“Footlights:Leftovers” was the show I was most looking forward to when coming to the Fringe. After reading all the famous names who had come out of this Cambridge University comedy group, I had high expectations of almost laughing off my seat. The live editor and I caught them front row on their last night – and they really did deliver!

The show started with the 5 cast members (Barnaby Evans, James Hazell, Amy Mallows, Oscar Matthews and Jago Wainwright) storming on stage in a row before each turning round to reveal the back of their paint covered t-shirts reading “we actually are funny mum”. Already off to a good start and the audience loved them!

The show itself was laced with political humour; very prominent when they portrayed a hypothetical future World Cup being held in Mordor; who had negative views on the treatment of LGBT people. This spoofed the recent world cup in Qatar where similar views are held. Barnaby Evans was particularly good here as he played the leader, speaking a made-up language with occasional English buzzwords which had to be translated; making for a humorous skit.

My favourite skit of the show had to be the short scene of a dyslexic dance troupe performing the YMCA which was quick but so witty. A longer skit of a panel attempting to create a male art and crafts store was rather funny too, with the group wondering what men really like – tools and war – duh – culminating in the creation of Warhammer.

A particularly funny skit was one in which Oompa Loompas had been employed to work at an unsafe nuclear plant. When announcing safety issues, they always did so in a rhyme; however the actual problem in English came last, with a nonsensical rhyme sounding like the issue appearing in the line before. This was hilarious as the nuclear plant’s safety issues got worse and worse, each time being announced by a nonsense musical rhyme by two Oompa Loompas – ending with the plant basically blowing up.

In between each skit a catchy jingle would announce ‘Leftovers’, from varying sources like news reports and viral videos, occasionally eliciting a laugh from the audience because they were just so random.

The group clearly worked well together and had fun doing it. Writer, performer and director Amy Mallows provided a nice female touch to the group while Oscar Matthews was very amusing with his witty delivery and hand gestures taking his characters to the next level. Barnaby Evans’ comedic delivery was, in the nicest way possible, reminiscent of a young James Corden – he certainly knew how to make the audience laugh. James Hazell and Jago Wainwright appear to both have perfected the skill of acting out responsible but slightly deranged characters which made for a very amusing watch. The end of the show had a nice ‘where-are-they-now’ type conclusion in which the characters from the skits were rounded off nicely. I would definitely recommend Footlight: Leftovers for any comedy fan who loves witty dialogue accompanied by hilarious delivery.