Category: Reviews

Sitcom Theme Song Singalong (and Trivia) – Bert Goldsmith

By Lisa Clark 

If you grew up enjoying sitcoms and singing along with theme songs like Family Ties, Laverne & Shirley and Cheers this is the show for you. It’s a great show to grab some friends and some drinks from the bar and have a great late night of singing, calling out answers to questions and winning lollies.

The bones to the structure of the show is a list of Top 10 most popular Sitcom themes, (clearly voted for by Americans unfortunately, but that’s OK). Each song pops up on the video screen throughout the show with words underneath Karaoke style and the audience is encouraged to sing along. The audience is a little shy at first but by the end no one wants to stop singing and we’ll even sing a song that’s not in Bert’s plans. Between the singing Bert gave us some lots of trivia and zingers, other sections of the show included ‘Real Sitcom or Fake Sitcom?’, ‘Who’s The….am I?’ and ‘the ‘Most Boring Sitcom Character of All Time’

Bert Goldsmith is a quick witted nerdy host who knows his stuff when it comes to sitcoms. He had all bases covered for a great night of exploring television sitcoms. Whether you’re into oldies or more recent shows there was something for all ages. He had lost his side kick Rosie because she broke her foot and is doing a spiffing job at running the show solo as well as doing all the teching. It’s quite a tech dependent show and after a slight glitch during our performance it occurred to me that it might be a good idea for Bert to have back up cards and recordings
 just in case. Still he has fabulous slides that he’s put a lot of work into and some very funny filmed skits. Well done to director Timothy Clark too for giving it some polish.

A great way to finish off a night of the Fringe, the audience didn’t want it to end. Maybe all those lolly prizes made us all a bit giddy! This show should come with a health warning for the risk of diabetes and being hit by flying objects. Lots of fun, it will definitely be one of my Fringe highlights; I recommend you make it one of yours too.

Sitcom Theme Song Singalong is on at The Imperial til Sept 27.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/sitcom-theme-song-singalong-and-trivia/

A Very Zac & Gotchy

By Colin Flaherty

Billed as a two hander sketch show, A Very Zac and Gotchy (starring Zac Cooper and Matt Gotch) was an exuberant hour by two young actors. This basic set up was quickly abandoned with a nudge and a wink to include Caitlin McInnis in all the female roles.

The humour was a little hit and miss at times but that is generally the case with all sketch shows. I found that it started off with scenes that were silly for silliness sake and relied a little too heavily on mugging to get the laughs. As the show went on, some interesting ideas began to emerge and the consistency of the laughs increased. Personal highlights included a reluctant verbatim performance of a comedy routine that hadn’t aged particularly well and the Hollywood artistic licence taken with a Stephen Hawking biopic.

All the performers played everything extremely broadly which was in keeping with the artificial sitcom styled setting. This initially put me off-side (as it seemed to be at the expense of amusing content) but it did suit the majority of the sketches where surrealism and absurdist lines were the order of the day. Some touches of ironic misogyny, outrageous lines and costuming, and fun with literal misunderstandings tickled our funny bones.

With the main focus usually being on the relationship between “Zac” and “Matt” (or a myriad of other character pairings), they often took on the traditional roles of comedic duo with Gotchy being outwitted by the controlling and manipulative Zac to provide plenty of amusing conflict and twisted wordplay. Matt did manage to add a little subtlety in the unhinged nature of some of his characters but generally they were played with wild abandon and extreme silliness.

They had very apt choices of music between scenes which tied in with the theme explored in the preceding sketches. This made for some grins and titters as the audience heard how they cleverly tied things together. Sometimes the audio happened to be the exact source material used in the sketch to fill the gaps for those unfamiliar with the references. This was useful but perhaps it was used a touch too late to effectively garner laughs from everyone in the room.

Staging this performance in a white cube art gallery helped with the heightened sense of reality. The bright stage lights lit the whole room and gave the performers a slight unworldly look. Artwork hanging in the walls didn’t quite fit with the scenes and made this strange world of strange people all the more weirder.

A fascinating take on the traditional sketch show.

A Very Zac & Gotchy is on at Brunswick St Gallery until September 28.
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/a-very-zac-gotchy/

Xavier Toby – 2013: When we were idiots

By Elyce Phillips 

The year is 2113 and we are living in an environmentally-sustainable socially-harmonious utopia. You are a member of a tourist group exploring North Melbourne circa 2013, wondering how they got it all so wrong. That is the premise of Xavier Toby’s novel comedic walking tour ‘2013: When we were idiots’ – a refreshing, bizarre and often fascinating look at the Fringe’s home town.

Meeting in the foyer of the Fringe Hub, hi-vis vests are doled out to attendees and you are instructed to follow the penguin (Toby) outside. After hearing a quick safety chat and being informed that everyone on the streets around you is an actor, you set off for some learning.

Toby deftly weaves fact and “fact” as the group trundles about the streets of North Melbourne. You hear about the old Benevolent Asylum, Scrap metal merchant Old Ma Dalley and the history of the Hotham Football Club, but are also reminded of things like how we use waterslides as public transport in 2113.

There’s a strong social message throughout the show. Toby underscores the problems of 2013 with tales of how we are doing it right in 2113. In his utopia we’re working less, creating more and are generally a more caring lot. But for all its moral aspirations, the show never feels preachy. After all, we’re from 2113 and all these wonderful changes have already occurred, so there’s no need to harp on about it. Everyone’s already on-board.

Micah Higbed is glorious as a series of historical special guests, ripped from their own times and sporting some questionable costumes. His “mystical” psychic, whose name seemed to be some sort of high-pitch shriek, was a highlight of the tour. There’s also a quick stop for some poetry with Emily Andersen. Her ode to hipster boyfriends is a perfect little slice of 2013 Melbourne.

Some of the best moments came from the group’s interactions with strangers on the street – all of whom were remarkably good-natured about being set upon by a large group of neon gigglers. A beautiful sense of camaraderie develops and at the end of the 90 minutes, you do feel a bit like a group of travellers from somewhere better, out of your own time.

2013: When We Were Idiots starts at the Fringe Hub – Lithuanian Club Foyer and is on until October 5.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/2013-when-we-were-idiots/

The Experiment

By Elyce Phillips

 

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been wondering for years why there is not a comedy show that is also a dog show. It’s such a hassle trying to attend both all the time. Why not bring them together? Well, lucky for us, our prayers have been answered by ‘The Experiment’. Hosted by Asher Treleaven, Geraldine Hickey and the constantly-grinning Oliver Clark, the late-night show is the perfect opportunity for comedians to get weird.

The trio of hosts complement each other perfectly. Hickey was wonderfully deadpan, giving us some animal facts and reading out a very pertinent letter to our new Minister for Women’s Affairs, Tony Abbott. Clark manned the sound effects and ran interference, dressed like an electric-blue nightmare – the lovechild of Tony Barber and Tony Clifton. Treleaven bridges the divide, holding the reins and fostering an enthusiastically supportive atmosphere that ensures the special guests are met with rapturous applause, regardless of the material they try out.

On the evening I attended there were four guests, all of which were fantastic. Anne Edmonds performed some great new material about Nazi fancy dress, Dave Callan busted some serious moves to Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me One More Time’, Claire Hooper treated us to a suite of Fables from her upcoming Fringe show and Charles Barrington delighted with his tale ‘The Ugly Natalie Portman’. Alas, on this evening there was no dog show. A lady in the audience did bring a small toy dog, which Treleaven received with the disdain it rightfully deserved.

‘The Experiment’ is brilliantly unhinged and a great chance to see some comedy from the stranger end of the spectrum. With new guests every night, it’s certainly a show that I’m going to check out a few more times. A really great way to top-off your night at the Fringe.

A final note- the call-out for small dogs is entirely serious, so bring your small dog if you have one. As of right now, the prize money has jackpotted to $45. Hot dang!

The Experiment in on in The Ballroom at the Lithuanian Club until October 5.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/the-experiment/

Lisa-Skye – Art, Sex and Snacks

By Lisa Clark

Late night interview shows pop up all over the place during festivals, Art, Sex & Snacks is very much your alternative talk show that fits perfectly into the fringe of the Fringe that is The Tuxedo Cat. It really is the kind of frank talk show that will not be finding itself on mainstream TV anytime soon.

In a room suitably draped in red crushed velvet, we enter to discover the brightly clad host and her guests are chatting informally with each other off mike on stage which gives a friendly atmosphere. Lisa-Skye is a relaxed and skilled host, keeping the pace up and the balance of giving each guest their time to shine, while occasionally shining out herself. Her guests are encouraged to open up about their art, their sexuality and their favourite snacks. I’d had no previous knowledge of any of tonight’s guests, but by the end I felt we had all shared a fairly intimate, if at times raucous experience.

Lisa-Skye brought together four artists from widely varying parts of the Fringe Festival who were all very entertaining with fascinating shows on. The night I went we had Rennie McDougall who’s dance performance Yes Dance (Deeply Superficial) works against the idea of dance as storytelling and celebrates the body. Nell Kentish of the theatre company Big One Little One is doing a Live Art piece that is performed for one audience member for one minute – Confetti, the rest is a secret for you to discover. Simon Morrison-Baldwin who was giving Lisa-Skye’s outfit a run for her money in his drag persona as Lady Diamond is doing a cabaret show called Corpse about an 18th century transgender spy who spent half his life as a man and half her life as a woman. Finally there was gay comedian Hunter Smith whose show Apprentice Heterosexual explores feigning heterosexuality.

If the aim was to familiarise audiences with artists and encourage them to see the shows of her guests that was achieved. Starting out with performers completely unknown to me, by the end I wanted to see all their shows. Except for maybe dance, which is not my cup of tea, despite Rennie’s charm and humour, that would take some extraordinary persuasion. I’m sure each evening depends on the guests involved but we had an uproarious time of laughs and confessions. Topics included food during sex, sex toys, the gay hankie code and an excellent legal drug to take while giving birth. None of this is surprising while Lisa-Skye is at the helm.

It’s a short run and I’d recommend you catch it while you can.

Lisa-Skye – Art Sex and Snacks
is on at 10.45 til Sept 24th
Tuxedo Cat
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/art-sex-and-snacks/

There is a Podcast of these shows available here:

http://artsexsnacks.podbean.com/

 

Rennie McDougall – Yes Dance (Deeply Superficial) [Dance]
Fringe Hub Warehouse
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/yes-dance/

 

Nell Kentish of Big One Little One – Confetti [ Live Art]
North Melbourne Town Hall
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/confetti/

 

Simon Morrison-Baldwin (Lady Diamond) – Corpse (Le Chevalier d’Eon and the Mystery of His Sex)
Butterfly Club [Caberet]
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/corps-e/

 

Hunter Smith – Apprentice Heterosexual [Comedy]
Tuxedo Cat

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/hunter-smith-apprentice-heterosexual/

 

We’ll Always Have Paris

By Colin Flaherty

Comedy walking tours have been popping up as alternatives to theatre based shows over the past couple of years. One such tour is Jacqueline Mifsud’s We’ll Always Have Paris. This event requires the participants to suspend their disbelief as Mifsud uses Melbourne landmarks in place of Parisian ones while presenting a very accurate yet amusing commentary about the history of Paris.

First to put a preconceived notion to rest: you won’t have to navigate a thick comical French accent, she is not playing a snooty French woman. It was interesting to learn that she spent four years living in Paris and conducted tours for English speaking tourists, demonstrating that she knows her stuff. Including all the humorous lines into this fact heavy script and remembering it all was an impressive feat. She was able to make light of some of the more horrific data about French history with a witty disarming quip.

Numerous pop culture references are thrown into the narrative at every opportunity to add some giggles of recognition. The source materials vary wildly and span many years so it’s unlikely that you will recognise them all, but many will make you smile even when shoehorned into the topic at hand. Also making up the humorous content were plenty of innuendo and self-deprecation which added to her crazy tour guide persona. She generally kept up the fascade of us being in Paris by explaining away many of the Melbourne things staring us in the face which was a nice touch.

Jacqueline had a rather scatty ADHD demeanour to her performance. The constant verbalisation of her inner dialogue and frequent asides gave the show a very loose feel amongst her well executed spiels but also disrupted the flow at times. She was also easily distracted by events around us which gave her opportunities to make amusing off the cuff remarks but more often than not she lost her place in the script.

I was part of the Sunday morning tour (a rather leisurely stroll between the landmarks) and had heard that due to increased foot traffic the evening tours are a little bit chaotic, just like a European city crowded with multiple tour groups and hundreds of lone tourists. If you want to have a more authentic experience the 6pm tour fits the bill. Also note that the route includes a number of staircases so those with mobility issues may experience problems in keeping up with the group.

A wonderful Edu-taining event that appeals to history buffs and comedy fans alike, Jacqueline has created a fun way to kick of your day / evening at Fringe.

We’ll Always Have Paris departs from outside the Melbourne Arts Centre each weekend until October 6.
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/we-ll-always-have-paris/