The Burton Brothers

If you could bottle and sell performance energy, then The Burton Brothers would be millionaires!

Their 60-minute sketch show set entirely in the year 1925 features comedy, sketches, songs, slapstick, improv and audience participation. I must confess, I have never seen a show like this before but can’t wait to see more from these boys!

Real life brothers, hailing from Melbourne, Tom and Josh burst on to the local comedy scene with their unique brand of sketch comedy, jam-packed with hilarity, quirky characters and superbly executed routines, which has seen them nominated for Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe, twice.

Since 2021, The Burton Brothers went international, with their first ever run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

With just a bare stage, with 2 lonely chairs and dressed in check trousers, white shirts, braces, ties and hats, the brothers take us back to everything that was considered healthy and socially acceptable in 1925; children smoking, going to war, marriage, carnivals, freaks, our horror film heroes, and of course tiddly winks!

With their help we visit the house of mirrors, a seedy restaurant for a meeting between Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster, a freak show, a seminar concerning the sanctity of marriage and more all with the boy’s unique blend of stand up and improv.

What is amazing about The Burton Brothers is their energy and pace. There is barely time to breathe in the all too short 60 minutes as they rapidly change characters, setting and plot. There is hardly a let up. It is a comedy marathon!

There are many highlights but Dracula/Frankenstein’s Monster, Ringling Bros Carnival and the army are my favourites and judging from the reaction from the audience, it was theirs as well.

Frequently, cabaret acts are very formula driven; in other words, the performers stick to the exact script which can result in the performance seeming a little ‘tired’ after running for a while. Not so the Burton Brothers who, because of their background in improvisation, are ‘trying out’ new material or reacting to the circumstances of each performance.

This keeps the performance fresh, and it is fun to watch the boys ‘crack up’ at their own extra business. They clearly enjoy presenting as much as we enjoy watching.

The highlight of the evening is the ‘tiddlywinks’ sketch near the end of the performance. My guest for the night had never heard of tiddlywinks, so there was a lot to explain on the way home. It brought back happy memories of my childhood.

The Burton Brothers is a madcap sixty minutes of fun, laughter and perhaps a reminder that life isn’t so bad in 2025. The boys play at an exhausting rate and leave us in stitches. Highly recommended!

Barry Hill OAM

Photo credit Claudio Raschella