Tag: Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2016

Comedy, Festivals, Review

MICF 2016: Dan Pavatich in #1NINJA

Self-help guru for would-be warriors

By Margaret Wieringa

#1 Ninja is a motivational seminar to help you “unleash the Ninja within”  – well, if that doesn’t suggest that you’re going to see a show that probably contains a fair whack of absurdity, I don’t know what will! Dan Pavatich, along with Ivy Latimer and Andy Balloch, take the audience through a variety of sketches joined by the running theme of this seminar.

Ninja.jpg

The concept was quirky and original, but unfortunately the show seemed quite underwritten. I’m a great fan of repeating gags in shows as a kind of call-back, or to make a different point, however in this show there didn’t seem to be any real point to them.  It was a bit of fun certainly, but took away the opportunity to develop the material. However, I have to say I also had a problem with the material. I do not think there was any intent behind it, but there were parts of this show that I found bordering on offensive. The material wasn’t strong enough to actually be offensive, but in 2016, I don’t think you can parody women and ‘gays’. Not unless you are actually making some clever points.

The performers onstage were all quite talented, although all three seemed to have trouble staying focused. Being at a venue called Improv Conspiracy, I wondered if maybe the show was improvised in places, but if it was going to be, maybe let the audience know so they can appreciate it?

There’s a lot of potential here – good performers, unusual concept, some absolutely gold comic lines – I felt it just needed a strong director to come in, pull it all together, ditch the ‘dodgy’ stuff, and give the whole thing a tighten-up.

Also, a hint for attending shows at The Improv Conspiracy – there are no Comedy Festival banners or anything else telling you where to go. Look for a door at the bottom of the Loop Project Space building. There was a doorman, but no indication it had anything to do with comedy. Melbourne Comedy Festival – more info in the program would be helpful. Venue folks – perhaps make a sign or something!

 Where: The Improv Conspiracy Office Space, Level 1, 19 Meyers Place, Melbourne

When: Thursday – Saturday, 8pm, Sunday 7pm March 24 – April17

Tickets: improvconspiracy.com $20/$16

Festivals, Performances, Whats On

MICF 2016: HOT BROWN HONEY

Just wow

By Joana Simmons

Hot damn. Hot Brown Honey is tearin’ up the Northcote town hall and tearin’ down patriarchy, entitlement and fear. The impeccably written and designed show is a sassy smorgasboard of dance, poetry, comedy, circus, striptease and song. The vibe feels like a disco crossed with a rock concert and gospel service with its no-excuses-high-energy-let’s-rock-the-boat attitude.

Hot Brown Honey.jpg

The Queen Bee on her pedestal of swag raps rhymes both humorous and heart-rending, and tells us how “Fighting the power never tasted so sweet (gluten free, no wheat).” Out from the giant lit-up honeycomb-shaped hive, the Honeys fiercely perform solo and group songs, scenes, and energetic and stylistic urban, traditional, tribal and contemporary dance. The range of talent in the cast is immense – hoola hoops, straps and beat-boxing that has my jaw dropping at the precision. All the acts are linked by the narration of the Queen Bee and show depth and connection to the poignant and sometimes dark themes and ideas they are raising. The rousing soundtrack of rnb, inventive remixes, original beats and voice overs had the sold-out opening night audience clapping, cheering and on their feet.

The production quality is outstanding. The lighting is superb – lasers, spots, and the giant hive of rock star quality. I couldn’t go without mentioning the inventive clever costumes that were seamlessly transformed within seconds during complex choreography: pants you can rip off? Wow. Coconut bras you can drink out of? Wow wow. What starts out as a leaf skirt turns into a full dress with head gear? Wow wow wow WOW!

This show is full-power female kick-ass gold. The audience was energised and buzzing all the way to the tram stop. It’s gobsmacking the talent and message this show has to offer: how it challenges everyone to review their views, and inspires everyone to rock the boat. Go see it. Cancel all your plans, tell all your friends if they haven’t heard about it already: because I’m know I’m going to be talking about it for a long time.

Hot Brown Honey for the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Venue: Northcote Town Hall

Dates: April 6-16

Time: 8pm

Tickets: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2016/season/shows/hot-brown-honey

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Daisy Berry in AM I MENTAL?

Engaging and impressive debut

By Christine Young

Daisy Berry would be a great name for a free-spirited hippie. The actual Daisy Berry is anything but. She’s a feisty, cheeky, f-bombing 20-something with a warped sense of humour who offers up her life and issues for scrutiny. But is she mental? That’s the fifteen or twenty dollar question and the audience is invited to decide. So channel your inner Simon Cowell and be as judgy as you like because Daisy probably won’t care anyway.

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Am I Mental? is Daisy’s first solo show, and if she had any opening-night jitters, they weren’t visible. From the get-go, she casually chats to the audience like an old pro(fessional) in a way that makes you feel like you’ve known her for ages.

This reviewer has seen many emerging comedians in small venues, some now famous, who don’t ‘work the room’ and miss an opportunity to really connect with an audience.
Daisy takes us on a tour of her short (in years and height) life where she displays a gift for storytelling and a sardonic wit. There were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments for most of the audience but not for this reviewer. Don’t get me wrong. Daisy is very engaging and I held onto her every word and smiled many times. However, I feel the material needs some development in terms of the punchlines offering an element of surprise. She did this particularly well though when revealing the nature of her mother’s ‘addiction’.

Moreover, some of the more personal tales need to be teased out a bit more so the audience sees beyond Daisy’s tough exterior and gains a sense of her vulnerability. I’m not suggesting she spills her guts until she cries and gently rocks in the corner. However, tragedy and comedy can make great bedfellows and reflecting on personal tragedies can be both poignant and funny. Both Judith Lucy and Denise Scott (who obviously have truckloads of years on Daisy!) do this very well. Daisy has the potential to become just as adept as her comic foremothers. Catch her while she’s cheap and cheerful!

Where: Highlander Bar, 11a Highlander Lane, Melbourne

When: Tues-Sat 8/:30pm

Tickets: $15-20  www.comedyfestival.com.au or Ticketmaster 1300 660 013

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Rose Callaghan’s ROSE BEFORE HOES

Immensely likable and definitely laughable comedy

By Caitlin McGrane

After sell-out shows at the Perth Fringe Festival, Rose Callaghan brings her frenetically energetic show Rose Before Hoes to her home city of Melbourne. Previously called Attention Deficit… Ooh a Pony!, the show is about Callaghan being diagnosed with ADHD last year, and her dating experiences as a single women in her 30s.

Rose Before Hoes

Callaghan is wonderfully likeable and her visible nervousness only made her more so. I found the show refreshingly discursive, which was aided by the impossibly small venue meaning Callaghan could authentically react and interact with the audience. A couple of lines landed poorly and Callaghan skilfully admitted they were ‘bad jokes’ and moved on. I just really hope Callaghan’s mum and her friends come every night so other audiences get to see her interacting with them, because it was a true highlight.

The only moments when Callaghan looked uncomfortable or unsure were when she was talking about her ADHD diagnosis. As with Hannah Gadsby last year, it was fist-punching-the-air brilliant to hear a woman talking about disability and mental illness with a poignant sense of humour. However, Callaghan’s material didn’t seem to be as sharp as her dating material, of which I could have easily watched another hour. It seemed as though Callaghan was reluctant to rely too heavily on stereotypes and stock jokes about ADHD, which was certainly appreciated, but the jokes just weren’t as tight or witty as they could perhaps have been.

As a single young woman, I am no stranger to the horrors of online dating, so the second half of the show really resonated. Callaghan seemed more comfortable in this territory, and she really started to shine when she spoke about the wildly inappropriate yet also downright lazy efforts men go to to lure you into bed. Any woman who’s been on Tinder for more than ten minutes is liable to get whiplash from nodding her head so much.

Comedy is a real boys’ club, and seeing Callaghan on stage demonstrated that the tide is turning towards real, honest female comedy that isn’t either aiming to please everyone or willing to be silent about issues that really affect women, which can only be a good thing.

Rose Before Hoes is showing at 6pm at the Forum Theatre’s Carpet Room until 17 April 2016. Tickets here: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2016/season/shows/rose-before-hoes-rose-callaghan

Festivals, Kids Theatre, Whats On

MICF 2016: SUNNY RAY AND THE MAGNIFICENT MOON

Family festival fun with the sun

By Joana Simmons

Our favourite friends who warm our days and add wonder to our nights bring songs, stars and sparkle to the Spiegeltent and the 2016 Melbourne Comedy Festival for ages four and up. Fresh from a critically acclaimed world premiere at Sydney Festival, Sunny Ray and the Magnificent Moon, invented by Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias (creators of Comedy Festival favourite, Die Roten Punkte) is a polished, humorous take on what happens when the sun stays up all night to party with the moon.

Sunny Ray

Every day Sunny Ray (Clare Bartholomew) wakes up before everyone else (even the birds!) She brings life to the plants and the sky with her cherry songs and sparkly demeanour before sending them to sleep and handing the sky over to the Magnificent Moon (Daniel Tobias). In an Elvis-meets-Abba white jumpsuit and silver cape, he hangs out with the stars and parties through the night: playing his electric guitar, crooning about his face and his phases, and I can’t help but take a shine to him. Sunny Ray wants to stay up late like and party with the Magnificent Moon so hides behind a cloud and they do all sorts of fun and naughty things all night!

This show has colour and heart. It promotes the ideas that ‘you are the best at being you’ and ‘sunshine never goes out of style’ and teaches us all sorts of things, like where daylight savings comes from. The puns and funny bits for the big kids sprinkled throughout are clever to the point where I wanted more, and the original songs of various genres- folk, funk, disco and pop give the show pace and a chance for the audience to get involved.

Bartholomew’s portrayal of Sunny Ray is bright and likeable and whilst her delivery of her songs was animated, the vocal quality was rather lacking and pitchy in contrast to the more accomplished Tobias. That being said, the harmonies and movement in the duo numbers are bang on. A highlight for me is the physical comedy and clowning between the two- you can tell they are seasoned artists, and the audience is onboard the whole way.

A magical starry curtain and well-designed props provide the perfect backdrop for this Arena Theatre Company gem directed by Christian Leavesley, with dramaturgy from Casey Bennetto (Keating! The Musical).  If there’s only one show you take your kids big and small to this festival, make it this one- it’ll brighten your day.

Venue:        The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre Melbourne

Dates:          Tuesday 5 until Sunday 10 April

Time:          11am

Tickets:       $25

Bookings:   www.comedyfestival.com.au

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Zoe Coombs Marr in TRIGGER WARNING

Strangely appealing and spectacularly funny

By Margaret Wieringa

Meet Dave. Dave is a veteran comedian, blokey as can be, who is dealing with the fallout on social media from his first comedy festival show. The Feminazis and haters have torn him down, and so he has given up stand-up for the world of mime after some serious clown training at the highly respected French  clown school, Gaulier.

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From the moment Zoe Coombs Marr comes onstage as Dave, with his gross neckbeard and monobrow, she connects with the audience. And straight away, the audience is on board with the misogynist with a sensitive side. We want to hear more of his horrible jokes, we hope that he will figure out where he is taking his mime, and we quite like meeting his inner clown. Even if he thinks she is not at all funny.

The Comedy Festival runs over so many different spaces across Melbourne, some which are huge and spacious, but many are cosy (read cramped!) and oddly shaped. The Acacia Room is one of the odd ones  – long, with a relatively small stage at one end. It can be a bit tricky for the audience if you are seeing anything other than standard stand-up comedy, because if you are not in the first few rows, it’s hard to see what is happening. Zoe seemed very aware of this however, and made sure that visual gags were seen by all. Mind you, so much of the comedy came from her fabulous facial expressions – oh, that stare!

I feel like it’s going to be a long time before I recover from this show. I cannot remember a show that made me laugh so exhaustively. If you are after something absolutely hilarious that takes you on an extremely surreal journey and leaves you and everyone around you somewhat wasted, get to Victoria Hotel and check out Trigger Warning.

Where: Victoria Hotel, 215 Little Collins St Melbourne

When: Tues-Sat 9:45, Sun 8:45

Tickets: $18-25  www.comedyfestival.com.au or Ticketmaster 1300 660 013

(Suitable for audiences 18+)

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Dave Hughes is SWEET

Our favourite local comedy icon never fails to please

By Jessica Cornish

Southsider-dwelling St Kilda man Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes seems inescapable in Melbourne. Whether you’re flicking through drive-time radio, talent competitions or sport shows you can stumble across Hughesy’s particular brand of charm, and luckily for us he can also be found right now in the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his latest show Sweet.

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His highly enjoyable stand-up show presents friendly and witty verbal clippings from his life, from exploring the never-ending body shaming and comic critiquing from his young children, to his intimate and ever-evolving relationship with his beautiful wife of 14 years. He touches on failed Footy Show antics, reflects on his time as an Australia’s Got Talent host with a contestant who had ambitious dreams of feline fame (however the cat sadly had different life goals…), and tells a myriad of tales of  everyday encounters with local folk found meandering across the city.

Sweet is currently showing at the Athenaeum, that beautiful historic Melbournian theatre, although its foyer is not exactly made for the quick hustle and bustle of MICF. So if possible, make sure you collect your tickets earlier in the evening or print them out to avoid battling your way over to the box office. And always remember this is Melbourne, therefore footy traffic will always bring the city roads to a stand-still- so leave plenty of time to get into the city.

The Collins Street theatre was otherwise a perfect venue for Hughesy and his well-entertained audience: my only niggle was the lighting had been poorly focused and as he made his way across the stage back and forth his face would often fall into pockets of darkness and shadows.

As always, the irrepressible Hughesy is down-to-earth, immensely relatable and just really funny (and all without getting too un-PC or trying to be too ‘deep and meaningful’!) Sweet will be playing at the MICF Tues- Sat: 8:15pm, Sun7:15pm until April 17 at the Athenaeum Theatre. Book early to avoid disappointment: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2016/season/shows/sweet-dave-hughes

Festivals, Musical Theatre, Whats On

MICF 2016: ABBOTT! The Musical

Budgie smugglers and belly laughs!

By Heather Forbes

Fresh from the Adelaide Fringe comes Abbott the Musical for the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a somewhat raw, and at times raucous, ‘retro’ musical parody and political satire. The show is very entertaining, at times hilarious, and otherwise mostly funny with its parody and satire of well-known characters, quotes and events from our recent painful political past.

Abbott! The Musical

The show’s original music and script are the product of the Adelaide–based comedy troupe George Glass which consists of three of the production’s actors: Dan Murnane, Alister McMichael and Nic Conway. Real musical and comedic talent energize the production, with songs such as “F*#k ‘Em” sung by a egomaniacal Joe Hockey (McMichael), and a highly sexually-charged “Won’t You Spill With Me” by Malcolm Turnbull (Murnane) and Julie Bishop (Lisa Harper). Conway as Abbott and Murnane as Turnbull steal the limelight as they take their well-impersonated characters into the realms of the absurd (moreso than the other actors). providing many belly laughs. However, the absence of Abbott’s foil or shadow character, Peta Credlin, is a disappointment, as her part in his downfall would have provided great fodder for these satirists.

The use of a ‘Quote’ light to highlight original quotations adds weight to the sharpness and punchiness of the show’s wit, and the magic of suspense. Unfortunately the show’s content is hindered by the limitations of the staging, the poor mixing of the music versus the lyrics at times, and the slackness of the scene changes. 3 & a half out of 5 stars– but still this reviewer had a good time!

Date: 23th March – 3th April

Venue: The Tuxedo Cat 293-299 La Trobe St, Melbourne.

Times:  Tues – Sat 7:15pm. Sun 6:15pm

Ages suitable:  18+

Price: $10 – $27.50

Bookings : www.tixnofee.com or at the door

Comedy, Festivals, Whats On

MICF 2016: Tom Ballard’s BOUNDLESS PLAINS TO SHARE

Brave, brutal and frankly brilliant comedy

By Bradley Storer

Using the contentious and polarizing issue of refugees and immigration as the subject of a comedy show is not immediately the most appealing idea. Luckily Tom Ballard, an award-winning and accomplished young comedian, has proven adept in previous shows at finding the intersections between the personal and the political, and the humour contained within. Here he uses his comedic skill to examine Australia’s approach to refugees, the oft-maligned ‘boat people’ who have informed political policy for decades.

Boundless Plains to Share.jpg

This ‘comedy-lecture’, as Ballard terms it, leans more towards comedy at the beginning, as Ballard eases his audience in with some self-deprecating jabs and some well-executed audience participation. The ‘lecture’ comes in a self-contained section where Ballard manages at hilariously break-neck (and minutely timed, courtesy of an audience member’s stopwatch app) speed to summarise Australia’s immigration policies throughout the entire 20th century with some brutally funny jabs at those in power during these eras.

The danger of a show such as this is the possibility of only preaching to the converted (since those attending a young gay comedian’s show are not necessarily likely to be politically conservatives) or indulging in self-righteous anger and finger-pointing that does little to engage the audience. While Ballard is clear and precise about where the origins of our deplorable policies towards refugees come from, he, under the direction of Scott Edgar, uses various devices and clever writing to draw the audience into an open discussion and to understand the people behind the de-humanizing names: ‘boat people’, ‘illegals’ and ‘cue-jumpers’.

The sentiment that comes across is not ‘we are terrible people’, but rather ‘we are good people, so how are we letting this happen?’ After keeping the audience laughing uproariously through the rest of the show, Ballard concludes with an incredibly emotional finale that emphasizes the common humanity shared by all of us that connects us regardless of race, religion or country of origin. There are no laughs, but this moment of seriousness feels rightly earned by Ballard, and if the tears and riotous applause following are anything to go by, the audience agrees. Arguably the best show Ballard has ever presented, and quite possibly one of the strongest shows for the entire festival.

Date: 26th March – 17th April, 11 shows

Venue: Mon – Melbourne Town Hall, Saturday and Sunday – Trades Hall

Times: Monday 8:15pm, Saturday 26th March/2nd April/ 16th April 5:15pm, Sat 9th April 5:45, Sun 4:15pm

Price: Full $27.50, Concession $22, Preview $22

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

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