Sarah Kendall

Sarah Kendall stands up

Comedian Sarah Kendall is a long term ThreeWeeks favourite. In fact, we like her so much that back in 2007 we gave her one of our ThreeWeeks Editors' Awards.

Back to the 'Burgh: an interview with Sarah Kendall

Perrier nominee Sarah Kendall talks to Emma McAlpine about her first Edinburgh show in five years.

Katy Perry videos full of phallic symbolism

Stand-up comedian Sarah Kendall has said that Katy Perry's music videos are "full of phallic symbolism".

Sarah Kendall: 'I have the weak pulse of a dying gazel'

In her opening blog, Aussie stand-up Sarah Kendall surveys the wild, wild plains of Edinburgh, and wonders which DVD she should watch.

Sarah Kendall examines the world as place to raise kids

Pole dancing, politics and parenthood in 2012 Edinburgh Fringe show.

The spotlight on ... Sarah Kendall

She was a Perrier-nominated stand-up back in 2004, she's resident host of Soho Theatre's Saturday night shows and she has some vital foot-based news for us - damn right, it's Sarah Kendall.

The ladies behind this new all-girl sketch show - Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson - have earned their stripes around some of the best: their comedy CVs include shows with Mitchell and Webb, Steve Coogan and the Little Britain boys. Here they extrapolate events from pop culture - the girls scallywag about as four Russell Brands and there's a what-they'd-really-say take on Sex and the City. They then add in everyday moments with a surreal veneer - should you go on a date dressed as a duck?, etc. A few bits of nostalgia and poignancy may raise smiles, but Beehive is otherwise a punchline-free zone.

Hmmm, an all-women sketch show - could this be the new Smack The Pony? In a word, no. For every funny skit several fail to raise a smile, let alone a laugh.

It's a shame. There's real comic talent here - one, Sarah Kendall, is a brilliant stand-up who always makes me laugh in her day job. But the scripts are looser than Sex And The City's Samantha (who they spoof, along with the rest of the girls). And some sketches are just pointless.

There's a crude SATC moment when a waiter says to a smutty Samantha: 'Please stop that. You are sad and embarrassing.' At times watching this, I thought the same. It's not all bad, though. Their homage to Alien is funny (no, they're not spoofing the scene you'd expect), as is their Weird Science skit, when two nerdy girls try to make the perfect man.

The second of tonight's double-bill is the better episode, greatly helped by their quartet of Madonnas. The sheep-herding sketch will tickle the funny bone of many a dog owner. And possibly Guy Ritchie.

Stinging Criticism

Sarah Kendall, Alice Lowe, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson are decent performers, but the writing lacks the subtlety and ­characterisation necessary to draw in the audience.