Category: Reviews

Lisa-Skye’s Lovely Tea Party

By Alanta Colley

Lisa Skye presents a multitude of contrasts. Fierce yet friendly. Loud yet lovely. Dangerous yet disarming. Crude yet charming. Equipped with a dry wit and a serious expression yet constantly armed with pockets full of sparkles.

In this show Lisa invites you to tea along with several guests from the Comedy Festival. The format includes in part Lisa Skye’s life reflections from her life less ordinary. Lisa Skye’s guests share short performances with us, then Lisa Skye chats with guests and asks them quiz questions from a range themes from a board of erratic to whimsical themes.

On this particular night Lisa’s guests included the exceptional story teller Jon Bennett, whose MICF show is Story Whore. Bennet shared a dark and gripping tale from his life growing up on a farm in South Australia with his method Minister father. We also were graced with the performance of Isabel Angus and Rachel Davis, the comedy duo in Edge; an opportunity to look into the mind of a precocious 11 year old.

Discussions were casual and inviting, and a nice opportunity to get to know these performers outside of their scripted material. Occasionally discussion veered a little into alienating the audience when it focussed a little heavily on talking about comedians and their experiences; though was understandable given the commonality of those onstage.

Skye challenges her audiences’ delicate sensibilities chatting frankly about a litany of sexual encounters, which vary from your typical fare of monogamous relations. She’s unapologetic about it and it’s great that there’s a space in the Comedy Festival for weirder and wackier shows. Skye has a very specific style, something akin to Muppet meets Madame, which, frankly, is fascinating. If that’s not your cup of tea than this is not the tea party for you. A fine night of entertainment, worthy of more than one visit for the revolving and evolving material.

Lisa-Skye’s Lovely Tea Party is on at The Tuxedo Cat until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/lovely-tea-party-lisa-skye-s

Pop Mashup: Happy Birthday Doctor!

by Noel Kelso

Last November the British sci-fi show Doctor Who had its fiftieth birthday. To celebrate this occasion writer and performer Katherine Phelps created Pop Mashup – Happy Birthday Doctor, a love letter to this very show.

Taking the form of a single adventure which mixes a newly regenerated Doctor with characters from the Harry Potter series of books and a certain surly feline internet meme, the result is a show reminiscent in style and content of the great British tradition of pantomime. All that is missing is calls of ‘It’s behind you!’

A newly regenerated Doctor crashes the TARDIS close to where Hermione and Harry have been hanging out in some woods but Harry has recently gone missing and there is a mysterious letter left for the Doctor. The plot’s not really all that important, though, as it makes about as much sense as your average episode of Doctor Who.

The show contains lots of geeky references and songs and the cast acquit themselves well.

Overall the audience enjoyed the show – laughing along at the gags, although some may have gone over the heads of the younger members present. It was a pity there were a few technical difficulties however, when at times, it proved difficult to hear some of the dialogue when it was drowned-out by the music playing over the sound system.

Stand-out performances for the show were Ruben Francis who managed to capture the very essence of the Doctor as a character and Melinda King who played the buxom villain, Tard the Grumpy Cat, with scene-chewing fervour.

Pop Mashup – Happy Birthday Doctor is at the Butterfly Club in Carson Place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 4pm until April 20th.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/pop-mashup-happy-birthday-doctor

John Kearns : Sight Gags For Perverts

By Colin Flaherty

John Kearns would be the first to admit that his show is not everyone’s cup of tea. Describing a solo trip to Berlin amongst other exercises in frustration endured over his twenty six years, he presented a exploration into loneliness, disappointment and expectation that was all over the shop in terms of mood, pacing and humourous content.

Kicking things off with a bang, Kearns donned his trademark wig and false teeth, mounted a deflated horse called Trigger and presented several high energy segments of absurd lunacy. It was these moments of silliness, pointed out as his most “accessible”, that had most of the crowd rolling on the floor.

The mood quickly turned as the sad clown aspect of the show kicked in. Melancholic monologues musing on frequent disillusionment with his world and a very long mime set in a hotel room slowed the pace to a crawl. The occasional amusing line or exaggerated gesture broke up the dour atmosphere but the audience was silent through these sequences, either in shock or enthralled wonder, save for the odd bit of nervous laughter. It was in these moments that he could either lose the audience through boredom or have them hailing him as a genius. Extremely pregnant pauses were effective in building tension and loud outbursts of anger and frustration were great releases for both us and him.

His material was very clever and insightful but the packaging of it was the barrier. Rarely breaking from character, Kearns has the appearance of a ranting madman but, despite his defeatist attitude and rough appearance, this was a damaged guy with witty insights into the human condition who is worth listening to. He even covers the zen of comedy, making it fascinating for comedy geeks like me, but this narrows his already small demographic even further.

Audience interaction played a significant role in his performance. Some of it was a little invasive but it was never malicious (he is playing lower status after all) and it felt like a group bonding experience with us all being kindred souls in life, especially in the finale.

I personally thought this was a brilliant show but it’s easy to see why others will not agree. This is comedy for the patient not those wanting the recommended 4-6 laughs per minute.

Sight Gags For Perverts is on at Melb Town Hall – Old Met Shop until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/sight-gags-for-perverts-john-kearns

Ben McKenzie is Uncool

By Noel Kelso

Co-runner and creator of D&D-style comedy show Dungeon Crawl, Ben McKenzie has a new show at this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival. Titled Ben McKenzie Is Uncool it explores Ben’s life on the outside of the mainstream of culture and the ways in which this manifests itself.

Ben appears on stage clad in a green hooded robe like some ancient ritualist come to recite eldritch incantations from the books he carries that will summon forth demons from the very pit of Hell itself to torment our souls. When those books are then shown to be an old Target novelisation of Doctor Who, a Dungeons and Dragons rule book, and a Dalek Technical Manual, the audience’s fears are assuaged.

In order for us to find out precisely why it is that Ben is uncool, he first has to define that which is cool and this proves a mite tricky. So the audience is taken on a journey through adventures in school being chased by bullies and pretending they are evil aliens to his Doctor; defining himself as a feminist much to the confusion and consternation of many men he knows and a few women; watching crap British sci-fi before it got cool again, and just being ginger.

Along the way he elicits laughs by turning the show into a Choose Your Own Adventure and has audience members select cards from a stack with prepared segments printed on them. This ensures that no two shows are ever likely to be exactly the same. This is an inspired idea and fits perfectly with his overall theme.

So it is that the room hears Ben extol the virtues of drinking tea, playing board games (except Monopoly), warn of the dangers of time travel and give them his impression of a mad scientist – which, as a Scientist myself, was pretty spot-on.

McKenzie is a confident and affable performer who radiates warmth and inclusiveness to the room and the audience were held rapt by his every word. There was an appreciably large crowd present which lent the show a lot of good energy for Ben to draw on.

This is a very funny show from a very professional performer and ideal for those who know their Bat’leth from their Lightsabre.

Uncool is on at The Provincial Hotel until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/uncool-ben-mckenzie-is

Henson Alternative’s Puppet Up!: Uncensored

By Elyse Phillips

‘Puppet Up’ provides two shows in one – if you focus on the big screens, you’ll see the puppets performing improv, but if you look down on the stage, you can see the very talented puppeteers at work. Whichever you choose, you will be treated to a fast-paced, quick-witted show that inspires child-like delight, regardless of the themes.

Although ‘Puppet Up’ is billed as being ‘definitely-not-PG’, the show is only as dirty as the audience suggestions make it. The bulk of the show is made up of a series of improv games, some of which will be familiar to improv fans, like ‘New Choice’. Performers grab puppets from a wall of brightly-coloured faces. There’s fish, birds, muppet-like humanoids, hot dogs – all of which can be pulled into a scene based on what you shout out. The evening I attended, for instance, we saw a short play titled ‘Toorak Wankers’ involving a bear and crab as husband and wife.

In between the sketches, the audience is treated to some recreations of classic sketches created by Jim Henson and Frank Oz when they were in their 20s. It’s a wonderful addition to the show. The simple physical humor of the skits stands up well in 2014. There are also a couple of opportunities for more intensive audience participation, with audience members being brought up on stage. For their work, they received puppet prizes that provoked a collective “Aww” of jealously from the rest of us.

The MC for the evening, Patrick Bristow, kept things quick and light and established a great rapport with the audience. The cast of puppeteers proved to be clever, hilarious, and in some cases, fabulous singers. Their skills really shone through in their creation of a James Bond-esque film opening, complete with theme song – despite the audience suggestion ‘Salami in Wonderland’. There’s a lot of nostalgia value for anyone who grew up with Henson’s work and it’s truly fascinating to see the puppeteers at work, breathing such life into their creations.

‘Puppet Up’ is teriffic fun and an example of an improv crew that works together really well. If you’re a Henson fan or simply enjoy great improv, this show is one to check out.

Puppet Up! is on at the Princess Theatre until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/puppet-up-uncensored-henson-alternative-s

Adrienne Truscott’s Asking for It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy and Little Else

By Lisa Clark

You’ve might have heard about this award winning show; that it is controversial, provocative, brave, powerfully political and, yes, Adrienne does spend a lot of the show naked from the waist down, but you might not have heard that it is also warm, welcoming, silly and adorable. Adrienne’s southern disarming charm reminded me of Dolly Parton and she makes you feel at home from the get-go.

Adrienne is better known as one half of burlesque cabaret act The Wau Wau sisters who have been touring Australia with their show about finding themselves in mortal danger in Queensland but are sadly not doing that show for the Melbourne International comedy Festival. It is not surprising that there is a cabaret / burlesque aspect to this show; some clever strip tease, music videos being projected onto her naked torso and the odd bit of slapstick, but all have a deeper political context about peeling off layers, revealing agendas and laying bare the blind, appalling ridiculousness of misogyny.

At the heart of the show is a comedic deconstruction of the incident in 2012 where Daniel Tosh, in response to a woman’s heckle about a rape joke not being funny said about her “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now?” and then many comedians (mostly male & some even highly respected ones) came out in Tosh’s defence, (mostly missing the point about what was offensive about it). You get the impression that this hour is a direct response to that incident and a clever, comedic form of revenge. Revenge for every woman who has been raped, threatened, intimidated, disempowered, shut down or put down. Proof for this is the fact that the stage is strewn with framed photos of many of the comedians involved, so she can point them out and hold them up to ridicule. Well, by getting involved they were asking for it – weren’t they?

The key to it all for me is at the very beginning of the show when Adrienne points out that only Jewish people can tell Jewish jokes and only African Americans can tell jokes about African Americans. The unspoken implication is that only rape victims can tell rape jokes and I think Adrienne might be subtly telling us something about herself and about the show.

Most of the music throughout, including the house music before and after are songs by men being misogynistic or intimidating sexually towards women. They are pretty toe-tapping, popular tunes. I was lucky to have my younger friend with me point out before the show that we were listening to the notorious song ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke. It’s a way of reminding us how endemic and accepted misogyny is in society without needing to say it herself.

Adrienne covers a lot of pretty serious ground but it’s so well written and performed that it is hilarious and a heap of fun throughout. Needless to say Asking for It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy and Little Else! Is not a show for everyone. But it should be.

Asking for It is on at the Portland Hotel – Portland Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/asking-for-it-a-one-lady-rape-about-comedy-starring-her-pussy-and-little-else-adrienne-truscott-s