Teenage comedy quintet set to perform sketch show Ludicrous Fellows at Spectrum Theatre this weekend

A band of teenage creatives will hit the stage this weekend with their debut sketch comedy show, a performance they describe as an hour of “absurd, light-hearted and silly fun”.

Hardy Croucher, 17, Lachlan Benson, 18, Darshan Clark, 18, Owen Baxter-Holland, 17, and Emilie Speldewinde, 18, are set to perform their show Ludicrous Fellows at the Spectrum Theatre.

Created by the quintet in three months, the show is a series of unconnected sketches ranging in topics from life as a small man in the National Basketball League, the woes of being indebted to a loan shark, and what a man raised by bats might be like.

Croucher, who has been doing stand-up comedy for the last three years — including a show with the Melbourne International Comedy Roadshow in May — wrote most of the script but credits his fellow performers as each offering valuable creative input.

“I met a lot of these guys through the theatre scene and they had the same sense of humour as me and wanted to give sketch a try,” he said.

“We were all just hanging around and making jokes and then started taking it seriously and writing it down.

“I wrote the majority of it but had lots of input from them. It’s even changing now as we rehearse it more.

“It’s very lonely just doing normal stand-up by myself so it was great to bounce off each other.”

The show features Croucher, Benson and Clark as the three main performers with Speldewinde (props) and Baxter-Holland (tech booth) popping into the spotlight for a sketch or two.

While Croucher admits there is ”not much of a plot”, the show does feature callbacks, audience participation, games, stunts and multimedia elements of a PowerPoint presentation, videos, and original music to keep attendees engaged.

“It’s going to be really fun,” he said.

“We’ve all worked really hard on making it good and funny and if you don’t like it, it’s only about an hour.

“It’s not one of those shows where you reach the intermission and are wondering ‘why is this still going, I won’t get home until 11pm now’.”

Ludicrous Fellows will run at Spectrum Theatre on November 2 and 3 with doors open from 6.30pm.

Tickets are available through Paperbark Merchants from $16 to $20 and previews of the show can be seen via @ludicrousfellows Instagram.