In a festival where Ricky Gervais can charge whatever he wants for a show in the Playhouse and sell out comfortably, as well as expecting to pay £10 for a half-decent comedian nobody’s heard of, it’s nice to see the free alternatives still going strong.

A main part of that strength would be the brilliant Beta Males’ Picnic whose silly but smart sketch show manages to be just as clever and quipful as Idiots of Ants or Pappy’s Fun Club. Looking the part in waistcoats too, and with a matching air of grinning eccentricity, few free acts are so charming and so prepared.

* * * *  - THOMAS MEEK