A Betrayal of Penguins are one of the highest rated Irish comedy sketch groups to head across the wee pond to take part in the Edinburgh Fringe. Seeing the guys live takes your breath away slightly due to their undeniable energy and freedom to ad lib in a way that gives you the impression of a well oiled comedy set…yet they also remain a trio of guys who want to have fun.

I am sceptical of comical songs. Too often they replicate one another through their music hall jauntiness, and so perhaps Deering’s distance from this cliché was what enthralled me. Indeed, even had Deering lacked humour, by his musicianship alone, his show would still remain one of my Fringe highlights.

Osmangolu invaded the stage with bravado. Brandishing two hairdryers he looks every much a warlord or prince. Unfortunately, that this was Osmangolu’s second attempt at the rather audacious entrance ruined his princely edge. Being 19th in line to the Turkish throne is certainly diluted by his half-English ‘posh boy’ genes; but it produces perhaps the most seductive voice on the Fringe.

Farnan’s is brand of comedy I find most captivating: it points directly at serious issues, lacing with with humor topics such as inequality and the perception of money. here, in Money, Money, Money, Farnan centers on the Irish economic meltdown, and from there goes onto discuss the wrath that money has upon our relationships and general being.