Tom Neenan

Two young comics are to assume what I can only describe as "close to the bone" comedic alter-egos as bumbling and inept arts correspondents for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I'm told. Nish Kumar and Tom Neenan, who are avid fans of Newsnight Review and The Culture Show on television, are not exactly satirising the presenters and the acts that appear on such shows, but only gently "ribbing" them, Kumar says. The act, Gentlemen of Leisure, will feature such imaginary performance troupes as the Reduced Dickens Company (could this possibly have been inspired by the Reduced Shakespeare Company?) who rap the entire plot of A Tale of Two Cities. Another sketch involves a politically motivated dance troupe called Dystopia, who are "completely obsessed with the onset of robot attacks". Kumar says that, while it is not straightforward satire, it is what might happen "when the wrong people present these shows". Arts correspondents be warned. Their show is at GRV in Edinburgh from today.