Reviews – Page 157 – Squirrel Comedy

Rama Nicholas : After Ever After

By Alanta Colley

Disney would have you believe that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end. But stories don’t really ever end, do they?

Rama Nicholas takes us on a twisted, treacherous and cheeky journey into the lives of Grimm’s characters after the wedding bells have fallen silent, after the romance has faded and after the baddies have done their time in the clink.

Nicholas reclaims the macabre and gruesome tone that so many of Grimm’s fairy tales have been stripped of under a sanitised Disney treatment. Under Nicholas’ mischievous re-imagining we learn of the darker side of some of the sweeter heroines. We hear what the seven dwarves got up to after Snow White’s wedding day. We learn of tortured love affairs Disney never would have condoned. We learn of vengeance, of martial arts training, of addictions and many more vices unmentioned until now. All of this takes place in the appropriately-named city of Grimland.

Nicholas single-handedly delivers a packed cast of no less than fifteen well known fairy tale folk. The performance is a sophisticated feat of agility as she skilfully enacts a scene with up to eight characters all by herself. That she can leap from one character to the next in a split second without leaving the audience behind is a testament to Nicholas’ theatrical abilities. Each character is superbly developed; with rich accents and diverse physicalities and relatable motivations, enabling Nicholas to safely carry us into the realm of willing suspension of disbelief using a minimum of props or effects.

The performance is dotted with musical ditties; each number quite captivating. Nicholas displays being as musically talented as she is as a writer and performer. She’s also not afraid to take her characters to saucy encounters!

Nicholas is a divine physical story teller. Lose yourself in this rich, ridiculous and raucous piece of theatre. A delightful hour of enchanting and twisted tales to behold.

After Ever After is on at the Portland Hotel – Locker Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/after-ever-after-rama-nicholas

The Tim Vine Chat Show

By Jayden Edwards

Star of the UK’s The Sketch Show and international Pun-slinger, Tim Vine is back at the comedy festival with another round of rapid fire one liners, clever musical stings and visual gags.

In Tim’s new show, he bundles his usual pun mastery with some conversational audience participation, inviting punters to fill out a questionnaire before the show then inviting those with the best stories to come up on stage. Hence the title The Tim Vine Chat Show.

The first half of the show is Tim at his best. “There’s no satire here, folks” Tim proclaims as he powers through his material. Tim fires off pun after pun scattered with some musical and visual stuff. Although we did miss out on his jump rope gag. “Think i’ll skip that one” he explained. His delivery is childlike and beautifully daggy, suiting his sometimes borderline daggy dad jokes, but the laughter always outweighs the groans. His suit and half untucked shirt only bolsters his style. There’s so much content here, and so much quality, you can’t lose really.

In the back end of the show the chat element comes into play and, unusually for a Vine show, the pace slows. For our performance Tim invites onto stage a Physiotherapist who told of an unfortunate encounter with a Sand Fly whilst overseas, a former children’s entertainer, a Radio DJ with a story of an awkward interview with a language barrier (“A bit like this one” he cheekily sugguested) and a incredibly secretive Transport Operations Manager.

It’s always a risk to entrust a large chunk of your show to the quality of the stories of your audience and i’m sure with the right audience there’s potential for some killer content here, but on this particular night i’m not sure it worked. Tim struggled a little bit to get material out of some of his guests, especially Jeanine the Transport Operations Manager, who just didn’t want to play the game. Tim fell back on some loosely related material to get himself out of a bind on a few occasions. Maybe some games or “segments” thrown in with the interviews would be more suited to his style?

There’s no question Tim Vine is a brilliant, witty scripted comic but his interviewing and improv just wasn’t as strong. It’s a shame as it hampers an otherwise hilarious show. But such is the nature of improv; comedy gold could be hiding amongst your fellow crowd members. Tim’s worth the punt.

The Tim Vine Chat Show is on at the Melb Town Hall – Lower Town Hall until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/the-tim-vine-chat-show

Miss Itchy’s Late Night Larvae

By Elyce Phillips

Australia’s only identical twin teenage bridesmaids, Miss Itchy, have returned with their terrifically trashy and incredibly wrong talk show Late Night Larvae. Miss Gerda (Linda Haggar) and Miss Candy-Girl (Fahey Younger) bumble their way through a jam-packed evening of guests, prizes and aggressive incompetence.

Late Night Larvae feels like ‘The Tonight Show’ with a possessed autocue, hijacked by your maddest aunts. The show was very rough in parts – Gerda and Candy-Girl both had some trouble with the script, and Gerda was forgetful when it came to the location of characters on the stage, directing her lines to the voices backstage instead. But with these characters, it really didn’t matter. Every little slip-up just added to the wonderfully unhinged energy Miss Itchy bring to the stage.

Though the jokes have been updated for a new crowd, old favourites like Alphonse the Room Temperature Pony remain (He is still a pleasant 22 degrees). The show’s ad breaks, in the form of pre-recorded pieces, were the strongest part of the show. Ads for a Christmas club and a safari resort on the Peninsula were highlights, and the running gags about Matt Preston are brilliant. The prize wheel was also hilarious, with some truly underwhelming prizes awarded to lucky seat holders.

Late Night Larvae’s supporting cast is very strong. Tim Harris brings a surprising amount of gravitas to the roles of Alphonse and newsreader Cliff Palate, both of which contrasted brilliantly with the constant fidgeting and belching of the Misses. Jennifer Wong was a stand-out as Sophie the Box Jellyfish and Miss Gerda’s special helper Emoji. The special guest for the evening was Joel Creasey, who seemed just as baffled by the show as the audience. It’s worth the price of entry just to see the spectacular interview format the girls have devised for their guests.

The humour prances around the line of good taste – some jokes hit the mark more than others. For me, a joke about the Apple factory in Shenzhen went too far. There is certainly some shock value in the show, but the stronger material was in their flirtations with the absurd, rather than the gross. Fortunately, there are enough laughs to be had that the occasional flat moment was never more than a flicker.

Late Night Larvae is not for the easily offended, but if you’re prepared to take the misses with the hits, you’ll have a great time. Miss Gerda and Miss Candy-Girl have produced a monstrosity of a talk show that could make a delightful end to your festival evening.

Miss Itchy’s Late Night Larvae is on at Melb Town Hall – Old Met Shop until April 19

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/late-night-larvae-miss-itchy-sn

Best of British

By Alanta Colley

The Best of British offers a veritable smorgasbord of British talent; touting the quirks and charms of the Mother Country’s funny folk. This is a good place to get along to if you wish to find out what the British find funny about Australia.

The show offers a comedy taster for those wanting to sample comics before committing to a full hour with just one of them. Those in the line-up all have shows on elsewhere as part of the Comedy Festival.

While the line-up varies nightly, on this particular night we were graced with the comedy of Tom Binns of ‘IT Crowd’ Fame. Binns shared with us his persona of DJ Ivan Brackenbury; host to Hospital Radio FM, who performed hilariously inappropriate song dedications to a litany of patients in the hospital. He was uproariously entertaining.

Geoff Boyz represented Scotland on the night; with an eclectic array of observational humour and impersonations. The inherently affable Gordon Southern was a true highlight of the night; providing a particularly British interpretation of the character of Australia’s geography. Southern’s analysis of Australia’s obsession with AFL cut to the core of our National psyche. Southern’s potted history of the colonial invasions of America then Australia was clever and concise.

I’m not sure how it was all coordinated, but the vast majority of the people in the audience were also British. While the show delivered an expected cocktail of jokes about being drunk, Post-colonial jibes about cricket, and bawdy one-liners about wives and women, it exceeded expectations.

The all-male nature of the line-up was a little boring; I’m pretty sure the UK has lady comedians as well. Aside from this the night was a little like a kebab, solid, delicious, and pleasurable in its predictability. A worthy addition to your comedy consumption this festival.

Best of British is on at The Exford Hotel until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/best-of-british

James McCann – Nunopoly: How to Play Winning Monopoly and Live a Fulfilling Life in Christ

By Colin Flaherty

A Chinese girl rises to the top of a Mexican drug cartel, goes on to dominate the professional Monopoly championships and finds God. It’s a story you’ve probably heard a million times before but Sister James McCann tells us her version. Whether it delivers on the promised Monopoly coaching or liturgical discussions is up for debate.

This was wacky, shouty comedy at its best; a high energy performance with a hint of danger. It had the hallmarks of an Evangelical Salvation Show but the subject matter hinted at otherwise. Sister McCann flirted with gents in the audience, posed tricky Monopoly scenarios and even belted out some tunes on the Piano Accordion (the instrument of choice of Monopoly champions).

The story itself is one hell of a wild ride. McCann totally nails this self described picaresque tale. It ticks all the boxes of the genre and includes lashings of surrealism, highbrow cultural references and crazy encounters with thinly disguised celebrities. There were some clever call backs both visually, verbally and musically. A rendition of a well known song in mangled Spanish was a particular highlight.

The performance was rather rough around the edges with numerous distractions and fluffed lines but this fitted in perfectly with this odd character. With such a crazy logic behind the story, anything was likely to happen and frequently did. This show has had runs previously at the Adelaide Fringe but McCann still made it appear off the cuff.

Her interactions with the audience were a little hit and miss. Most prompts for suggestions were merely fishing for replies to match pre written comebacks but her rapport with the punters was a lot of fun.

If you enjoyed the zany, over the top characters and humour of Wolf Creek: The Musical (McCann co-wrote that masterpiece) you know what to expect. This is some great crazy fun to cap off your evening at the festival.

Nunopoly is on at Trades Hall – The Evatt Room until April 19
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/nunopoly-how-to-play-winning-monopoly-and-live-a-fulfilling-life-in-christ-james-mccann

Andy Matthews : String Theory

By Noel Kelso

Former RAW Comedy finalist Andy Matthews’ new show String Theory is silly. Very, very silly. It is also very, very clever. To explain how the two are connected you may need to be either very clever indeed or just open to the absurd ideas and stories Matthews puts together in this show. Possibly both, because those ideas are sometimes surreal, sometimes profound and often quite touching.

So – what is String Theory?

Well, it could be just a series of tall tales told on stage by a man with thick glasses and blonde hair, accompanied by a wandering live soundtrack provided by Mitchell Berk twiddling nobs from the side of the stage.

During the show the audience learns the innermost thoughts of Captain Flinders; hears how the loneliest man in the world fills his life; is made privy to how the capitalist economy was ultimately saved; hears a bush poem detailing the videogaming triumphs of an octogenarian farmer and peers into the decision-making process for selecting a new national anthem.

Are any of these things connected?

Possibly. It depends on your perspective and whether or not you can see in eleven dimensions – but that’s not important.

This is a show full of intelligent, surreal comedy which brims with ideas and which leaves the audience laughing and thinking.

Matthews delivers his material in deadpan fashion, rather like someone giving a rather plain lecture. This juxtaposition of the absurd with the mundane only serves to accentuate the humour in each of the tales. He is clearly very comfortable on stage, delivering his stories with a casual manner which makes it all the more easy for the audience to engage with the material and laugh along. This is very much a show which requires repeat viewing as Matthews has crammed so many ideas and subtle gags into his fifty minutes that afterward it may be difficult to remember every hilarious little aspect.

String Theory is on at ACMI – Games Room until April 6
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/string-theory-andy-matthews