This is only my opinion of course, but sketch shows can be a bit of a challenge to watch. Yes, apologists can trot out the old defence that if you don’t like one sketch another will be along soon. But sometimes a sketch combo is simply not very funny from first sketch to last sketch. Not The Pin though. Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen are unashamedly smart cookies who have refined the process with forensic precision and have a consistently high hit level. Their last show played with the skit format but not so much as to alienate audiences. Owen typed out dialogue for Ashenden to deliver as the show started, Ashenden’s quizmaster had to find questions to fit answers in a cleverpants routine that had a hint of Ronnie Barker about it. References ranged from Frank Lampard and Osama Bin Laden to Tim Burton – a running gag involved movie pitches involving Johnny Depp in various weird hats. They won Best Show at the London Sketch Fest, so people who think they know more about the genre than me think they are pretty good too. And with a name like that you would expect them to be sharp. The Pin is at BAC tonight in a double bill with Sleeping Trees.

The Pin is at the Pleasance Courtyard from July 30 - Aug 25. Tickets here.