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The British have a long and proud history of confinement comedy - people who don't like each other very much stuck in an environment of desperation, failure and loneliness. Steptoe & Son, Porridge, Red Dwarf, Alan Partridge, Father Ted, just to name a few. Four Minute Warning borrows liberally from all of these and throws it all against the wall to see what sticks.

Four Minute Warning has an original premise - it's set in England 20 years after Germany won World War II by nuking the British Isles. The survivors are living in bunkers, and all they have to entertain them is the BBC's emergency broadcast radio. As the show opens, Ted & Bertie, living in a bunker, dressed in suits, are gearing up to deliver their 7771st radio broadcast.

The quirky, unmistakable style of British radio humour feels odd in the middle of a comedy festival mostly dominated by stand-up shows. The whole thing plays like a Tony Martin radio sketch, slightly dodgy UK accents included, extended to an hour.

Neil Sinclair as Bertie plays the straight man to Doug Pickering's Ted, who Bertie believes only got the radio gig because he has a regional accent. The two hate each other and have been living together uncomfortably for 21 years, going slightly mad. They trudge through the everyday and make their plans for the future, musing about what life will be like when they finally get out. Doing the radio show is all that sustains them, even if it is just mindless blathering about things that don't matter. The future of radio, Ted calls it.

A highlight for me was the on-air radio talent show, which saw entrants such as a magician doing a card trick, a ventriloquist and a plate spinner. The show is also well researched with numerous cultural nods to the 1940s mentality and even a reference to the famous War of the Worlds radio play which fooled so many people at the time.

As for whether it works or not overall, I'm not sure. The show has a distinctly amateurish feel to it, which it plays up at times, but the frequently miscued sound effects are awkward and a little off-putting. There are giggles and groans from the audience, but no guffaws.

You get the sense Four Minute Warning is being piloted for a future project of some kind. Perhaps it would work well as a regular podcast, as the visual element was quite underused and therefore probably unnecessary.

Four Minute Warning brings some welcome originality to the festival and there are some good moments in it, but it needs tightening up a fair bit. At this stage I'd say it's one for curious types and British radio comedy fans only.


FOUR MINUTE WARNING

Venue: Trades Hall, The Evatt Room Cnr Lygon & Victoria Street, Carlton
Dates: March 25 - April 18 (no Mondays),
Tickets: $20.00 Adult, $18.00 Concession, $15 Previews & Tightarse Tuesdays
Times: 8.15pm, Sundays 7.15pm
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 or www.comedyfestival.com.au