Luke McGregor – My Soulmate is Out of My League

By Lisa Clark

Luke McGregor has been around the Melbourne comedy scene for a while and has been smart enough to wait until he had enough excellent material to make his Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut. The material has been honed and trimmed of all excess fat with no filler. There is no grand story arch and Luke has given himself a couple of comedy props for the pre-intro jokes which are fabulous but generally he doesn’t need fancy sets, musical instruments or special effects, just the small black stage and himself.

The theme as you can gather from the title is his lack of self-esteem when it comes to the opposite sex and possible reasons why he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Luckily being a bit weird and different has paid off by making him an excellent comedian with many hilariously sad sack stories to tell.

What’s special about seeing him do his own show is that he opens up further to share a few more personal stories. As if we are his best friends for coming to see him and so he shares intimate details that he wouldn’t talk about up the pub. This includes some extra notes about his OCD which had the audience in fits, but had me being a bit too empathetic to laugh.

The comedy of awkwardness has been Luke’s speciality from the start and if you’ve seen him shine in Scumbus or Please Like Me, you’ll understand why he is being sought for these scene stealing roles. Since coming over from Tasmania I’ve seen him lose some of his genuine shyness and awkwardness to grow in confidence to the point where he easily owns the rooms he plays. Despite all the nervous tics & giggles, which he emphasises for comic effect, he is clearly comfortable in his own skin and confident in his material.

This is a superb debut from a comedian clearly on his way to making the big time. And if he doesn’t have a girlfriend by the end of this festival, then the lovely women of Melbourne just aren’t trying hard enough! Catch him before he’s a star.

My Soulmate is Out of My League is on at The Portland Hotel
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/my-soulmate-is-out-of-my-league-luke-mcgregor

Dr. Professor Neal Portenza’s Choose Your Own Portenza

By Cathy Culliver

It’s Dr. Professor Neal Portenza’s birthday and you’re invited to the party.

Joined by his food-loving friend Mr. Patapotomoose (Pat Burtscher), it’s no surprise that the lovable but idiotic Dr. Portenza (Joshua Ladgrove) is a big hit with kids. He’s silly, he wears strange clothes and he’s really easily made fun of.

The show itself is haphazard and chaotic, but luckily that’s just the way kids like it. The title of the show comes from the fact that the audience can vote on certain outcomes in the show, like “who is knocking on the door?” and “what should Dr. Portenza do to Mr. Patapotomoose?” (unsurprisingly, the audience voted overwhelmingly in the latter category for Mr Patapotomoose to be kicked in the bum).

Occasionaly Dr Portenza leaves his own birthday party to make room for other characters like his evil twin half-brother Gary Portenza, Fishboy and Steven Seagull who teaches the kids how to deal with bullies (although his advice isn’t completely practical as it includes a fireball to the head).

Ladgrove is a natural at playing all of these delightfully silly characters; he knows exactly what kids like and he gives it in spades.

Burtscher is also wonderful as the mischievous and naughty Mr Patapotomoose, who torments Dr. Portenza by hiding from him, pulling faces behind his back and eating all the cookies.

There’s lots of audience participation that will keep the kids engaged and entertained, and plenty of good old-fashioned silliness to keep children and adults alike giggling the whole way through.

A highly recommended show for the school holidays.

Choose Your Own Portenza is on at the Melbourne Town Hall until Sunday 14th March. For information and tickets, go here:
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/choose-your-own-portenza-dr-professor-neal-portenza

The Little Dum Dum Club

By Elyce Phillips

One of the great things about the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is that you get the chance to see shows like ‘The Little Dum Dum Club’, where comedians from around the globe are brought together in a more informal way and you get to see them mucking around and enjoying each other’s comedic stylings.

‘The Little Dum Dum Club’ is a live recording of the popular podcast. The setup is much like a talk show. Tommy Dassalo and Karl Chandler do their thing as hosts and then three guests are brought out one at a time – by no means do you have to be a regular listener to the podcast to enjoy the live show.

The boys have had some great guests on in the past and opening night of this year’s live show was no exception. Dave O’Neil was first out. As always, he appeared to be effortlessly funny, telling a story about how he dropped Rove home from a gig when he was just starting out.

US guests Pete Holmes and Eddie Pepitone were great additions. Holmes near took over the proceedings, but it was certainly fine by the audience – the man is hilarious. Indeed, Holmes and O’Neil made for a great pairing – O’Neil’s laidback style was the perfect foil to Holmes’ manic energy.  Pepitone was a little more restrained, having just flown into the country. He did impress, however, with his non-existent improvisation skills, letting the entire audience in on what floor he and Holmes were staying on at the Medina.

Dassalo and Chandler work together brilliantly as hosts, Dassalo asking the questions and Chandler chiming in with perfectly-timed barbs. Of course, the show will be different every week, but if the quality of guests continues to be as good as opening night, ‘The Little Dum Dum Club’ is well worth checking out.

‘The Little Dum Dum Club’ is on in The Powder Room at Melbourne Town Hall, Mondays until April 15. The recording of the April 1 show will be available on Libsyn

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/live-podcasts-the-little-dum-dum-club

Lessons with luis famoucity!

By Lisa Clark

Last year Lesson’s With Luis delighted everyone who discovered them. They were like slightly dotty neighbours who made you sit and watch the little play they’d created with handmade props and sets. This year they are still the same dotty and adorable family but they’ve become more hi-tech with the help of encouraging neighbour Mr Bianchi who has loaned them a TV and video camera along with some other exciting props and is even playing a pre-recorded role in the play within the show.

It seems that Luis has been inspired by his surprise win of last year’s RAW comedy award as well as the Golden Gibbo Award to perform a play (within the show) about his travails in getting himself to The Famous Awards in Famou-city with the help of his ever encouraging, loving dad Len and silent brother Luellin. Perhaps the most memorable magical moment from The Kidney Kingdom was Luellin’s shining spell on stage alone with a member of the audience. Luellin gets to shine here as well, but there are surprises I cannot spill. Needless to say Luellin’s character is developing in more ways than one and is going to win some teenage girl fans.

A highlight this year is also the songs, which are a lot more sophisticated and enjoyable to listen to including parody and audience sing-alongs. There is quite a lot of entertaining audience participation this year that turns out to be important to the plot leading to a surprising and hilarious ending.

The beauty of Lessons with Luis is that it satirises suburban Australia in a fresh way and yet this family could be neighbours of The Kerrigans in The Castle. We laugh at their naivety, blinkered confidence and silly jumpers, but also adore them for the way they support each other and work so hard to entertain us.

Luis and his Family’s Famoucity! will enchant the whole family. The kids in the audience can enjoy the simple story and bright colours while the adults get all the subtleties including a few surprisingly dark undertones. I can’t help but wonder if these have been inspired by director Justin Hamilton. They certainly work for the comedy. I’m glad the boys are doing a lot more shows this year in a more accessible venue at the Town Hall, so that many more people will get to see what everyone was raving about last year.

Famoucity! is on at the Melbourne Town Hall
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/famoucity-lessons-with-luis

Matt Dyktynski with Bang Mango Cools – Edible Pets: The Farewell Tour

By Colin Flaherty

Playing versions of themselves comedian Matt Dyktynski and musician Bang Mango Cools are Edible Pets, a band on the brink of collapse. The setting is backstage at a Pokies venue where the boys are preparing for their final gig. The tale of the band’s existence is told through flashbacks where each gig ends in disaster (usually due to the actions of one individual), bringing up yet another bad memory associated with their planned set list.

The amusingly bitter banter between the two is the focus of the humour and the script contains plenty of amusing barbs and comments. Most impressive was Cools’ stagecraft and comedic timing (I assume he is a relative newcomer to the comedy caper) that it sometimes threatens to upstage the veteran Dyktynski. It certain helps that Matt gives a great portrayal of a slightly repugnant and egotistical fellow so that Bang Mango’s character is allowed to shine as the likable one.

The numerous flashback sequences are fun. With a slight costume change and silly wig we are transported to a doomed gig from their history. We not only get a humourous situation involving the naivety of the boys but jokes making fun of the time period itself. There are plenty of historical references to raise a smile with those of a similar vintage (the younger folk can always Google them later). The use of identical motifs to end each of these scenes is a nice touch of comedic repetition.

The sound and lighting design works brilliantly in lieu of a changing set. Chatter/heckling from the gig punters and the venue PA Announcements create atmosphere and help progress the story beautifully.

Unlike other comedy shows about bands, they resist the urge to fill the show with humorous songs. There are a couple of parodies that tie in with the narrative but for the most part the songs are serious tunes that are impressive with Cools’ demonstrating his virtuosity on the guitar. This is successful at creating a sense of hope amongst the impending doom but this is at the expense of laughs.

The Farewell Tour is a fun theatre piece with strong performances. It isn’t quite a continuous tidal wave of laughs but there is enough here to keep you chuckling along at all the misfortune.

Edible Pets: The Farewell Tour is on at The Victoria Hotel

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/edible-pets-the-farewell-tour-matt-dyktynski-with-bang-mango-cools

Commedia Dell Parte

by Luke Simmons

Commedia Dell Parte may well be one of Melbourne’s best kept secrets. It’s got a reputation for holding a great “underground” night where new and high profile comedians can test their new and existing material. To the good fortune of everyone in the packed house, many of the performing comics provided samples of their upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows.

The night was MC’d by Sean Ryan (co-runner of the night) who commands attention on the stage with his Ned Kelly / ZZ Top style facial hair and comedic style of storytelling. He’s great at giving examples about how not to win friends and influence people – in a wide variety of settings. To his credit, not all examples feature him as the villain. He maintained the pace of the night well and kept the audience grinning throughout.

After Sean’s intro, the first act was Lijretta who is a unique comedian who hails from Ambassell, Ethiopia. With his sunglasses planted firmly on the top of head, he got the audience laughing straight away with a series of punchy observational one-liners. The highlight of his set came when he took everyone through an odd situation on the tram which involved two good Samaritans almost coming to fisticuffs. His show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is called The Lijretta Show.

Jay Morrissey stormed onto the stage and showed everyone how his thousands (not millions) of miles an hour style helped him win the Victorian final of the RAW competition. Whether he was talking about mind-altering experiences at work or how females find it easier to garner support on Facebook, he generally had the audience in stitches. Check out his #bollard show at the current festival.

Xanda Allen then came on looking like he’d come straight from a Whitesnake concert. Purely based on his look, he demanded attention on the mic and used his visual gags to extreme effect. In fact, if he grows tired of comedy, he could do well on the catwalk. Melbourne needs to see more of this guy because he has the X factor.

Dean Eizenberg’s quirky style provided an interesting change of pace for the night. He also used the intimate stage to full effect for his visual gags – mixed in with his stand-up of course. If comics are going to use some edgy material (see: bad taste gags), they need to be able to come back with a strong punch. Based on the crowd reaction, Eizenberg’s sucker punch almost hit the mark. His unconventional style of stand-up was a gas though.

Ronny Chieng hit the stage and unleashed a volley of jokes towards the audience for the length of his short set. For some of his material, he loves to use his ancestral roots as both a source of boasting and piss taking. After all, we are currently in the “Asian Century”. He’s clearly got a keen observational wit and an acidic tongue to match. He took exception to poor old (or, young) bar tender who had the audacity to capture his attention which was a highlight. His show at the current festival is “Can you do this? No you can’t” and would be well worth it.

Steele Saunders then took the mic and immediately took control of the crowd. In fact, this man oozes stage presence and doesn’t mind taking a risk with a bit of banter with the audience. His power set was a mixture of short gags and extended stories – which both went down well. Don’t make a fool of yourself in a nightclub when Steele’s there because karma may make you pay… His show at the festival is The Steele Saunders’ Venue Got Demolished Late Night Show.

Daniel Connell is a rising star and this stunning set proved why. His voice has the calming effect akin to a doctor which helped him connect with the audience. On this particular night, Connell took the audience on a journey of piss-funny storytelling with the highlight being his tumultuous (and sumptuous) upbringing. In fact, he made most in the audience lose their appetite based on the groans… See his Mr Personality 1988 show at the festival!

The night ended with Luke Heggie whose dry style of joke telling makes Dave Hughes sound like a giggling Rodney Dangerfield. He peeled off joke after joke and whipped the audience into a wee-in-the-pants frenzy. What a way to end the night. He obviously dislikes people with jet skis, sneaky strippers and would rather drink paint that head to the horse races and/or greyhounds. Unsurprisingly, his upcoming show at the festival is called Mega Dry. Check this man out!
Following Radiohead’s lead, the night is run on a pay-as-you-like basis with most being happy to part with a fiver or a tenner on the way out. If you’re ever around the St Kilda area and have a free Thursday night, Commedia Dell Parte is a perfect place to hear some short and punchy sets from a wide selection of comedians.

Commedia Dell Parte is at George Lane Bar every Thursday night thoughout the year.