Cardinal Burns

Image c Channel 4

Cardinal Burns
0 / 5

Channel: E4 and Channel 4
Series: Two
Aired: 2012-2014
Cast: Seb Cardinal, Dustin Dermi-Burns (Also featuring Aisling Bea, Bridget Christie, Fiona Button et al)


Nope.


Oh wait, you wanted more? Okay then.

Whilst I hate to admit that I agree with the Daily Fail on anything at all, I do agree that this was pretty much dire. Fundamentally, Cardinal Burns is a comedy duo (made up of Seb and Dustin) that has graced the live comedy circuit and successfully. They then had a sketch show approved for E4 with the second series being shown on Channel 4.

I've previously mentioned that I prefer my sketch shows a bit hit-and-miss, but this one was all miss and no hit. I watched a few episodes on 4Music where they are repeating the shows (unsure which series and episodes) and I found myself seriously questioning why. And then I remembered this challenge and silently hated myself.

Zero stars does seem a bit harsh. I recall when Cardinal Burns first came out that I vaguely wanted to watch it "just to see", so really it should get 1 star for that. And it has Aisling Bea in it, who is a very competent comedian, so that should be at least 0.3? But no. The jokes weren't funny and they seemed to rely on silly costumes and make-up for most of the laughs. They even lower themselves to the very lowest form of comedy which is prejudice and social stigmas. I've seen some reviews from the printed media and they seem to think it was "witty and intelligent" and I found none of that. There was little word play and there was even one sketch where they simply pranced about silently dressed rather twee.

Though, I can safely say it was very Channel 4. Well, modern Channel 4. You know, a bit naff but kind of passable in this modern age of dull political correctness (where Channel 4 try to be out there but really aren't).