Category: Stand-Up Comedy

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

REVIEW: Nath Valvo is ALMOST 30

Comedy only gets better and better

By Bradley Storer

Nath Valvo

Comedian Nath Valvo takes to the stage of his Melbourne International Comedy Festival show and informs us of two things – one, that he is (no surprise, considering the title) coming close to the age of thirty. Number two, that in twenty-nine years he has never had an actual happy birthday. We are then led on tour through the horrific highlights of Valvo’s celebratory tragedies, cringing and stricken with shocked laughter in equal measures.

Valvo has surprisingly lost some of the merciless ferocity which characterized his previous shows but this softer approach actually magnifies the effect of his material and helps garner audience sympathy more. Nevertheless, Valvo retains his razor-sharp wit and willingness to push the boundaries of taste which makes this show just as funny (if not more so) than previous offerings.

Beginning in the comedian’s childhood, the show offers many jovial memories for children of the nineties (the use of specific songs to represent each year bringing back many chuckles of recognition). Clever structuring ensures the show doesn’t drag, and Valvo finds several ways to enter the audience and bring members up onstage, including teaching some lucky people the fine art of dancing to dubstep. One particular moment, involving a couple and a wacky game-show style questionnaire, drew dangerously close to crossing the line in terms of how far a comedian can push their audience – Valvo has enough stage charisma to make it work, but I still found myself on edge for some of the wrong reasons.

This one moment aside, this is a fantastic offering from a rising comedic star, whose abilities and ingenuity seem to grow by leaps and bounds with every new show. Blending delicacy and boldness, Valvo ties together the narrative with a finale that is surprisingly touching and sends you out with a smile on your face.

DATES: 28th March – 21st April

TIME: 9:30pm (8:30 Sunday)

VENUE: Trades Hall, The Annexe, Corner of Lygon and Victoria St, Carlton

TICKETS: Full Wed – Sat $20, Conc Wed – Sat $17, Sun $15, Tightarse Tuesday $15, Group (5+) $15

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au 1300 660 0131300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au, Melbourne Town Hall Box Office or at the venue.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

Review: SAM SIMMONS’ Shitty Trivia

Fast and furious fun

By Christine Moffat

If Sam Simmons ever considers a career outside of comedy, it should stunt driving.  This fast-paced show for MICF, written and performed by Simmons, is a wonderful headlong comedy attack on the audience.

Sam Simmons

Simmons took to the stage armed only with hilariously shitty trivia questions (it’s not just a clever title), mismatched shoes and bizarre anecdotes – oh, and a full wheelie bin too of course.

The pace of the show is driven by Simmons’ rapid fire ‘trivia question’ jokes, most of which are outrageous, unfathomable; or both.  The beauty of this system is that the jokes are not really the jokes; they are the set-up.  The real punch-lines come after each ‘joke’ when Simmons responds to the audience’s reaction.

It was especially entertaining when we (the audience) had been laughing our heads off and he responded to an imaginary, disapproving audience.  This format created a semblance of chaos that this reviewer suspects hid the workings of an amazingly well-structured show.

The ‘mysterious shoe’ plotline adds another layer.  A couple of unexpected elements that also work very well are the heavy use of multimedia (including Simmons’ own strange drawings), and a little something he likes to call ‘audience humiliation’.

These ingredients combine to make a very successful one-man sitcom.  Throughout, your mind marvels at the madness, while the rest of you shakes with laughter for 60 minutes.  There is no downtime in this show, but the surreal jumps between different formats create new ways for you to keep laughing.

Simmons engages the audience through headlong speed, fearlessness in his choice of subject matter and costumes (who likes short shorts?), and a freewheeling disregard for reality.  It’s time for a Fast and the Furious comedy spin-off, and I think Simmons is the man to make it happen!

Dates & Times:

3–7 April Tue–Sat 7pm, Sun 6pm

10–21 April Tue–Sat 9.45pm, Sun 8.45pm

Venue: The Hi-Fi

Price: $24-$34

Bookings: www.comedy-festival.com.au/2013/season/shows/shitty-trivia-sam-simmons

Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 / At the door

Festivals, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

REVIEW: Go Time! with ARJ BARKER

Some thin spots filled out with big laughs

By Matthew Farmer

In the biggest theatre space in the Melbourne Town Hall last night, we were treated to international comedy star Arj Barker, and his one-man show for MICF – Go Time! This is his philosophy of not letting your ego get in the way of something you might do in the future, because despite what that crazy little red-head tells you, tomorrow is not a day away, it does not exist. You are now. Your heart is now, its go time, right now. A great idea and a great message, but when mixed with toilet humour, it doesn’t quite stand for the whole sixty minutes.

Arj Barker

The show starts with a musical number, which was a genuine surprise. It then continues through some poignant social commentary, embarrassing admissions, local restaurant reviews, all interspersed with 2013 copyrighted Arj Barker-isms, such as go build a pyramid and get to the point, or go get yourself a deck of cards, and deal with it.

The role of a comedian is to look at life from a unique point of view, to engage with you and to have you see the world through their altered eye sight. Arj made some strong comments about the factories in China making iPhones, the environment and the notion of ‘job creation’, which had you thinking, and then he dropped a comedy bomb onto you: showing you an empty palm on the left, while smacking you in the face with his right.

Arj engages with the audience well, and never misses a beat. If a joke fails, he owns it and then moves on. I have previously only seen Arj Barker on comedy festival specials or TV shows where he only has a bit part to play. To see him live for a whole 60 minutes however, felt a little forced. The front of the show worked well and was strong, but the ends were just a little bit frayed, although it did end with great toilet humour and another song and dance. Plus, he mingled with the public in the foyer right after for merchandise and photo opportunities, which is always good to see in a celebrity.

Arj’s show Go Time is a show that comes from his heart, has a lot of energy and good intentions. He will try his darnedest to uplift you and gosh darn, if it doesn’t work on some level for you.

Arj Barker’s Go Time is playing all Festival long at the Town Hall, except for Mondays. Tickets are $33 – $42.50 and can be bought online at ticket master, or at the venue.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

Review: DIXIE LONGATE in My Bags Went Where?

Time flies with Dixie

By Bradley Storer

Dixie Longate

Rushing onstage, suitcase trolley in grip, the harangued Dixie Longate enthusiastically waved to the audience at her Melbourne International Comedy Festival show. This drag-diva cousin of Dolly Parton chattered a mile a minute about the horrible flight and how the rest of her luggage ended up in a trailer park in Frankston, while unpacking her signature stocks of Tupperware.

About halfway through Dixie remarked on how her southern accent often makes her rapid chatter unintelligible – she vowed to slow down, but unfortunately the pace of this opening monologue was sometimes so fast I couldn’t understand what she was saying (she used this later in the show deliberately to more comedic effect). The jokes in this first part came hard and fast, but none could seem to land and raise the audience above a quick chuckle, which left me slightly worried.

However, once Dixie got through her opening section and unleashed herself onto the audience the show began to really fly. She eagerly interacted with audience members, and ingeniously used comments from the audience to jump from random tangent to tangent so quickly it was hilariously mindboggling, whether it be bottling lesbianism as a cure for ADD to how gay app Grindr was affecting the war in Iraq.

The disappointingly small audience actually helped make the evening far more intimate in the big venue, as though we were all actually a group of friends gathering to hear Dixie’s outrageous tales. And what a collection of tales they are! Using a shocking fact about Sarah Palin as a jumping off point, Dixie spins anecdotes all related to her world travels as part of her business. The good-hearted and foul-mouthed woman simply has the gift of the gab, relating her experiences on stealing kidneys in Vegas, multi-racial Nativity scenes and how hard it is to get a drink in Britain. She weaves convoluted and epic stories in such a way that they seem entirely spontaneous, and draws the thematic ties of all her tales so cleverly together into a conclusion that leaves you with an indelible grin. An uproarious hour with a woman so charming and witty that it becomes almost saddening to leave.

DATES: 28th March – 14th April

VENUE: Forum Theatre – Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St

TIME: 8:30pm (7:30 Sun)

TICKETS: Wed-Thurs & Sun $30, Fri & Sat $34, Conc (n/a Sat) $28, Group (8+, n/a Sat) $28, Laugh Pack (n/a Sat) $28, Tightarse Tue $28

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au , Melbourne Town Hall Box Office or Forum Box Office.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Thomas Jaspers in NO PLACE LIKE HOMO

Sensational MICF debut

By Bradley Storer

The evening began with a visit from comedian Thomas Jaspers’ close friend ‘Rhonda Butchmore’, who sauntered onstage, all long legs and six-pack in one hand, to warm up the crowd with a few dropped names and withering witticisms about the likes of Chrissie Swan and Patti Newton. This delightful opening segued into a soap opera-styled look at Jaspers’ hometown of Aspendale, dubbed ‘Downtown Assy’, before Jaspers himself emerged (still half dressed as his drag alter-ego) to begin the show.

Thomas Jaspers

No Place Like Homo, Jaspers’ debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, documents the comedian’s journey from a flamboyant, Priscilla-loving child through adolescence and his break-up with a certain well-known Australian comedian and its aftermath.  The major theme of the show is family, with the members of Jaspers’ own family (all played by Jaspers himself) made present throughout the evening via a series of projections that, in a very inventive stroke of media, interject and interweave through all of the material. All of these characters provide hilarious and heart-warming moments, Jaspers’ delightfully dirty grandmother in particular, and in their portraiture you can sense great love and affection.

Despite this being his first appearance at the Comedy Festival, Jaspers already shows great comedic skill and ability in his story-telling. On this night the performer showed some signs of nerves (probably not helped by the presence of his actual family in the audience) but there was no need for worry – Jaspers has crafted a fantastic, hysterical yet touching debut, which we can only hope for more of in the future.

VENUE: The Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

TIME: 8:00 (7:00 Sun)

TICKETS: Full $20, Conc $18, Tightarse Tuesday $16, Group (10+) $18, Laugh Park $18.

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au Ph: 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au, at venue.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

REVIEW: Josh Thomas in DOUCHEBAG

Familiar formula still pleases

By Bradley Storer

Celebrated Australian comedian Josh Thomas returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a new show after writing and starring in ABC’s successful new series Please Like Me. The basis of Josh’s comedy (on-screen and off) has always been based around the dissonance between his cute, awkwardly adorable persona and the messy realities of his twenty-something Gen Y male existence. This formula has not altered significantly since Josh’s last show, although there are some refreshing new changes in his story-telling choices.

Josh Thomas

The theme of the show is about the moments of Josh’s life where he has not been the best person: the ‘douchebag’ of the title. There are tales of relationship troubles, involving the inability to say ‘I love you’ and the massive arguments sparked by homeopathic medicine, an account of accidentally scaring a young girl with leukaemia, and Josh’s casual insults towards fellow travellers while hiking in Tasmania. The story which sparked the idea for the show, an impromptu journey in Thailand to find an elusive massage parlour, however turns out to be an anti-climax which is hardly mitigated by Josh admitting that even he is aware the story is inadequate.

From the very moment he walked onstage, Josh had the audience on side (which is a rare gift). Although there was a continuous stream of laughter, as well as the occasional shocked gasp, there was never a moment which made me burst out laughing uncontrollably – the laughs stayed at one level for the entire evening. This could simply be due to issues in how the show is structured, or maybe because that by the end the audience was so used to Josh’s style that there were no surprises left.

VENUE: Melbourne Town Hall – Lower Town Hall

TIME: 8:15 (7:15 Sunday)

TICKETS: Preview $25, Full Wed-Fri & Sun $33, Full Sat $35, Concession (n/a Fri & Sat) $30, Tightarse Tuesday $25, Laugh Pack (n/a Fri & Sat) $30, Group (8+, n/a Fri & Sat) $30.

BOOKING: www.comedyfestival.com.au, www.ticketmaster.com.au or Phone 1300 660 013, Melbourne Town Hall Box Office.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

REVIEW: Jenny Eclair is ECLAIRIOUS

British TV star surprises on stage

By Christine Moffat

UK comedienne Jenny Éclair is not everyone’s cup of tea.  That’s mainly because everyone’s cup of tea isn’t an Earl Grey Jaeger-bomb!  Éclair epitomises that very English, delicious combination of nasty and nice, and possesses the kind of comedy pedigree that practically guarantees an audience a good laugh throughout, and a happy buzz when exiting – and that’s what happened last night.

Jenny Eclair

If you only know her from the television show Grumpy Old Women, you’re in for a surprise, as comediennes need to be a bit tamer on TV then they are on stage.  Most of the material in Eclairious for MICF is a bit too rude to repeat, and definitely too funny to spoil by revealing it in this review.  But as a teaser, Éclair does a little reminiscing (about fellatio and hand jobs), and some great bits about lost youth, menopause and teenage ‘children’.

Unfortunately at times Éclair’s material excluded men and women under 40, as it was phrased in the “am I right girls?” style.  That being said, the show still went from big laughs, to giggles, to big laughs regularly, as Éclair knows how to work an audience.

If you feel like a hilarious chat, albeit a (mainly) one-way and slightly confronting one, get there early and sit up the front.  Don’t be afraid to adjust yourself to get more comfortable, just get it out of the way before she gets going as she “hates fiddlers”.  So have a nice chardonnay or three, and then pop along for a good old laugh.

Dates: April 2-7

Times: Tue-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 7.15pm

Where:  Melb Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts

PRICES: $25 – $36

Bookings:

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/eclairious-jenny-eclair

Ticketmaster 1300 660 013

At the door

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

Review: DEANNE SMITH’s Let’s Do This

From awkward beginnings to utter charm

By Bradley Storer

About eight seconds after psyching up herself and the audience with Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, comedian Deanne Smith cuts the music short and admits ‘I can’t maintain this level of energy for very long’.

Smith opens with a ukulele tune in which she recruits the audience to interject at her command with the title of her show – the song never really managed to gain momentum since Smith was constantly forced to stop and wait for the audience’s response, and this made for a slightly awkward opening. After this small bump in the road though, her show Let’s Do It for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival picks up and soars.

Deanne Smith

The main thrust of Smith’s show is an examination of her inability to be a self-confident and secure person, gleefully dissecting her various neuroses to side-splitting and, at times, jaw-dropping effect.

Smith’s strength is her innate sweetness and lovability, which allows her to delve into some unexpectedly filthy and dark places (at my particular performance, even Smith herself remarked at several points, surprised ‘You all got on board with that!’). Topics range from the unfortunate implications of the term ‘femi-nazis’ and her hatred of penguins to a remarkably optimistic view of humanity’s current effects on the environment.

Interspersed throughout are many moments of audience participation, people individually to be sung at, called up to assist onstage or to take photos during the show (for one particular section, I’d advise bringing along a friend to save potential embarrassment). The hour show flies by and it would be hard to imagine anyone who would not be doubled over in laughter by the end.

DATES: 30th MARCH – 21st APRIL

TIME: 9:45 (8:45 Sunday)

VENUE: MELBOURNE TOWN HALL – CLOAK ROOM

TICKETS: Full $25, Preview $20, Tightarse Tuesday $20, Laugh Pack (n/a Fri & Sat) $20, Concession $20 (n/a Fri & Sat), Group (8+) (N/A Fri & Sat) $20

BOOKINGS: www.ticketmaster.com.au, Phone – 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au, Melbourne Town Hall Box Office

Festivals, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

Review: CONFESSIONS OF A SENSITIVE MALE STRIPPER

Bare-all story-telling for MICF

By Myron My

What drew me to the preview performance of Confessions of a Sensitive Male Stripper for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was the lack of stories you hear from male strippers in popular culture. It’s usually female strippers talking about their job, their lives and clientele, from Diary of a Callgirl to talk-show exposés. So I thought it would be refreshing to hear this masculine side of the story.

Confessions

Our anonymous stripper walks out on stage in a cowboy outfit, including a large cowboy hat and a scarf tied over his face so that only his eyes are visible. The story takes places at a doctor’s clinic where our stripper has gone for a check-up and begins to relay to the female doctor how he became a stripper.

The use of every sexual pun conceivable certainly borders on crass, but Anonymous manages to tread a fine line given the subject title and some of them are quite funny.

My main gripe is that none of his stories actually offer any insight into the mind of a male stripper. The stories are exactly what I’ve mentioned having heard before – except the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ have been swapped. Talking about his objectification by women and the sexually explicit comments shouted at him demanding he “take it off” became quite mundane and repetitive.

The wanting to remain anonymous gimmick doesn’t work well here either. When you can’t see who is talking to you and the performer remains seated for the majority of the show, it makes it hard for the audience to remain engaged.

This performance is ultimately a unique idea without a strong follow-through, for we are taken on this journey where Anonymous wants us to sympathise with him due to his embarrassing and cringe-worthy experiences yet his actions at the end feel contrived and are the exact opposite of what he has been trying to get away from.

I did leave the show wondering if this was in fact a real male stripper or just a comedian putting on a show, which is a worthwhile achievement by this performer. Either way though, Confessions of a Sensitive Male Stripper was unfortunately only as impressive as that prosthetic penis in the lacy G-string…

Venue: Elephant & Wheelbarrow, Cnr Bourke & Exhibition Sts, Melbourne

Season: Until 19 March | Thurs-Fri 6:00pm

Tickets: $15 Full

Bookings: www.tixnofee.com or at the door

Events, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Yve Blake in AM I GOOD FRIEND?

A truly delightful performer and a wonderful show

By Bradley Storer

Am I Good Friend? is a show which mines, with hilarious results, the gap between our perception and the reality of how we relate to other people. Compiling graphs, pie charts of ambiguous flavour and anecdotal evidence on how to be a good friend, performer Yve Blake embarks on a pseudo-scientific and fantastical quest for what she calls the ‘golden egg of truth’.

Yve Blake

Greeted at the entrance of The Butterfly Club by Blake’s ‘stage manager’, who hands out iced Vovos whilst dressed in a stylish garbage-bag garment, we are handed small cards and invited to answer a personal question or two to aid Blake’s ‘research’. One quick costume change later and Blake herself appears in a make-shift lab coat and begins to ingratiate herself with the audience.

Over the next hour we are taken on a journey through Blake’s history of spotty behaviour as a friend, relayed through multimedia presentations, lip-synched re-enactments of embarrassing conversations and Skype-d testimonials from her closest friends. Given Blake’s sunny and adorable stage presence, this is actually almost too hard to believe!

Blake is a hurricane of delightful comic energy, bouncing off the walls with bright eyes and a wide sincere smile. Along with her goofy and enthusiastic nature, she is also unafraid to shamelessly plug her awkwardness and short-comings for laughs – her comedic commitment to her own humiliation is hysterically funny. Although her approach to her material is high-octane the show never seems rushed or garbled, her remarkable diction worthy of note considering the speed at which she speaks! Blake has a fantastic gift for interacting with and including her audience, finding many clever (and at one point, truly touching) ways to bring audience members into the show.

The hour-long show flies past, and the conclusion is a communal acknowledgement of all our faults and mistakes as friends to others, Blake ultimately managing to find both pathos and humour in the universal experience of loneliness and being an outsider. Ultimately this is an outstanding show which, much like Blake herself, hides a surprising depth beneath its sunny exterior.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne VIC

Date: Tues 18th to Sunday 23rd Dec

Time: Tues, Weds and Sun at 8pm – Thurs, Fri, Sat at 9pm

Tickets: $23 / $20 Conc / $18 Group (8+) / $15 Tues

Online: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Phone: 9690 2000