Squirrel Comedy – Page 111 – We're Nuts About Australian Comedy

Trygve Wakenshaw – Nautilus

By Elyce Phillips

I first saw Nautilus back in 2015, when it was still a 90-minute-long work-in-progress. Since then, Wakenshaw has toured it around, picked up an award nomination in Edinburgh and tightened it up to 75 minutes. It’s a hilarious, unique piece of comedic theatre that’ll have you sympathising with chickens and laughing at silent stand-up.

Wakenshaw’s use of mime is masterful, constructing detailed worlds on the stage out of thin air. The verbal language of Nautilus is limited. There’s a couple of key phrases and some animal sounds, but most of Wakenshaw’s communication is through movement. Nautilus makes you keenly aware of just how much of our language can be deduced from our physicality. A section of the show in which Wakenshaw imitates a stand-up comedian at work really highlighted this. Without telling a single joke, the audience knew exactly where the act was at, laughing at all the right beats.

There’s a meaningful moral thread that runs through Nautilus. At different points of the show, Wakenshaw tells the story of a man pursuing three animals – a sheep, a cow and a chicken. In each situation, the man is wanting to exploit the animal against its will to get its wool or milk or eggs, and you can hear the audience sympathising deeply with the animals. It’s not a subtle message – Wakenshaw is pretty clearly referencing our consumption of animal products and I suspect he’s a vegan – but it feels covert due to the delivery method. It’s a wonderful message and Wakenshaw gets it across without being preachy, and he keeps everyone in hysterics the whole way through.

Nautilus is a fabulous combination of the silly and the serious. Wakenshaw has created a really special show here that brings together the audience in a beautiful way. This is clowning and mime that plays at the top of everyone’s intelligence.

Trygve Wakenshaw’s Nautilus was on at The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre Melbourne

Romesh Ranganathan – Irrational

By James Shackell

Five years ago, Romesh Ranganathan was a maths teacher in Banstead, Surrey, a village so small and nondescript it literally doesn’t qualify as a UK ‘town’. He hadn’t yet performed in front of Prince Harry. He hadn’t created a BAFTA-nominated TV show co-starring his own mum. He hadn’t been shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. And he certainly hadn’t sold-out three headliner shows at the Hammersmith Apollo. Five years later, all those things have happened. It’s a rise that has you scrabbling for words like ‘meteoric’, so I was pretty excited to join the packed-out crowd at The Arts Centre Pavilion, all of us queuing up to see his latest show, Irrational.

It was a motley crew, ranging in age from a baby (no joke – the best heckle of the night was a loud gurgle right in the middle of a punch line) all the way to grey-haired pensioners, which probably speaks to Romesh’s broad appeal. His style is world-weary cynic meets gruff East London geezer; I clocked the first “bruv” at about three minutes in. But his current runs a little deeper than your average observational comedian.

Irrational isn’t strictly speaking a new show, and you might recognise the odd bit from Youtube clips or Romesh’s appearance on BBC panel shows. But it doesn’t really matter. He’s performed the set so many times that the timing is damn near perfect, digging deep silences between set-up and punchline that only seem to amplify the inevitable payoff. Some of his best material concerns his kids and the pitfalls of fatherhood. Turns out Romesh and his wife were so smug about how well the first child turned out that they decided to double down. It didn’t work.

As good as Romesh is (and he is very good) he doesn’t quite hit the Olympian heights of, say, your Dara O’Briains. It’s not an entirely fair comparison – Dara has been performing since the early 1990s – but you can still feel daylight between the consummate pro and a guy still honing his craft. There’s a gap there that has something to do with audience stamina: after Romesh’s 60-minute set I was satisfied, but ready to leave. Dara could have performed for three hours straight and I would have happily eaten a power bar and strapped in for three more.

None of that really matters at the end of the day, of course. The rise of Romesh has been incredible, and he has the talent to go as far as he wants. Time will tell just how far that is. One thing’s for sure though: that would have been the best maths class of all time.

Romesh Ranganathan – Irrational is on at The Arts Centre Pavillion til April 23

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/romesh-ranganathan

Winners of the 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Awards

The final Saturday night at The Festival Club is always a Big night and Max Watts has certainly found ways to squeeze in a hell of a lot more people than Hifi ever did. It was a pretty good line up of performers, with standouts being Geraldine Hickey, Urzila Carlson and Romesh Ranganathan. The low point was having a boring, non-funny stripping hula hooper from Yummy on just before the Awards.

Then around 1am it was time for the Awards Ceremony.

Barry Award – Hannah Gadsby: Nannette

Best Newcomer – Aaron Chen: The Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby
and
Angus Gordon: Sad Boy Comedy Hour

Piece of Wood – Luke Heggie: Rough Diamante

Directors’ Choice – Demi Lardner: Look What You Made Me Do

Vodafone People’s Choice – Judith Lucy & Denise Scott: Disappointments
and
Wil Anderson: Critically Wil

Golden Gibbo – Granny Bingo: A Visit With Nan In A Caravan

Pinder Prize – Damien Power: Utopia: Now in 3D!

Funny Tonne – Will Erskine – He saw 154 shows in 24 days

Tom Gleeson – Cheer Up

By Elyce Phillip

Game show host and comedic sidekick Tom Gleeson returns to MICF this year with Cheer Up, a show presumably titled as a reminder to Gleeson once he wanders off-stage, because it certainly had nothing to do with the show’s content. It’s a meandering hour of twaddle, generously padded with audience banter that probably appeals to Gleeson’s fans, whoever they are.

I’d not been to one of Gleeson’s solo shows before because I am a fan of comedy. However, I crossed paths with this bloated thumb in a shirt on Hard Quiz – a show where he insults members of the public on the taxpayer’s dime – and as the saying goes, “Revenge is best served via a bitter, needlessly cruel review by a volunteer comedy critic on the internet”.

Hi, Tom. I know you’re reading this. It’s time to review you – HARD.

Gleeson’s brand of competent stand-up covers a lot of the usual topics. He’s got kids. They like annoying kids’ TV. He’s got a wife who thinks he’s boring. They argue sometimes. He owns whitegoods. Isn’t customer service crap? There’s nothing revelatory here. The final story is perhaps the most interesting thing in the show, and that’s probably because it relates a tale that Gleeson wasn’t even involved in.

The tone of the show is deadpan and vindictive. Most of the stories boil down to Gleeson hating someone or other. There’s an ease to his delivery, which makes sense. Gleeson has been doing this for a long time and is just continuing to do more of the same. He should be good at it by now. Instead, we get a laundry list of his grievances and a literal story about him watching laundry dry. Speaking of laundry, how about putting a little effort into your appearance, Tom? You look like you’re about to pop down to dad rock night at your local RSL to get yourself the cheapest possible parma and bob your egg-like conk to a bit of Steely Dan.

This show is the comedy equivalent of five-minute noodles. Sure, it looks like a meal, but it’s unsatisfying and there’s no effort put into it. If you’re into basic stand-up performed by a middle-aged man in dress jeans, go and see Cheer Up, I guess. You’d better be quick, though, as Gleeson is only bothering to do six shows, two of which he cranked out on the same day.

– Ed’s Note: Jeez Elyce, you lose once on Hard Quiz and all reviewer’s objectivity flies out the window….

Tom Gleeson – Cheer Up is on at the Comedy Theatre until April 22
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/tom-gleeson-cheer-up

Dairy Kweenz – Normal Human Responses

By Elyce Phillips

Dairy Kweenz (Colwyn Buckland, Taylor Griffiths, Jess Hagan, Filip Lescaut and Lena Moon) are an up-and-coming sketch group based in Melbourne, regularly performing improv at The Improv Conspiracy. Normal Human Responses is their second show, following on from their Fringe Festival debut last year. It’s an entertaining hour, filled with bold characters and plenty of laughs.

Each member of Dairy Kweenz is given their chance to shine in Normal Human Responses. They all prove to be adept at playing big, absurd characters and their foils. A sketch in which Moon played a character who was extremely excited to get a hot toddy was an absolute stand-out. Buckland was also wonderful as a deranged lawyer in a Serial parody sketch. Lescaut was at his best when he was given room to rant. A sketch in which he produced ever more absurd examples of what “most gay men are like” was particularly great. Hagan was more subtle in her performances, playing the straight characters beautifully.

There’s no one theme that ties all of the sketches together, but a thread that does continue through the show is a doctor character performed by Griffiths, who is conducting experiments into various “normal” emotions. The video segments worked well and added some variety to the show.

As with most sketch comedy, the material in Normal Human Responses has its peaks and valleys. The bulk of the show was wonderfully funny, however, some sections ran a little long and it was difficult to hear the quieter lines as the performers were not using mics. The overall pacing of the show was great, though, with higher energy sketches scattered right throughout to keep the audience excited.

Normal Human Responses is a fine second outing from Dairy Kweenz and shows they have staying power as a sketch group. If you’re a fan of sketch comedy, it’s well worth catching this show during its short run.

Dairy Kweenz – Normal Human Responses is on at Speakeasy HQ until April 22
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/normal-human-responses-2

Frehd the Clown AKA Clownie: Stripped Bare

By Lisa Clark

Frehd Starr comes from Adelaide to her Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut already a legend in Melbourne comedy circles. As “Clownie Queen of Bongs” she starred in some of Justin Hamilton’s funniest standup routines and we did not know if she was made up. So here she is large as life and larger than life, not only living up to the legend but joyfully exceeding it in her amazing, hilarious late night sojourn Stripped Bare.

Frehd validate’s Justin’s nickname by greeting us with a post children’s clown debriefing and the appearance of a bucketbong. The first glimpse into her opposing, colourful and fascinating lifestyles. If this makes you a bit unsettled, in the words of Frehd “Strap Yourselves In!” Frehd is not about the safe way of doing things, she is a child of the 70s when helicopter parenting was unheard of and her own parents were particularly progressive. Stripped Bare is as bold, bright and audacious as its performer and the few audience participation elements are not for the demure. Notably though, all is done in good humour with warmth, care and with consent. When a chap indicated he didn’t really want to come up on stage she moved on to someone who was more keen with no ill will. It’s important to Frehd that we all have a great time.

Frehd was not born with her name, it was a nickname created by her parents and is one of many identities she has assumed during her life. The main theme that runs through her stories is how she keeps all of her personae very separate, and how above all protecting her children’s clown’s innocence has always been very important to her. Having seen her entertain children at Adelaide Fringe, it was not at all surprising to discover she can entertain a packed room of adults. Frehd is a delightful storyteller and is full of fun and surprises while she gradually delves beneath the masks and reveals her self. Of course there are things she holds back, hints at subjects that she veers away from. We can’t help but suspect we are getting the tip of the iceberg of Frehd’s life. Stripped Bare is certainly a dazzling introduction.

Frehd the Clown aka Clownie Stripped Bare is on at The Imperial Hotel until April 23

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/frehd-the-clown-stripped-bare-1