourse a joke. A few swipes at tobacco and arms companies aside (which mocks the capacity of capitalism to disguise dangerous products and processes behind inclusive and inviting vision statements), As Per My Last Email becomes a series of funny routines that struggles to uncover any depth in their critiques. The presenters lack characterisation, and the show settles for short-term gains without considering the consequences or reasons. Just like capitalism. 

Wankernomics: As Per My Last Email, Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 August, 6pm.