Aunty Donna – Big Boys

By Elyce Phillips
Aunty Donna

The first time I reviewed Aunty Donna (Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane) they were yelling about fax machines in a tiny room at the Lithuanian Club. It’s surreal to see them where they are now – playing to a packed audience of fervent fans at Max Watts with lights flashing, smoke machine whirring and music pumping. Big Boys is a slick production that’s equal parts sketch show and a night out clubbing.

There’s a thin thread of narrative running through Big Boys – Ruane hasn’t been putting in enough effort and Bonanno wants him to step up. In between the continuing argument, we see brief sketches about things that are happening right now, rap battles and a car race. At the back of the stage, Tom Armstrong pulls it all together, DJing and providing sound effects throughout.

Beneath the flashy set-up and showmanship is a strong base of fantastic sketches. Aunty Donna are at their best when they venture into absurd territory, peppering in beautifully bizarre details at the back-end of broader bits about drums or getting money to go see a movie. The writing is strong and the performances are well-rehearsed. Everything in this show works beautifully, even when things look like they’re not going to plan.

The audience adds a whole other dimension to an Aunty Donna show. The energy in the room is at a steady high and the boys clearly feed off of it. One of the best moments of the night was audience generated, when they spontaneously erupted into a standing ovation after Armstrong delivered his one line in the show.

No-one else does sketch comedy quite the way Aunty Donna do, and their originality is paying off. Big Boys is a joyously silly experience and a fine example of a new generation of live comedy. If you like your comedy loud and high-energy, Big Boys is the show for you.

Big Boys is on at Max Watts until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/aunty-donna-big-boys

Frank Woodley – I, Woodley

By Lisa Clark
Frenk Woodley

I’ve not seen or read I, Claudius, so this may have been the entire plot told in a clever way, but I doubt it. I do know that it is a historical fiction of Claudius Caesar who was wrongly considered by his family to be an idiot so there are clearly some parallels. The only direct reference to Roman times was a cute song about watching gladiators. It certainly pleased the crowd.

The show itself started a bit shakily, not unlike Frank’s clown persona. He seems to be struggling somewhat with his identity; how does he give the audience the persona they are expecting and still grow as a performer? The show gradually emerges and in amongst all the silly clowning absurdity, it actually felt very personal. Frank rarely gives much of his private life away in his comedy. In this he refers to his wife and child and also seeking therapy. He keeps it all light-hearted and doesn’t go down any dark holes, like many of his comedy peers this year, but there’s his anxiety. The voice in his brain is personified as a grumpy homeless man who does and says terrible things, but Frank is kind to him anyway.

I Woodley is a show about putting on a show, using his life for inspiration, trying it out on audiences with varying levels of success. Frank is an engaging storyteller and a genius mime, but the highlights for me were when he broke out of it to chat to audience members directly and particularly when he improvised funny material with them. It was like comedy magic. Not all comedians are comfortable talking to audience members, but Frank made it look like he genuinely enjoyed getting to know them and they enjoyed helping him with part of his show.

Frank needn’t be too nervous about ageing, as his comedy is ageless and his audience is made up of all ages. I, Woodley was not the most hilarious show that Frank has ever put on, more gentle laughs than heavy guffaws, but always goofy, charming and delightful. It was also a fascinating insight into the working mind of a master entertainer.

I, Woodley is on at The Fairfax Studio, Melbourne Arts Centre until April 16
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/frank-woodley-i-woodley

Alice Snedden and Donna Brookbanks – Please Stop Clapping

By Elyce Phillips
Snedden and Brookbanks

Alice Snedden and Donna Brookbanks have had some success in the world of improv, both performing with New Zealand improv group Snort. In Please Stop Clapping, Snedden and Brookbanks split the bill, each performing a set of stand-up. It’s a promising hour of comedy, with some real gems but also some room for improvement.

First up is Snedden, who is bold and confident in her stage presence and launches right into material about her boobs. The audience is a little hesitant at first, but they soon get on-board as Snedden continues on to talk about her quirky family and odd upbringing. Here, Snedden is in her element, and her material about her mother is a real stand-out. Snedden delivers her jokes with a likeable looseness that wins you over. It’s a good first half that leaves the audience ready for more.

Brookbanks takes over for the second half, and brings a different energy to the room. Her stand-up is frenetic and anxiety-filled, talking about the struggles of being single and the difficulties of going to parties. The jokes are well-delivered, but the perspective is not a unique one. Brookbanks’ desperate-for-a-boyfriend routine goes down an often-travelled path and while there is some fun to be had with this nervous persona, it’s not pushed hard enough to shine through as a strong piece of character comedy.

Snedden and Brookbanks get some great laughs in Please Stop Clapping and it is clear that both are talented comedians, however, both have some work to do to refine their comedic voices. The high points in this show prove that Snedden and Brookbanks have a lot of promise, and it won’t be long until they’re smashing it out of the park.

Alice Snedden and Donna Brookbanks – Please Stop Clapping is on at the Victoria Hotel Acacia room until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/please-stop-clapping

Hannah Gadsby – Nanette

By Lisa Clark
Hannah Gadsby

It’s genuinely difficult to write about this astonishing, fearless, gut-wrenching show. If you are a fan you cannot miss it, if not you probably should see it anyway.

While skilfully written and brilliantly performed by Hannah at her most eloquent and charismatic, Nannette remains raw and stark. There are no bells and whistles to this show, it is a beautifully written letter to her comedy fans to explain some big life decisions. It’s a reminiscence of her life, and a look at how she has cooked up some raw life experiences into more palatable comedy routine fodder. She revisits familiar routines and shows us the reality behind the comedy curtain.

Hannah doesn’t owe us anything and she makes that clear but she gives us one hell of a show anyway. Even her art history comedy fans are given the gift of an evisceration of society’s relationship with Van Gogh, his art and his mental illness. Something Melbournians can keep in mind when going to see the Van Gough exhibition that starts at NGV later this month. At the same time Hannah explores her own art and its connection with her mental issues and the love of family.

This feels like another MICF show that has been born out of the darkness of 2016. World upheavals over the past year have left us all feeling dismayed and have also led to a reassessment of Hannah’s life that she needs to share with us. It is often very funny, but Hannah is not afraid to take a break from the laughter and the relaxed, clumsy country dag that we know and talk brutally and directly to us about some serious, heartfelt, personal stuff. Hannah is mad as hell, but also more confident, about her craft and her self.

It’s so great to live in a city where we have a Comedy Festival that is a safe space for this kind of brave theatre. Take a loved one to this show so you can hug them afterwards and hang out for a while afterwards to talk and decompress.

Nannette is on at Melbourne Town Hall (Lower Town Hall) until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/hannah-gadsby-nanette

Anne Edmonds – No Offence, None Taken

By Elyce Phillips 
Eddo

Anne Edmonds has been killing it lately. Coming off a Director’s Choice win and a Barry nomination at last year’s MICF, she continues her run of strong work with No Offence, None Taken – a brilliant hour of stand-up about family, relationships and men.

At the centre of No Offence, None Taken is a holiday Edmonds took with a friend. Left stranded on an island due to inclement weather, Edmonds spends the day venting at her mate. It’s a simple, clever device that allows Edmonds to move from story to story with ease, and cover a diverse range of topics.

There’s something deeply familiar in all of Edmonds’ tales. They paint a picture of Australia that’s a bit crusty and weird. There’s the creepy family running a business where Edmonds had her first job. There’s the hypermasculine dad at a caravan park who isn’t quite as good as he thinks he is. If you’re not a bit dysfunctional, you’re the weird one in Edmonds’ world, and it’s a sentiment that rings very true.

Edmonds is a brilliant performer and brings characters to life in a very vivid manner. Her stand-up is enhanced by her ability to slip into the voices and mannerisms of everyone she talks about. It really rounds out these people, making them more sympathetic than if they were simply a punch-line told in Edmonds’ own voice. And, more importantly, her impersonations are also utterly hilarious . A section in which Edmonds performed as a shoe saleswoman was a particular highlight that had the audience in stitches.

No Offence, None Taken is a must-see for lovers of stand-up. Anne Edmonds gets better with every passing year.

No Offence, None Taken is on at the Victoria Hotel Banquet Room until April 23
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/anne-edmonds

Sam Simmons : A-K

By Angela East
Sam Simmons

Sam Simmons is known for his wacky, nonsensical comedy, and he certainly doesn’t fail to deliver with that again in A-K. The premise is that a reviewer in the UK said Simmons could read the phone book and still be funny, so A-K is ostensibly based on that to see if that’s true, but it is also, he says, a show about badminton, and future technology.

Simmons moves through subjects quickly combining visual gags and non-sequiturs. At times he toes the line of being offensive and he jokingly berates the audience if they don’t seem to get it. It’s something for later, he assures us, and if we walk out we will miss that. And throughout the hour we do see the reason behind the madness.

There’s interrogation of the audience members when they leave to use bathrooms, which seemed to happen quite often during this particular performance. This gives Simmons a chance to do some small bits of impro, though at times these interruptions seem to be a distraction and he quips, “this is why I’m not on Whose Line is it Anyway”.

Suburban shopping centres provide an anchor for stories; generic food court Asian food, grannies on a day out, and how he met his wife in a shopping centre car park, which leads to now: seven years on they have just had a daughter. Like many new parent comedians his show addresses his new parenthood status. The musings and antics turn to nipples, other Dads’ advice, midwives and a fantasy giant slip and side adventure.

Simmons is thinking about his legacy now he’s a father, but he has not abandoned the silly stage antics the idiosyncratic performance style featuring voice-over gags, random acts of silliness and unflattering costume changes that his fans love.

Simmons opened the show warbling an aria, dressed like a cross between a clown and choirboy, and that perhaps sums up the pertinent theme in the show: what if you’re an idiot man child just trying to do something good? It may at times feel little confusing and may not all be successful, but there will still be big laughs.

A-K is on at the Forum Theatre until April 23rd
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/sam-simmons-a-k