The Penny Dreadfuls vs Pappy's Fun Club: The ultimate test

Pappy’s v Pennies – it’s not quite the Ashes

Who is the better sketch troupe? The Penny Dreadfuls and Pappy’s Fun Club fight it out like gentlemen, says Roger Cox

PAPPY’S Fun Club and The Penny Dreadfuls are two of the most successful sketch comedy troupes to grace the Fringe in recent years, and on the face of it they’re also best of friends: they hang out at gigs together, they go drinking together – heck, they even go over to each other’s houses to play video games together. Probe this thin veneer of bonhomie, however, and you’ll discover a fierce rivalry lurking just beneath the surface.

“It’s really a love-hate relationship,” says the Dreadfuls’ Humphrey Ker. “We’re like brothers who are bonded through their natural blood ties but who have also, you know, maybe killed a prostitute or something.”

“The difference between us is hard to describe,” says Tom Parry of Pappy’s, “but I guess what they do is more 150-seater venue, whereas what we do is more 321-seater venue. That sums it up really. The rivalry is more on their part, because what have we got left to prove?”

Earlier this week, the Pappy’s v Pennies rivalry spilled over on to the cricket pitch – a contest that would give one troupe bragging rights over the other for the rest of the Fringe. That said, some of the players took the game held on the Meadows more seriously than others. Ker and Parry certainly looked the part, sporting pro-standard whites and pads, but the Fun Club’s Matthew Crosby didn’t make much of an effort, wearing the sort of jeans, shirt and jacket combo you’d expect to see down at your local boozer. Meanwhile David Reid of the Dreadfuls looked, as Ker observed, “a bit like Hannibal from The A-Team”.

Odd sartorial choices aside, the trash-talking in the build-up to the game was fierce. The Dreadfuls struck first, with a punishing broadside. “They may be quite good at social interaction, but when it comes to cricket, Pappys’ve got nothing,” roared the Dreadfuls’ David Reed.

“They haven’t really got a bowler,” added Thom Tuck.

“Yeah,” said Reed, “and Matthew Crosby’s allergic to sport – and the outdoors in general.”

Naturally, Pappy’s were quick to respond. Parry sprang to his teammate’s defence with the riposte: “They’re right, Matthew doesn’t really do anything sporty at all.”

It’s not hard to see why the troupes might want to compete on the cricket pitch: in terms of their achievements in the comedy world, there’s really not much to choose between them.

After being nominated for the if.comedy award in 2007, Pappy’s – who specialise in infectious silliness – have appeared on BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Radio 1’s Switch and ITV’s Comedy Cuts. This year they starred in their own self-titled show on Radio 4 and scored a half-hour special on Channel 4.

The Penny Dreadfuls meanwhile – a more restrained, debonair outfit, who like to style themselves as “gentlemen entertainers” – managed to amass almost 30 five-star reviews in the three years from 2006-2008 with a trilogy of shows centring on the world of a fictional Victorian explorer and dandy, Aeneas Faversham. This impressive run of stage success resulted in two radio series, entitled The Brothers Faversham, which aired on BBC7 and Radio 4 in 2008 and 2009.

The two fast-rising sketch collectives first came into contact at the Latitude Festival in 2007.

“I believe Matthew Crosby came up to me because he recognised us from the show and invited us for some vodka backstage at the literary tent,” says Reed.

The members of Pappy’s Fun Club remember the encounter somewhat differently.

“Those pricks – they stole our vodka at Latitude!” says Crosby.

“All I remember is being bottled by Thom Tuck,” says Parry.

“Humphrey booed us off stage,” says Brendan Dodds. “It was horrible.”

After Latitude, the two groups stayed in touch. On the surface things seemed sociable enough, but the spirit of competition was never far away.

“We had a drink-off during Obama’s election night,” remembers Parry. “The Pennies came round to our house and we played drinking games while watching the election.

“We had two tellies going at the same time – we had the election on one and we had a wrestling video game on the other. It was one where you can customise your competitors, so we built an Obama, a McCain and a Sarah Palin and we had wrestling matches where Obama was wrestling Sarah Palin. It was brilliant.”

Inevitably, perhaps, in the middle of a Scottish summer, the Pappy’s v Dreadfuls cricket match had to be cancelled after torrential rain stopped play. Ker claimed the Dreadfuls had won, mumbling something about the Duckworth-Lewis Method into his sodden whites, but in the end so little cricket was played that it seemed pointless to award victory to either side.

The inconclusive end to the cricket, however, puts even more onus on the remaining group sketch shows the two troupes are scheduled to appear as part of this year’s Fringe: Sketchatron events tomorrow and again on 27 August.

Ker describes the Sketchatron format thus: “You only get four groups in the hour and they each get 15 or 20 minutes, so they can really do it properly. It’s just on and off, let’s get on with it. It’s no frills, but it’s comedy right up in your grill.”

Who will come out on top in these encounters?

“It’s going to be like watching a Premiership team playing a local Sunday league side,” says Crosby.

“Yeah,” says Parry, “we wish them all the best, and maybe one day they’ll catch a break. Fingers crossed for them.”

Pappy’s Fun Club and The Penny Dreadfuls go head to head at Sketchatron: Nano, Bedlam Theatre, tomorrow and Sketchatron: Unwieldy, Pleasance Courtyard, 27 August. Pappy’s Fun Club’s World Record Attempt: 200 Sketches in an Hour is at the Pleasance Courtyard, until 31 August. The Penny Dreadfuls Present … The Never Man is at the Pleasance Courtyard, until 31 August.

To watch action from the Pappy’s v Pennies cricket match (such as it was) visit www.scotsman.com/festivalblog.

Review: Comedy review: Pappys Fun Club's World Record Attempt: 200 Sketches in an Hour