Introducing sketch troupe The Legion of Doom

A  Liverpool-based sketch group are preparing for their first headline show. Comedy performers the Legion of Doom have been a regular act on the alternative stand up scene and have developed their full-length play as a result of the characters and scenarios they have created on the open mic circuit. The troupe are brothers Rob and Oli Bond, from Wallasey, and Bolton-born Lee Hithersay. Their first one-hour show, The Rise and Fall of the Legion of Doom, is described as a “mini epic” that they plan to hone and eventually take to Edinburgh. The trio can regularly be seen at the monthly “comedy knight” at Mello Mello, which Rob set up two years ago to cater for comedy acts that don’t fall under the traditional stand up banner. He said: “I really enjoy comedy but think a lot of stand up is all very similar, and I wanted to do something different to that. We’re trying to pull all our experience into what we are doing now, and we’ve learned so much. It’s a hobby, but we want to take it as far as we can.” Inspired by TV shows like Family Guy and The Young Ones and comedy theatre companies like Spike, Spymonkey and Big Wow, Rob and Lee are JMU drama graduates and professional writers and performers, while Oli is studying computing and does Legion of Doom for fun. Their new performance – part sketch show, part play – is based on exaggerated versions of themselves. Rob plays a failed comic; Oli an underestimated evil genius; and Lee is intriguingly described as “an agent of chaos” at the heart of their more surreal gags. Lee said:  “We really enjoy doing Legion of Doom and it doesn’t feel like work yet.” The Rise and Fall of the Legion of Doom will be performed at Studio Liverpool,  in Elevator Studios on Upper Parliament Street (opposite Cain’s Brewery), on May 26 & 27. The next Comedy Knight takes place at Mello Mello on Slater Street on June 6.