The Expeditionary Force presents The First Supper @ The Etcetera Theatre, Camden as part of the Camden Fringe Festival.

Sketch shows, especially ones on the fringe, are often filled with either gurning comedians constantly winking knowingly at the audience or a bunch of students throwing catchphrases and ‘wacky’ characters against the wall in the hope that one of them sticks and they’ll become the next Fast Show or Little Britain.

The First Supper by The Expeditionary Force fortunately avoids both stereotypes by assuming something rare in comedy – that its audience is as intelligent as they are. However, even if the audience was as clever as Mike Shephard, Jack Baldwin and Luke Sutherland, they’re probably not as verbose.

This sketch show happily wallows in obscure historical references, literary puns and fast talking absurdity. And, fortunately, it’s well written enough that you don’t need to know, for example, that the people who lived in the ancient Greek city of Byzantium did not refer to themselves as Byzantium to get the joke.

The gags and sketches are not your typical set up, catchphrase, punchline. First Supper often has no distinct ‘gag’ but instead, finds humour in the situation and performances. When Baldwin’s Anubis, the jackal–headed god, is introduced to the parents of his new girlfriend, it is his stoney-faced delivery of lines like: “I held her bloody heart in my hand and judged her,” that get the laughs.

The quality of the sketches does rely heavily on the performances of the three actors. Shephard brings huge energy and verve, while Baldwin, often playing the group’s straight man, offers beautiful comedy timing. Sutherland, however, often feels misused. He has an innocence that fits perfectly in some sketches, but when called upon to provide energy, they feel a bit flat.

And this highlights one of the main problems, not with the show, but with fringe show audiences. If the energy is not in the room, comedy like this suffers. It works on the premise that, even if the audience doesn’t get every reference, the energy will carry them along. If the energy falls, so does the comedy.

But these are minor quibbles. The First Supper is brilliantly written, laugh out loud funny and intelligent comedy.

However, this means that no one will probably ever see it past the sell-out audiences at the Camden Fringe. It’s too clever for mainstream audiences and too absurd for the Radio 4 crowds. But we can hope that this does break out from the fringe and into the mainstream.