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, Whats On

Review: ANNE EDMONDS with The Quarter Cabbage

Comedy with a side of veggies

By Myron My

For three years now local comedy favourite Anne Edmonds has performed stand-up at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This year, she has gone for a character-driven piece with The Quarter Cabbage where she presents a one-woman play about four strangers who are connected by a single cabbage.

We are in a fruit shop – not a room at the comedy festival – and Tony the unseen owner, is visited by four distinct characters; old and slightly senile John Watts, new-age organic-obsessed Justice, ‘Mental Health’ personified, and Rebecca, a young woman with dream of being on X-Factor. Each purchases a quarter cabbage and as they do, we are given an insight into their varied lives as they talk to Tony.

Anne Edmonds

Whilst Edmonds is backstage getting changed into the next character, we hear a variety of comic phone conversations John makes to various customer service companies with hilarious complaints and ludicrous demands, such as threatening to switch from Yarra Trams to their rival – trains. These calls had everyone in stitches and kept the energy of the show going without Edmonds’ physical presence.

There were some nerves the night I attended early in the season, and a few things not going to plan – like a banjo not tuned – but Edmonds allowed these things to come into the show, acknowledged them, fixed them and moved on quite calmly.

Edmonds has done a great job in creating strongly fleshed-out characters within a very short time frame. The nuances and mannerisms of these characters are well thought-out and the fifteen minutes per character go by so quickly that you are left wanting more. My only problem was the inclusion of Mental Health – even though it was still funny, I feel with this persona we lost the appealing normality and mundaneness of the stories from the other three characters.

Edmonds’ MICF show The Quarter Cabbage is full of laughs and fun that will leave you wondering where the other ¾ of your own cabbage is going. I warmly recommend it, and give it 4 and ¼ cabbages.

Venue: The Lunch Room, Melbourne Town Hall. Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne

Season: Until 21 April | Tues-Sat 8:30pm, Sun 7:30pm

Tickets: $26 Full | $24 Concession

Bookings: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au, http://www.comedyfestival.com.au, 1300 660 013 or at the door

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

Circus, Events, Festivals, Review, Whats On

Review: MOOKY CORNISH in Glories of Gloria Revue

Clowning around here is quietly amusing

By Myron My

Mooky Cornish takes to the stage in Glories of Gloria Revue for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival playing Gloria Rivard, a darling of the stage who is showcasing her amazing array of talents in her one-woman show.

Cornish is charming and comical with her mannerisms and facial expressions, and the show is entertaining for the most part, but on a whole, the content itself is just not very funny which is surprising seeing as Cornish is the lead clown and creator in Cirque du Soleil.

Mooky Cornish

The highlights of this show are when Gloria finds volunteers to help her perform scenes: Cornish is fantastic at being gentle with her audience and keeping them safe and happy at all times. One particular moment has Gloria acting out a romance scene with a member of the audience where his lines are stuck all over her costume and body. Fortunately, our particular audience member went along for the ride and had the whole audience in stitches. Also, the last Broadway number is not to be missed with its ‘all for one, and one for all’ mentality.

The costume changes – ten in all, and remember this is a 60 minute show – are elaborate and you can only wonder how Cornish is managing to execute them so quickly. A lot of time and effort has been put into the outfits and props in this show and Cornish ensures they are used to their full extent, including her use of the amazing sock puppets in ‘The Lonely Goatherd’.

However, the short segments of “ancestral film footage” we are shown whilst Gloria changes costume do lower the energy and audience engagement somewhat and made me feel like I was watching a commercial break as I wait for my TV show to resume.

Mooky Cornish’s Glories of Gloria Revue combines performance, music, dance and sketches: the description seems like a sure-fire comedy win but things are only gently lukewarm in this show.

Venue: Powder Room, Melbourne Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts. Melbourne

Season: Until 21 April | Tues-Sat 5:55pm, Sun 4:55pm

Tickets: $21 Full | $17 Concession

Bookings: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au, 1300 660 013 or at the door

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Late Night Shows, Whats On

REVIEW: Ali McGregor’s LATE-NITE VARIETY-NITE NIGHT

Comedy cabaret compendium is a nite to remember

By Bradley Storer

Introduced by her sullen handmaiden Flaxen McGinty (Virginia Ginty), the radiant Ali McGregor sauntered down through the audience, serenading us with sensual song and sublime vocals.

Ali McGregor

Although more than capable of entertaining us all by herself, the former Opera Australia leading lady took to the stage to present a rotating cast of comedians, burlesque and cabaret performers in what has become one of the main-stay events of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

On this particular night there was a wonderful selection of talent on display. Matt Okine, last year’s Best Newcomer at the Comedy Festival, showed great comedic skill as he regaled us with the awkward tale of having an African father and a former Nazi Youth for a grandfather (‘he wasn’t Nazi enough that he killed Jews,’ Okine reassured us, ‘…Just enough to be pope’). With bright eyes and a cheeky smile, burlesque performer Agent Lynch unveiled an instrument McGregor later informed us was called a ‘vagilaphone’.

Renowned international cabaret duo EastEnd Cabaret dropped in for an exclusive performance, chanteuse Bernadette Byrne and her sidekick Victor Victoria raising the temperature of the evening with a saucy accordion cover of ‘I’m Too Sexy’. Comedian Dave Callan closed the night with a spontaneous, fully choreographed performance of Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’, complete with back-up dancers, that brought down the house.

McGregor interspersed songs from her latest album throughout the show, including jazz and funk re-vamped versions of 80’s songs by The Prodigy and Salt ‘n’ Pepa. Her ‘buttress’ McGinty joined in on duets with her velvetly smooth voice, also taking centre stage herself to sing a cheeky tune dedicated to the virtues of her hand-crafted chair (to be understood in all its smutty glory, it must be seen in context). A true ‘late night’ show which combines ribaldry, entertainment and cheap low-brow humour all with a hint of classiness, a delicious cocktail of after-dark delights.

TIME: 10:30 (9:30 Sunday)

VENUE: The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd

TICKETS: Thur/Sun $30, Fri/Sat $35, Conc Thur/Sun $25, Conc Fri/Sat $30, Group (6+) $25

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au, www.comedyfestival.com.au, Ticketmaster 1300 660 013, Arts Centre 1300 182 183, or at the venue.

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

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Whats On

REVIEW: Saturn Returns for MICF

Double act lifts a curse to cosmic comic heights

By Myron My

Returning for an encore season during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Saturn Returns is an intergalactic comic cabaret by musical comedy performers Lachlan MacLeod and Simon Abrahams.

Saturn Returns 1

Coming on stage in stellar shiny silver three-piece suits and ties, the two men delve into the “curse” of Saturn’s Return, where an orbiting Saturn comes back to the same point in the sky that it was in at the moment of your birth. Each time this happens, roughly every 30 years, we are said to enter a new phase of our lives, so it’s quite fitting that Abrahams has already experienced his own Saturn Return and MacLeod is fast approaching his.

MacLeod and Abrahams perform a dozen original songs – ranging from ballads to rap to boy band pop songs – about the highs and lows of turning 30. Gems include “One Grey Pube” which looks at the inevitability of turning old and “Does It Work Out In The End” where they question whether things will get better the older (and hopefully wiser) we become. At various times, they take to the ukulele and piano on stage to accompany their songs and further reveal their musical talents.

Having just turned 30 myself, I could unequivocally relate to everything they were singing about. The fear of having taken a wrong turn somewhere, finding someone to love, a career and wondering when it will all fall into place are thoughts that have crossed my mind many times.

The two have been working together for ten years, and it shows. Their energy and charm during Saturn Returns is magnetic and very natural. They would have to be one of the strongest and funniest duos I have seen in a very long time on the performance circuit.

If you’ve passed your 30s, go along and reminisce about the “hideous, painful and traumatic stage of (y)our lives”. If you’re still in your 20s, go along and take note of what’s waiting for you. Getting older is not all bad, especially when you have great entertainers like Abrahams and MacLeod singing songs and making jokes about it.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St (entry via Carson Place), Melbourne

Season: Until 6 April | Tues-Wed, Sun 8:00pm, Thurs-Sat 9:00pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Concession

Bookings: www.butterflyclub.com or 9690 2000

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

Circus, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Circus Horrificus for MICF

Running away to join the circus just got dangerous – and hilarious

By Myron My

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is upon us and it is preview night for Circus Horrificus – It’s A Western. There is a sense of excitement and nerves as I take my seat: extreme physical circus acts is what has been promised, and boy, do these guys deliver.

Circus Horrificus

Unfortunately, the beginning of the show where we are introduced to Samora Squid and Bridget Bridge overstayed its welcome. Too much slapstick and I found the screeching and growling at each other rather irritating. I wasn’t amazed by anything and my interest was not piqued. It seemed that just when you thought it was going to go somewhere – it didn’t. Even the music in the background was distracting.

Once these two performers got over this initial hurdle however, they not only took it to the next level but smashed through it. Their energy heightened, their interaction got stronger and even the music was more harmonious with the action. There were many moments where the audience was equally mesmerised, horrified, cringing and cheering. It’s been a while since I have felt all these emotions at the same time and it really wreaks havoc with the your body – but this was nothing compared to what Squid and Bridge were enduring physically.

There were numerous times I wanted to clap but all I could do was watch in disbelief in the various acts they performed. I would love to be specific about what these two artists do but I really think half the fun is watching without foreknowledge the crazy antics they get up to – although I will note that fireworks get up close and personal in places they should never be near…

The way Squid and Bridge present themselves, the costumes and the props they use all give off the authentic flavour of a real circus sideshow act. It’s no surprise that they would choose to perform at the newly relocated Butterfly Club, itself being eponymous with the kitsch and carnivale.

Despite its rocky opening, Circus Horrificus’ Squid and Bridge do win the audience over with their crazy cheekiness and it’s always great to see something that definitely isn’t your standard stand-up comedian in this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St(entry via Carson Place), Melbourne

Season: Until 21 March | Tues-Wed, Sun 9:30pm

Tickets: $23 Full | $20 Concession

Bookings: www.butterflyclub.com or 9690 2000

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: EDWARD ALBEE’s The Zoo Story

A rare chance to ponder a rarely seen play

By Myron My

In The Zoo Story, a man is sitting in the park, quietly reading his book. A younger man approaches him and a conversation is struck up. There is an aura of something not being quite right with this man and as the conversation heads into darker and more intense territory, this feeling becomes a strong foreboding…

From then we witness how both these lives will be unequivocally changed from this chance encounter as it plays out in real time. There is very little ‘action’ in The Zoo Story yet so much happens in this short amount of time you really do feel like you’re being raced along through emotional extremes.

The Zoo Story

The two leads – Chris Broadstock and Cameron McKenzie – were highly believable in their portrayals and added to the mounting tension with their confident characterisation and powerful interaction with each other. Peter (Broadstock) as the happily married man with two kids and a cat is a perfect contrast to Jerry (McKenzie), who is alone, unstable and angry. McKenzie was particularly menacing to the point where you really despised his character, even though you weren’t entirely sure why.

I couldn’t help but feel a little unfulfilled by the end of the play as a lot of questions remain unanswered – and this is not a bad thing. Albee’s plays ask more than they reveal and without giving too much away, there is one major question that everyone will want answered but unfortunately – or not, depending which way you look at it – that answer can only be sought in your own experience of the work and your thoughts and discussions afterwards, and here lies much of the sophistication and appeal of this script.

Edward Albee wrote The Zoo Story in 1958, and fifty-five years later, the themes of isolation, loneliness and class difference are still present in society today making this play highly relevant to modern times. For their first-ever production, Good Little Theatre have chosen a great play to perform and I look forward to seeing what else they produce in the future.

Venue: Revolt Productions, 12 Elizabeth Street Kensington

Season: Until 25 March | 7:30pm

Tickets: $20

Bookings: http://revoltproductions.com