Melbourne International Comedy Festival – Page 123

Rob Caruana : Learn Comedy

By Colin Flaherty

With four years of stand up under his belt, Rob Caruana is here to teach everybody about comedy. After listening to his ridiculously incomplete analogies and half-baked examples you will probably be none the wiser, but are guaranteed to split your sides as he tries to impart his wisdom.

The theme for his show was essentially a loose framework for Caruana to throw all sorts of silliness our way. There were no weighty themes at work here – just an hour of exuberant joy, even during his token “melancholic” segment. It was a mix of fluffy throwaway lines and wonderfully clever ideas all presented in an almost stream of consciousness manner (that had surely been tightly scripted). His routines led to some excellent, imaginative prop work often with ridiculously detailed background details to flesh out the joke to its fullest. Tools he deemed necessary to be a proper teacher were haphazardly discarded or misused to add to the lunacy.

Banter with the audience not only served as joke set ups but created plenty of amusing segues. Caruana’s interactions with us flowed effortlessly and created a warm atmosphere where laughter was lovingly nurtured. Granted the night I attended was a room stacked with friends and family (ensuring some easy comebacks) but he certainly has the skills to bounce off any crowd with ease.

What really impressed was his uber confident stage persona. His experience co-hosting the C31 talk show Live On Bowen shone through with extremely slick presentation. In fact the show had a vague tonight show structure with an opening monologue followed by a high energy opening (how he didn’t injure himself on that small stage is a miracle!). He had a touch of old school vaudevillian comic about him in his cadence, joke structure and exaggerated reactions. There were even a couple of brilliant prat falls that hearken back to that era.

Learn Comedy is a brilliant debut from a comedian who has just only begun to hit his straps.

Learn Comedy is on at The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure Hotel until April 5

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/learn-comedy-rob-caruana

5 good reasons to see Gold Jacket Comedy with Aaron Gocs and Angus Gordon.

1. When Aaron and I started doing comedy together we both agreed that we didn’t want to be involved in gimmicks or marketing tricks. We thought quality stand up should be able to speak for itself. This is our first MICF show together. We’ve worked hard on it and think it is a good prouduct. We’ll also be wearing sequinned gold jackets. Come watch our ideals be compromised in the face of reality.

2. I think Aaron is one of the most exciting stand up in Australia. Unkown comedians often list their influences to give persepctive audicences an idea of what they’re like. Aaron is a true original. Nobody else in comedy is like him. I can only describe him as Homer Simpson if he was forced to endure a life Frank Grimes considered fair.

3. I’m (Angus Gordon) also in the show.

4. Aaron will probbaly bring snacks to share. On his facebook he eats meals requested by his fans. I can’t explain why it’s great but it is. This is a link to his page https://www.facebook.com/AronGocs?fref=ts

5. Aaron is a cab driver so he could probably give you a lift home.

Gold Jacket Comedy is on at Spleen Bar.
For more information and bookings and bookings vist the website:
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/gold-jacket-comedy-aaron-gocs-angus-gordon

5 Good Reasons to see The Improv Conspiracy’s Play Like A Girl

1) It is a completely improvised hour of hilarity centered around an event

2) The girls know how to play (improvise)

3) Some of the most influential female comedians come for an Improv background.

4) No show will be the same and you can give the suggestion

5) Presented by the Improv Conspiracy, Australia’s most acclaimed long-form improvisation company.

The Improv Conspiracy’s Play Like A Girl is on at The Croft Institute

For info and tickets go to the MICF website

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/play-like-a-girl-the-improv-conspiracy

5 Good Reasons to See Nadine Spark’s REHAB

1) Most people have not been lucky enough to go to rehab, so this is your only chance to see what it is like.

2) Nadine plays a stack of crazy characters, if you don’t like one, you can fall in love with another.

3) Nadine is a seasoned performer who delights audiences.

4) If you liked Celebrity Rehab, you will love what centrelink pays for.

5) Nadine is doing a limited season, so get in while you can.

Nadine Sparks is performing Rehab at The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure Hotel
For Info and tickets go to the MICF website:

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/rehab-nadine-sparks

Paul Foot – Hovercraft Symphony in Gammon # Major

By Noel Kelso

Pythagoras; Euclid; Pascal; Pierre de Fermat. All great mathematicians, but little is known of their stand-up.

I’m not sure how good Paul Foot was at being a Mathematician following his graduation in that subject, but his stand-up abilities are without question formidable – and to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure why I’m writing that.

Looking at my notes from last night’s performance of ‘Hovercraft Symphony in Gammon # Major’ it appears that some of Foot’s random, stream-of-consciousness style has infected my brain. In fact, the most accurate way in which I could review this show would be to type a series of random words and leave it at that.

Weasel, architrave, duck – nope, I just can’t do it.

If you have seen any of Paul Foot’s appearances on television then you will be aware that he is not your average stand-up. If your idea of a good night out at the comedy is Dave Hughes or Adam Hills, and even then you avoid the front row because you don’t want those crazy comedians getting up close and personal, then perhaps Paul Foot is not the comic for you. Or maybe he is. It’s really hard to tell.

Foot’s style is that of barking mad lecturer with mild Tourettes and an inability to remain still for more than a millisecond. He announces himself from backstage and almost immediately breaks the fourth wall by advancing upstage and clambering down to interact with the front row. And when I say ‘interact’ I am not just referring to asking questions about people’s professions.

Foot invites one member to stroke his mullet and then stands astride another. There are diversion to parts of the routine which were supposedly ‘too long’ to include in the show and bizarre tales of evil landladies and Hindus. My brain was getting a full workout from the vast, strange leaps of logic being made on the stage and my jaw hurt from laughing. Beside me my guest was braying like a donkey at every lurch and fit-like spasm from the man on stage, which came as a relief to myself as I had invited them to this show on the strength of nothing other than the fact that my usual comedy companion was elsewhere.

I realise that I am already almost at 400 words and have yet to describe much of the show. This, in itself, is a pretty accurate description of Foot’s show. To say that there are numerous diversions and false starts would give the incorrect impression that there is eventually a ‘beginning’ because I certainly couldn’t pinpoint it. I was too busy laughing.

This is an hour of bafflingly innovative comedy from a guy who really should not be allowed out on his own and I for one loved it. Anyone who can have the audience laughing uncontrollably with the parts supposedly excised from the show has to be worth seeing.

Just don’t sit in the front row.

Paul Foot – Hovercraft Symphony in Gammon # Major is playing at The Hi-Fi, Swanston Street at 8:15pm until April 19^th

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/hovercraft-symphony-in-gammon-major-paul-foot

Five good reasons to see Lawrence Mooney – Surely Not

1. I’m Lawrence Mooney, so you get guaranteed laughs with requisite amounts of filth and philosophy.

2. Surely Not is at the beautiful Forum Theatre. It is a divine Melbourne location and you’ll be wowed and amazed by the glorious decor.

3. It’s about death which doesn’t sound very comic but is and better still it’s incredibly life affirming and piss funny. (Two reasons in one.)

4. There’s a wonderful choir in it too. So there’s a little bit of time to have a cry cry. Bring a tissue.

5. It’s what the properly cool people will be doing but you should still come anyway.

Lawrence Mooney performs Surely Not at the Forum Theatre from now to 5 April, then at the Melbourne Town Hall 14 to 19 April.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/surely-not-lawrence-mooney