The Colour Ham @ Just the Tonic

The Colour Ham does something new with the sketch show and an unpredictable mixture of illusion, mind-reading and comedy is fun, fresh and very, very silly.The raucous atmosphere means jaw-dropping magical feats don’t quite have a home here. Save for a neat disappearing bottle trick through the stomach, the magic itself is nothing remarkable, instead there’s more emphasis on the comedy and boyish joviality of our Scottish trio.

There’s an energy and irresistible comradery between the performers as they stumble through their show, which goes delightfully wrong at every turn. Kevin McMahon is our magician, Colin McLeod a mind-reader and Gavin Oattes our comedian. While McMahon and McLeod are highly skilled illusionists – having performed at the Magic Castle in LA – Oattes provides the comic relief. He is funny, naughty, rude and scathing of his pals and takes every opportunity to thwart their routines and slag them off. At one point he pretends to be hypnotised and as Colin briefly exits the stage he smiles vacantly at the audience, telling them "I fucking love being hypnotised."

The Colour Ham offers variety to the more traditional child-friendly and clean-cut shows filling the rest of the Magicfest calendar and its mischievous atmosphere, adult content and bizarre turn of events make it a good choice for comedy (and a spot of magic) at this year’s Fringe. [Rebecca Paul]