Review: Knocked Conscious: A Sketch Comedy Show (Riverside Studios)

Review by Oliver Briggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Following a sell-out run in the Waterloo East Theatre, Knocked Conscious: A Sketch Comedy Show returns to London again in a sharp and witty fashion. The 70 minutes of back to back, captivating performance provide a vast range of sketches that leave no stone unturned. With a show title like that, I began to wonder… how would it feel to be “Knocked Conscious”? Well, now I know.

Knocked Conscious is a sketch comedy group formed of four rising comedians: Mungo Russell, Gayaneh Lara, Henrie Allen, and Calum Maclean. Having started in the Drayton Arms Theatre in 2024, Knocked Conscious has slowly and deservedly grown, performing to larger and larger audiences year after year. The team even reached the semi-finals of Sketch Off! 2026 at the Leicester Square theatre. With these achievements and its current home in the Riverside Studios, it’s evident that the team behind Knocked Conscious is here to provide a hilarious evening of sketches and will stop at nothing less.

The sketches themselves are devised and written by the team; they were all punchy, short, and exceptionally thought through. Even the order in which some sketches were performed added to the comedy. Nothing was predictable, and every single sketch got laughs. Across the evening there is light-hearted humour, wordplay, deception, nods to current affairs, and some slightly heavier content, creating a well-rounded performance that caters to each and every audience member. I know that if I were just sitting with the scripts for the sketches, I would be endlessly laughing to myself. I also have to appreciate the pop culture references and motifs throughout the performance. Not only does the show continually deliver fresh laughs and gags, but it also revisits earlier material in ways that heightens the comedy in these satisfying callbacks.

What elevates the show further is its direction. While the writing is already strong, the group’s use of silence and stillness gives the material real weight and precision. These are often overlooked tools in comedy, yet here they are deployed with confidence and control. The result is a performance that feels both carefully constructed and effortlessly chaotic in equal measure, with timing and unpredictability driving much of the success of the comedy.

In a show where the performers wear many hats, the level of skill on display is consistently impressive, and the entire group demonstrate exceptional multi-rolling ability. Each performer shows effective and exaggerated physical control, creating some sketches that felt like animations, as though I was watching a movie. I often leave reviews with notes and scribbles, this company commanded my attention so strongly that I didn't have the chance to write anything down. I was well and truly hooked from beginning to end.

The sound design and song choices for the transitions between sketches are solid throughout. Every tune compliments the previous sketch, not only that, but it was also recognisable, high energy music that keeps the crowd entertained for the few seconds it takes to blitz between sketch to sketch. Be it pop songs or pop culture, the design meant that the room was always energetic and never allowed for a stale moment onstage.

Knocked Conscious: A Sketch Comedy Show promises an evening of unending laughter with a lot of energy and unpredictable wit, with something for everyone. This is sketch comedy that hits hard and keeps you alert to the very end.

Knocked Conscious: A Sketch Comedy Show plays at the Riverside Studios until the 11th April. For tickets and information please visit https://riversidestudios.co.uk/whats-on/xA-knocked-conscious-a-sketch-comedy-show/