Musical comedy can be a tricky game. With the desire for music to be taken seriously and comedy to be taken as silly, the match can perhaps find itself jarring and counterproductive. However, when musical comedy does work, it reaches into territory that neither art can step into on its own and Jollyboat are the embodiment of this musical comedy perfection.
The duo is made of brothers Edward and Tommy Croft. Both provide perfectly harmonised vocals while Edward plays guitar and Tommy dances. The songs are catchy, witty and hilarious and range from Linehan silliness to Boyle controversy sailing a range of topical and comedic subjects such as politics, religion and relationships.
The obvious but surely increasingly annoying comparisons to Flight of the Concords is justified only in set up. In terms of themes and styles for songs, they are miles apart but just as funny, if not more so, replacing songs about musical clichés with religious and sociological ones.
Their set opened with a medley of pirate related pop songs, changing the lyrics of modern chart toppers into pirate themed shanties. Apart from vastly improving the majority of the songs anyway, the lyrical changes were hilarious, a highlight being I Kissed a Gull and I Liked it. This however was merely the start of a set full of comedic gems from the slightly disturbing What the Hell happened on Wednesday (a song about going crazy on a potential date rape drug) to the song about their own religion which is far too explicit to repeat but gut wrenchingly funny all the same.
The inter song chat is another highlight of the duo’s show with perhaps one of the easiest and relaxed on stage relationships available. The chat ranges from light hearted promotion to extreme and brutal comedy but all is said with a wink and a nudge. The real highlight of the show was Jollyboat’s final song about Jesus but as a rapper. The duo’s set is littered with one liners and lyrics about the absurdity of religion but here, the simple randomness and comedy value of The Bible is brought vividly to life and was the perfect way to end a brilliant set.
Jollyboat had just come from headlining the comedy tent at Benicassim and will soon be heading to Edinburgh to play yet again but no doubt to larger crowds. The duo are set for big things so are essential viewing for fans of good music and great comedy, especially before they become even more successful as no doubt ticket prices will rightly increase.
