The Stevenson Experience: Identical As Anything (MICF)

If their indistinguishable faces weren't enough to make the point, The Stevenson Experience will drop a joke about the fact that they are Identical As Anything every 12 or so seconds.

Twin brothers Ben and James Stevenson rely so heavily on this premise throughout their show that by the time the "twist ending" drops, it's obvious, predictable and downright lazy writing. There are sex gags and dick jokes in abundance to satisfy the tween boy demographic, but it falls well short of having enough substance to fill out a full 60 minutes.

Perhaps a few years ago The Stevenson Experience would have been thought of as edgy comedy - mad grabs at Rolf Harris material and calling each other "retarded" - but nowadays it just comes across as uninspired and in poor taste. Their songs are catchy enough, but the content of their comedy is overly puerile and questionable - think 'Robin Thicke with a joke book'. The pair have some good stories and are attuned to some very relatable gags, but it's all so transparent, with punchlines dropping well before they're meant to. Kudos for some pretty good crowd work from the boys, but repeated interruptions between the two mid-sentence becomes maddeningly nauseating.

The Stevenson Experience clearly have a solid and devout fanbase, but if the brothers are going to run with the some of the best musical comedians in the world (plenty of whom are here right now for MICF), they need to seriously up their game.

The Stevenson Experience presents Identical As Anything till 23 Apr at Victoria Hotel, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.