Category: Comedy

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Adam Hills Presents JAKE JOHANNSEN IS TALKING SHOW

Smooth intelligent stand-up from an international star

By Narelle Wood

The 2016 Melbourne Comedy Festival show starts with a voice-over recording of a conversation between Hills and Johannsen. It seems a little trite, but it does make the point that Johannsen is a stand-up comic, without the use of gimmicks, toys, music or any other prop you can think of: the type of comedian that is becoming increasingly hard to find.

Jake Johannsen is Talking Show

While Johannsen has had tonnes of success and received some high accolades overseas, this is his first visit to Australia, courtesy of his friendship with Hills. Like Hills, Johannsen’s humour does not rely on nastiness or crude jokes: rather, it is old-school stand-up based on a mixture of observations, timing and story-telling that is laugh-out-loud funny. One of the biggest testaments to Johannsen’s talent was the gracious and humorous way he dealt with the very annoying heckler sitting in the back; the comments were absorbed into the show and then he just got on with it.

The main premise of the show is age, mostly growing older, yet it was not just the more mature of the audience that could relate to the anecdotes; there were some truisms for young and old alike. But the show also covered everything from Ugg Boots and their prolific status on Melbourne streets, to male aggression, children, Twilight and social media. I got the sense that most of the material was pre-prepared yet Johannsen’s style is so natural and conversational that he could be making it up on the spot. Either way it worked and he even managed to weave in a few jokes at Trump’s expense, which although perhaps at an easy target, were still meet with an appreciative snicker.

While the Comedy Festival has lots of home-grown humour, I highly recommend a visit to this international act. It’s clever and clean, and there’s something Kramer-esque about Johannsen that makes it a show well worth seeing.

Venue: Greek Centre, 168 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Season: 7.15pm Tues to Sat, 6.15pm Sun until 17th April

Tickets: Full $27.50 | Conc $23.50 | Tuesdays $19

Bookings: ticketmaster.com.au or comedyfestival.com.au

Cabaret, Comedy, Impro

The Butterfly Club Presents UNDERSTUDIED: Tales from the Hollywood Back Lot

GOSSIP FROM HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN ERA

By Narelle Wood

With the Oscars just around the corner it seems a very appropriate time for some gleeful gossip from the back lot of MGM studios.

Marzipan_web2

Understudied is an improvised show, so no nightly gossip will be the same. Our cast of characters – the carpenter and also patient in bed no. 3, Frank (Karl McConnell); the professional stand-in, Muriel Longford (Jenny Lovell); and Mr O’Malley’s unacknowledged daughter Marzipan (Anna Razenbrick) – are hiding out in an unused room escaping the fakery and abnormality of the MGM studio lot. While they pass the time away there is chatter of Clark Gable’s bad breath, Frank Sinatra’s ability to communicate with just one look, and the trouble brewing between Bogie and Bacall.

The show’s creator, Renzenbrick, is gorgeous as Marzipan O’Malley. There’s a wide-eyed naivety in her character that makes her dreams of a Gone with the Wind sequel, Even More Wind, seem almost plausible; that is until Tara is turned into a goat farm. There was a lot of chemistry on stage with the combination of McConnell, Razenbrick and Lovell; so much so that the improvisation seemed more like natural conversation than story telling on the fly.

As with any impro, at least ones I’ve seen, the sets and props are scarce, but it is amazing what you can do with three chairs, continuously hungry chickens, and a little bit of imagination. The one additional element that tied the whole show together was the use of the Gone with the Wind soundtrack; it provided the perfect daydreaming music for our cast of characters to think about what their futures in the movie industry holds.

Understudied: Tales from the Hollywood Back Lot is a unique glimpse into the behind the scenes of Hollywood’s Golden Era. It’s fun, frivolous and possibly even touches on some truths.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, Carson Place, Melbourne

Season: 8.30pm until Sunday 28th

Tickets: Full $32| Conc $28

Bookings: thebutterflyclub.com/show/understudied

 

 

Comedy, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Circo Aereo Presents THE PIANIST

Riotously funny and utterly delightful

By Rachel Holkner

The Pianist is a character of grace, charm and poise, but only in his own mind. In this Circo Aereo production, Thomas Monckton takes on this role in a battle against a downright vindictive grand piano. The result is an hilarious show as Monckton engages in more and more bizarre problem-solving in order to get his music concert started.

The Pianist.jpg

This dialogue-free performance is laughs from start to end, from embarrassed titters to outright side-splitting convulsions as the Pianist mimes, dances and contorts his way around the stage. It is constructed as beautifully as any concerto, with slow and subtle beginnings, clever and timely phrase repetitions, and building gradually to an uproarious crescendo.

The situations are absurd as the pianist character, while not exactly hapless, is doomed to suffer through his own misjudgements as the simple staging and very few props are determined to bring him down. And all the while he is dearly wishing for his work to be taken seriously.

Monckton is a virtuoso performer, keeping the audience fully engaged for an hour through his expressive movements, whether spectacular full-body acrobatics or minute facial tics. He is a skilled mime artist, aware of his own nonsense, but revelling in the audience’s enjoyment.

The entire production reminded me of no less than a classic Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life with the overconfidence of Daffy Duck together with the charm of Bugs Bunny and the bad luck of Wile E. Coyote. I could not read the make of piano from where I was sitting but would not be surprised had it said ‘ACME’.

The audience during this performance was one of the most varied I have seen with all ages well represented and equally enchanted with The Pianist‘s antics; this is truly a show that anyone will enjoy. I can’t recommend it highly enough as a refreshing escape.

Showing at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne
12 – 16 January at 7:30pm
Saturday 16 Jan at 1:00pm
Sunday 17 Jan at 3:00pm
Tickets $39 with family prices available.

Phone: 1300 182 183
https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/circus-physical-theatre/the-pianist

Comedy, Review, Theatre

REVIEW: Noel Coward’s SEMI MONDE

Fleeting affairs and quick-witted comedy

By Narelle Wood

Noel Coward’s Semi Monde presented by Seven Actors is a complex web of scandal and affairs, played out in the streets of Paris, that provides just as many laughs as it does relationships. The recent Melbourne production at Trades Hall was performed by a versatile cast including Kelly Ryan, Jade Thomson, Lisa Dallinger, Ross Larkin, Malcolm Nash, Ebony Higgins and Scott Jackson.

Semi Monde

Set in the mid 1920’s, the opulence of the party era is in full swing. Each of Coward’s thirty characters takes full advantage of the extravagant lifestyle, capturing the flirtatious and risqué nature of expressing, or hiding, one’s sexuality and affection. The play doesn’t focus on any one character or group of characters, rather it moves from group to group as if observing the coming and goings of a whole range of regulars at L’hotel Sept, where the intrigue unfolds. Over a series of lunches and cocktails, relationships breakdown, alliances are forged, affairs begin and love is rekindled. There are, amongst many others, the flamboyant-gossip-loving gays, the newly weds, the author and his amorous daughter, various entertainers and a mysterious Russian.

The intricacies of the storyline coupled with the number of characters and only 7 actors resulted in the play being a little hard to follow at times. There were some very quick transitions between characters that were facilitated by accent changes and costume embellishments; in the 3rd act these transitions were executed with skillful flair as performers shifted back and forth between several characters within only a few minutes. While most of the cast, under the direction of Scott Jackson, formed clear delineations between their multiple roles, there were a few times where the transformations were harder to follow, but it was difficult to tell whether this was due to similar character archetypes or the portrayal of the character.

This enjoyable production of Semi Monde was an ambitious undertaking that was well executed. The production was minimalist but effective, though I couldn’t help imagine a more elaborate extravaganza of characters, sets and costumes. Nevertheless Semi Monde was a frolicking good time.

Seven Actors Present Noel Coward’s Semi Monde was performed from 10-15 December 2015 at The Kelvin Club and Trades Hall.

Cabaret, Comedy, Review

REVIEW: Daniel Oldaker is DANDYMAN

Ring in the silly season

By Myron My

Christmas, the festive season – the silly season some might say, especially if that person is Dandyman. Celebrating 20 years in the industry and having toured over 30 countries, the brains behind the silly, Daniel Oldaker, returns to The Butterfly Club as his alter-ego  in his Christmas-inspired show, Dandyman – Mocktales.

Dandyman

He appears on stage dressed in pyjamas but it’s not long until they come off and the trademark bright-blue suit with bow tie makes its appearance. Throughout the 30 odd-minute performance, Dandyman recalls various childhood memories of Christmas time accompanied by a variety of routines consisting of clowning, magic or dancing and sometimes all three. At one point, I distinctly feel like I am watching an episode of Mr. Bean, but one in which he speaks.

Oldaker has such a strong stage presence and is full of charisma, so it’s disappointing to see a number of these routines that feel surprisingly awkward and pointless. In contrast though, one of the more memorable scenes involves Dandyman reminiscing about his grandfather and the magic trick he used to perform to the grandchildren. It brought a feeling of quaint nostalgia to the audience as we were invariably led to thoughts of our own special family memories. There is also an intriguing thread of darkness running through Dandyman – Mocktales, of something ‘not quite right’ that is briefly touched, but which would have been brilliant for Oldaker to explore and take Dandyman into previously uncharted territories.

There appeared to be some repeated lighting and sound issues on the night I attended. While mishaps will occur with a live show and can often be overlooked, it is still quite awkward to the artist to have to stop the show and wait for the right track to be played. 

I’m one of the few people out there that doesn’t like Christmas nowadays. Call me a grinch if you must. Watching Dandyman – Mocktales is the most Christmassy thing I will be doing this year. While there is definitely room for improvement, I did enjoy some of the silliness and playfulness on stage and the memories of childhood Christmases it permitted me to revisit.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Season: Until 13 December | 7pm
Tickets: $32 Full | $28 Conc
Bookings: The Butterfly Club

Cabaret, Circus, Comedy, Whats On

REVIEW: BRIEFS

Erotic, erratic and glorious entertainment

By Myron My

For those who have an immense fear of audience participation, this show could possibly be your worst nightmare. But for those after some sexy excitement and fun, then look no further because Briefs has got you covered – or uncovered as the case may be.

Briefs

Formed in Brisbane, this all-male boylesque group has spent the last year travelling around Europe performing sell-out shows to rave reviews. Melbourne finally gets its turn to revel in the skill and beauty on stage in a stunning show that is not to be missed.

All the performers – Shivannah, Captain Kidd, Dallas Dellaforce, Thomas Worrell, Evil Hate Monkey, Lachy Shelley and Louis Biggs – possess a strong sexual confidence among them, which is imperative when your acts revolve around you wearing minimal clothing (and sometimes nothing at all). They also happen to be highly talented individuals and while the show is heavily structured and choreographed, there is a naturalness to their performances that allows for spontaneity and surprises for both themselves and us. There is moreover a brilliant mix of variety in the acts and they are so well paced that the ride we are on never stops being enjoyable.

Worrell’s aerial hoop and silks routines are simply breathtaking to watch. There is an erotically-charged energy to him as he ties himself in knots and contorts his body into some impressive poses while swinging from the hoop. Biggs’ circus acts and his cheeky smile are the epitome of naughty fun and the personas he takes on are executed extremely well. His mischievous high-school student act remains a highlight of the evening.

Evil Hate Monkey’s banana is a touch of comedy genius and had everyone in fits of laughter. Even with the common equation of banana as penis, there is a freshness and daringness to this act. Las Vegas King of Burlesque 2011 Captain Kidd and his famous birdbath act is a sight to behold and the less said about it the better; but it is an incredible finale to an incredible evening.

It’s been a while since Briefs has graced a Melbourne stage and you would be utterly mad if you missed the opportunity to see this seductive burlesque-cabaret-circus glitter explosion!

Venue: Athenaeun Theatre, 188 Collins St, Melbourne.

Season: Until 5 December | Tues – Sat 7:30pm

Tickets: $52.81 Full | $47.71 Conc

Bookings: Ticketek

Comedy, Festivals, Performances

REVIEW: Andrew Milne and Patch Blank in I DON’T LIKE YOU

From frenemies to fragments, and narrative to nuance

By Myron My

Andrew Milne and Patch Blank have brought their unique clowning and performance art production I Don’t Like You to audiences as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Their debut show initially explores the relationship and emotions between two friends who actually don’t really like each other…

I Don't Like You

I Don’t Like You starts off strongly and with a seemingly clear aim of where it is headed. The duo are very skilled at finding humour in a range of situations and reminded me a little of the physical comedy popularised in modern culture by Mr. Bean with their highly expressive faces and exaggerated movements. Milne and Blank play well together and their best work is when they are interacting with each other.

In the second act, the two begin to experiment with concepts of postmodernism and to break down the structures they have set up. The silliness and jokiness and silence they were playing with becomes fragmented, and the audience becomes slightly more actively involved in the show while also significantly unaware of what is going to happen next. At one point, Milne begins to aggressively speak to the audience as he emphatically blows up balloon animals, exclaiming and explaining “it’s only air”…

As part of I Don’t Like You’s deconstruction of theatre, Milne hangs a gun on the wall early in the show, a cheeky nod to the principle of Chekhov’s Gun (which states, “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”) What happens with this production is that events or objects in the first half are deliberately forgotten and others suddenly occur or appear in the second half. Increasingly, the show’s title seems to not simply be referring to the relationship of two people on stage, but to be a critique of theatre and performance itself as the artists attempt to re-think what these terms actually mean.

Milne and Blank certainly have a knack with physical comedy, clowning and (meta)theatre. There are some clever and funny moments in I Don’t Like You and as first-time performers it will be interesting to see how they continue expanding on their interest in breaking theatre and its rules.

Venue: Club Voltaire, 14 Raglan St, North Melbourne, 3051

Season: Until 4 October | 9.30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc | $15 Cheap Tuesday

Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Comedy, Kids Theatre, Review

REVIEW: The Listies Will Make You LOL!

Lively kids theatre with plenty of cheek

By Margaret Wieringa

It says it all in the title. Who are The Listies? Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly are a couple of young men who act like they’ve never grown up – and thank goodness! What’s a LOL? Really? If you don’t know text talk for Laugh Out Loud, I’ve no idea how you’ll cope with Matt’s Face Texting, even though the technology required for that is minimal (but, as with most technology, the kids get it faster than the parents).

The Listies

The Darebin Arts Centre was a large venue for such an intimate show, but they made it work through good use of microphones (albeit with slightly dodgy headsets) and racing from one end of the theatre to the other. It didn’t matter whether you were sitting front row or way up the back, you got a good chance to get a pair of dirty undies in the face.

The kids in the audience were roaring with laughter throughout – I heard several children from different families around me saying to their parents “It’s sooooo funny!” But don’t think you’ll be bored, parents, guardians, aunts and uncles. There’s even a hint of political satire… well, just a hint.

The Listies kept the extremely enthusiastic audience right in the palms of their hands throughout with a series of extended sketches with a fair whack of improvisation. Even classics like the knock knock joke get a whole new treatment, and I bet there will be a whole lot of car journeys that will be a lot more fun when playing ‘Hey, Cow!’

The Listies have just about finished up their recent tour around the country (though there is one more show coming up at the Lorne Festival on August 29), but keep your eye on their website. If you have small children in your life, treat them to some Listies fun!

http://www.thelisties.com/

Comedy, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: George Kapiniaris in ZORBA THE FREAK

Aussie comedy icon brings in the laughs

By Christine Young

George Kapiniaris bounds onto the stage with the zest Greeks are famous for.

“I didn’t know there were Greeks in Frangers. Are there Greeks in Frangers?”

Yes, we’re here. A small cheer came from the audience. It’s easy to imagine that, in venues closer to the city, the crowd roars back.

And Kapiniaris must have boundless energy because he’s also currently touring the nation with Wild Wogs. Μπράβο! When does he sleep?

Zorba the Freak

The Franger/Frankston audience of the comedian’s latest one-man show Zorba the Freak took a little while to warm up but Kapiniaris wasn’t deterred. He gave us his all. Maybe we even got a better performance because we were slow to engage. While the show pays tribute to being Greek – including an hilarious sequence of 1980s song parodies – Kapiniaris also comically muses on marriage and parenthood. He also happily takes the piss out of himself as well as Greek attitudes to Cypriots, Macedonians and Turks. And, of course, ‘Skippy the Bush Kanagarouthas’ (Anglo-Australians) are sent up too.

Kapiniaris is a pioneer of ‘ethnic humour’ in Australia (though ‘ethnic’ seems a misnomer because we all have an ethnicity).  Even so, he has a long list of television and theatre credits which haven’t relied on his Greek heritage. Interestingly, this probably couldn’t have happened without his role in the ground-breaking 1987 play, Wogs out of Work, which co-starred Nick Giannopoulos, Mary Coustas and Simon Palomares. The show that came about because non-Anglo/Celtic actors couldn’t land roles in mainstream theatre launched diverse careers for Kapiniaris and his peers. It’s also paved the way for countless migrant comedians since.

However, back to Zorba. This show is not just for people from Greek or migrant backgrounds. Kapiniaris’s antics are ‘totally relatable’, as an audience member, who was in hysterics, told me. This reviewer was also impressed by an Australian woman who knew several innocent Greek words starting with ‘fak’. I’m half-Greek and I only knew two of them!

Melbourne songstress Maria Maroulis opens and closes the show with the stirring ‘Dinata’ which was made famous at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games by Eleftheria Arvanitaki. The musical interludes, which include some bouzouki (what else?) and audience participation, add to the liveliness of Kapiniaris’s antics.

While the show wasn’t a side-splitter for me personally, most of the audience was laughing up a storm. So don’t take my word for it: go and see Zorba the Freak for yourself!

Venue: Frankston Arts Centre, Victoria; touring nationally
Dates: 3rd July (Wollongong, NSW), 17th October (Sydney, NSW), 24th October 2015 (West Wyalong, NSW)
Booking: www.georgekapiniaris.com

Comedy, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Laura Davis in GHOST MACHINE

Inviting, honest and amusing

By Myron My

There’s a ghost that is said to haunt The Butterfly Club. Upstairs, in its theatre space, the spectre lingers on stage, flashing lights on and off and – oh hang on a minute, it’s just Laura Davis covered in a white bed sheet in a return season of her 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival award-winning show, Ghost Machine.

Ghost Machine

Davis travels back to her first existential crisis at the age of 11, and from there she revisits the moments in her life where things haven’t always been that great. It is all done however in a masterful way where despite sharing these personal stories and experiences, she gives the audience permission to laugh at and with her because we can all relate to what she is saying. We have all experienced the despair, the rage and the humiliation our circumstances have induced, in some way, shape or form.

Ghost Machine ponders the age-old questions of what are we doing and why are we here. The show is not a constant bellyache of laugh-out-loud humour but it’s a damn good entertaining hour of insights and story-sharing. Davis has an extremely calming presence and even with the awkward stage persona and the loud talking, she creates a warm and welcoming environment for her audience. This is especially crucial for when she ventures into the crowd asking what their guilty pleasures are or to share the regrets of their lives.

If there’s one thing to take away from Ghost Machine it’s that life isn’t always going to be a bunch of roses. There is always going to be crap that we are going to have to deal with but Davis lets it be known (because it something we need to constantly hear) that looking on the bright side is always important and that we should laugh the little things away. It’s a very valuable lesson. Well that, and not to self-medicate based on a YouTube comment.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St, Melbourne

Season: Until 7 June | Fri-Sat 9:00pm, Sunday 8:00pm

Tickets: $32 Full | $28 Conc

Bookings: https://www.thebutterflyclub.com/show/ghost-machine