MICF 2017 – Page 5 – Squirrel Comedy

Tom Walker and Bridie Connell – MotherFather

By Elyce Phillips

Tom Walker and Bridie Connell are two of the best-known improvisers in Australia right now, thanks to their roles on the new version of Whose Line Is It Anyway. Connell has proven her talent in the form, being a World Theatresports Finalist. Walker brings a wealth of comedic talent, winning Best Newcomer at last year’s MICF. Together, as MotherFather, they’re a fast-paced improv duo, whipping up quirky characters in outlandish scenarios.

Fans of Whose Line will find themselves surprised by MotherFather. There’s no quick shortform games here, but rather a series of scenes inspired by one word taken from the audience at the start of the show. On the night I attended, my suggestion of ‘caravan’ was taken, and as we were told at the start – if the show goes badly it’s our fault because it’s our word that caused it. Luckily for me, MotherFather’s caravan show was hilarious. What started with a sweet scene about a boy asking a girl to a dance spun out into sketches about detectives and carnivals and singing contests. A recurring scene in which Walker deadpanned a lengthy sales pitch for a Kia Sportage to Connell was an absolute highlight.

Walker and Connell gel together wonderfully as an improv team. They deftly step into each other’s characters mid-scene, as required, and are quickly on-board when one decides to switch into something new. They’re skilled enough that they’re willing to mess with each other occasionally and attempt to crack the other up. It feels like MotherFather sits somewhere between longform and shortform improv. The characters are big and bold and gag-filled, and the scenes are very quick. Walker and Connell will hit a joke and then quit it, and so there’s not as much depth as you might normally see in a longform format. It’s perfect, however, for a late-night show. MotherFather never lets the energy drop and the audience loves every second of it.

MotherFather is some of the most dynamic improv you’ll see this MICF. Walker and Connell are incredibly talented and work together brilliantly. It’s some of the silliest late-night fun you can catch this festival.

MotherFather is on at Melbourne Town Hall Cloak Room until April 22
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/motherfather

Tom Walker – Bee Boo

By Elyce Phillips

Last year’s MICF was a huge success for Tom Walker. In addition to winning the Directors’ Choice award as part of Feeble Minds, he took out Best Newcomer for his show Beep Boop. This year, he returns with the similarly named Bee Boo – an intense hour of clever gags, bizarre games and erotic mime.

Where Beep Boop carefully drew in the audience, massaging them into an acceptance of Walker’s clowning antics, Bee Boo is more aggressive in tone. This is reflected in the ‘walkouts’ tally Walker unfurls early on. Adelaide audiences were tough to win over, by the looks of it, but Melbourne fares okay so far. It’s a show where you have to get on-board quickly. When you do, you’re rewarded with an avalanche of hilarious nonsense that’s offset with just a touch of darkness. There appears to be no method to Walker’s madness. The only thread tying any of the segments together is a recurring bit where Walker writes in his diary, having a frank conversation about how he feels the show is going so far.

The best thing about Walker’s comedy is that it is constantly surprising you. He has a knack for taking the everyday and seeing the silly within it. Boring household items are brought to life in unexpected ways. It’s as though everything has been viewed through the eyes of a child, but one that is equal parts gifted and menacing. An early part of the show in which Walker performs “baby tricks” made me collapse into that kind of laughter that goes on a bit too long and you fear you’ll never recover from it.

Bee Boo isn’t a show for the faint of heart, but it’s a wonderfully hilarious hour of absolutely absurd clowning for anyone who loves their comedy weird. Walker’s act has evolved since last year, and he’s created a beautiful monster. He should win some sort of award for his commitment to sight gags alone.

Bee Boo is on at the Victoria Hotel Acacia Room until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/tom-walker-bee-boo

POLITICAL ASYLUM LATE NIGHT RIOT

By Angela East

Political Asylum is a comedy night for comedians covering the weightier issues. Hosted by Mathew Kenneally, comedian and lawyer, who along with some other like-minded comedians founded the night in 2009. Matt is a genial host and covers a wide variety of topics in his intro set and in-between guests, from the popular topic of the US president, to marriage equality and how it might affect the over-priced wedding cheeses market.

Toby Halligan is another core member of the Political Asylum team. He compares how things were back when they started nine years ago to now, and how it seems that not much has changed in that time, but reminds us with his funny takes of past presidents and how things have always been terrible.

Sameena Zahra from the UK has hilarious takes on voodoo dolls, the luxury of having bucket lists, and admiration of people’s resilience while being stuck in sniper fire during a visit to family in Kashmir, bringing in some levity.

Australian political comedy stalwart Rod Quantock has given up on everything, it’s all so terrible, and the only reason he’s here tonight, he says, is to keep his run of performing for 31 years at the Melbourne international comedy festival. But luckily he sets the timer and runs us through a very hectic and entertaining history of everything in ten minutes (or so…). As always he is a Political Asylum favourite.

Rod is a hard act to follow, but Jess Moir has amusing jokes likening Trump’s process to choosing cabinet women to witch trials, and fantasy scenarios involving everyone’s favourite president Justin Trudeau.
Canadian comic Mae Martin confidently takes to the stage, and proves popular with the assumptions made about her sexuality when dating, hippy parents, and unusual Christmas wishes.

Alanta Colley delivers a very funny and intelligent set covering Pauline Hanson’s change of mind on vaccinations, and puns on Pauline’s views on Islam, all dealt with a sure wit. Another regular guest Nazeem Hussain gets his laughs from a story about visiting the US just before the elections were held and the interaction he had with a Trump supporter he met at a rally.

Andy Zaltzman headlines and brings the evening to hilarious conclusion with commentary on all manner of topics from his news feed, golfing Trump, global wars, economics, to stranger items like our onion eating ex PM, and the suggestive nature of cucumbers.

There was barely a down moment and it was a surprise to see it had reached 1am when it wrapped up. With the state of the world as it is some the best we can do is take time out to laugh about it. While this was a special one off event at MICF, there’s still a chance to see more at the regular Political Asylum fortnightly show.

Political Asylum Late Night Riot was at the Melbourne Town hall April 8th

For information about future regular gigs go to their website:

http://www.politicalasylum.com.au/

Aaron Chen – The Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby

By Elyce Phillips

Aaron Chen has been coming up in the Australian comedy scene for a while now. He won Class Clowns back in 2012, and last year he picked up a Directors’ Choice award for his work with Feeble Minds. In The Inifinite Faces of Chenny Baby, Chen strikes out on his own and delivers. It’s a wonderfully weird hour of deadpan stand-up that left some audience members helpless with laughter.

The show starts strong with a bizarre karaoke video starring Chen and his co-star Jon Lo. From there, Chen launches into stand-up on all manner of topics, from Kanye West to white people food. Although the show is ostensibly a straight-up stand-up show, there are little touches that make it feel more alternative. Chen’s delivery is deliberately stiff, with a tendency to over-explain and stretch a joke until the tension in the room is at breaking point.

The Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby is billed as Chen’s solo debut at MICF, but it’s more of a two-hander. Sidekick Lo is to the side of the stage throughout, giving Chen someone to bounce off. Their relationship is wooden and a little antagonistic and a lot of fun to watch. Lo performs a few physical gags and they’re some of the highlights of the show.

Chen played up the fact that it was media night, pointing out the benefits of the show to any reviewers in the audience. We’re alerted to the fact that he has a cough and that he has put significant effort into his set design by introducing a pot plant, and both of these things should count for an extra half a star. If we awarded stars, I’d be inclined to add one. It was a nice pot plant.

The Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby is a brilliant not-so-solo debut from Chen. His offbeat brand of comedy might not be for everyone, but he’s a unique voice that’s sure to get stronger.

The Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby is on at the Victoria Hotel Vic’s Bar until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/aaron-chen-the-infinite-faces-of-chenny-baby

Amelia Jane Hunter – Die Blaue Stunde (The Blue Hour)

By Colin Flaherty

Amelia Jane Hunter has certainly adapted to her home of Berlin like a duck to water and she has returned to the antipodes to describe the wonders of what she calls Die Blaue Stunde, The Blue Hour, where the underground world presents all sorts of decadent delights. In doing so she recounts hilarious yet emotional stories from her life to show how she has come to embrace this European playground.

Tales of babysitting tourists as a guide in Kakadu National Park and being ejected from a cousin’s wedding demonstrate that she is not cut out for polite society and although it can be painful, she can brush these experiences aside knowing she is staying true to herself. Stories about giving holistic advice to a celebrity, going wild in New York with a friend and a brilliant musical revenge on an ex who’d done her wrong give us moments of triumph so we all can celebrate with her.

Hunter warns from the outset that things are gonna get racy and blue, and she certainly delivers on that promise. Dalliances are recounted with lushly worded metaphors and she certainly calls a spade a spade when describing the unpleasant people she has the misfortune to encounter. Her material certainly appeals to groups of 40-something women out on a girl’s night but it also has a deep resonance for all audiences as she acknowledges her own foibles, lampooning both herself and this often grotesque cast of supporting characters.

On stage she is a force of nature: aggressive, confident, in your face and opinionated. She prowls the stage like a caged animal as she tells her tales of a world that restricts such a free spirit. It’s wonderful to witness her storytelling in person: describing the scene in deep detail and using poetic language so that all are rapt, only for her to floor us with a hysterical and biting comment as a punchline. It’s akin to snarky footnotes scrawled in the margins of a classy novella.

It’s a delight to spend an hour in the company of a person like Amelia. Here’s hoping she visits us again soon for more brilliant tales from the wild side of life.

Die Blaue Stunde (The Blue Hour) is on at The Greek Centre until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/die-blau-stunde-the-blue-hour

Richard Gadd: Monkey See Monkey Do

By Lisa Clark

Monkey See Monkey Do is like being in a nightclub. It is loud, with snatches of music, clashing voice overs, flashing lights, videos, the thump thump thump thump, (of a treadmill) and lots of shouting for almost an hour. Award winning Richard Gadd from Scotland is giving us a taste of what three years of his life felt like when he was trying to run away from himself.

Richard spends most of the hour jogging or walking fast on his treadmill while most of the dialogue is made up of the pre-recorded voices expressing what’s going on in his head. These voices are dealing with what it is to be a man and his civilised self, verses his inner wild ape which always seems to be chasing him and terrifying him. He begins the show by recounting his successfully reviewed previous Festival show and the fallout from that. Occasionally he bumps into people he knows, a mate or an ex-girlfriend and there are videos of sessions with a therapist, gradually a fascinating autobiographical narrative begins to build.

Its Richard’s prowess as a physical comedian and the use of facial expressions that helps keep everyone onside through the audio visual assault. My goodness you can’t help but think about how impressively fit he is and is going to be by the end of the run. It can feel pretty exhausting to watch sometimes. In fact if you have epilepsy or anxiety, I would suggest you sit up the back, I had to move from the front. The impressively designed soundscape was also a tad to loud, so earplugs might be useful. Otherwise this is an enthralling and mindblowing performance that will keep you laughing even as things start descending into darkness and through the other side.

Monkey See Monkey Do is a very theatrical festival show that can be compared to Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette in a way, though they are coming from opposite ends. She is ending a journey that he is beginning. Hannah’s show is stripped bare, Richard is blaring at you with all the bells and whistles he can muster. Richard won the Edinburgh Fringe Best Comedy Award last year for this show: when you see it, you’ll know why. This is a brilliant show that will live with you for some time afterwards.

Richard Gadd: Monkey See Monkey Do is on at ACMI until April 23

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/richard-gadd