Category: Festivals

Sweet Child of Mine

By Colin Flaherty

Like most practitioners in the arts, Bron Batton’s parents don’t quite get what she actually does. Through a series of filmed interviews, performances and monologues by Bron and even live stand up spots by her Dad, James, Sweet Child of Mine explores the cultural and generational divide between Mr and Mrs Batten and one of their offspring.

A lot of the humour comes from the parent’s blunt but honest responses to the questions Bron poses to them about the art world. This raises the question of whether the comedic premise of this performance is focused on the artistic naïvety of the older generation or the pretentiousness of the performing arts. It could depend on the audience watching it; an arty Fringe Festival crowd could lean towards the former while a general Comedy Festival audience could see the latter. It walks this fine line constantly but all can agree that having a loving and supportive family is the point of this show.

The dance pieces that Bron performs for us are executed seriously. Humorous costuming (she performs most of the show dressed in her underwear and dons some elaborately amusing outfits) keep it from being too much like a dour modern dance show. She does a good job of giving us a taste of the dance pieces that are referred to in the interviews but curiously, they don’t always match the conversations chronologically.

Bron does a serviceable job in making her monologues amusing. Her anecdotes about her family’s history and her artistic endeavours contain enough funny details to elicit some laughs of recognition.

A roleplaying exercise involving an audience volunteer speaking with Bron’s mother via telephone is an attempt to tug at the heartstrings. Only hearing one side of the conversation is disappointing and robs this scene of its power.

James threatens to steal the show whenever he is on stage or screen. Flirting with his demure wife of 40+ years is so charmingly cheeky. He tells adorable Dad Jokes, pokes fun at Bron’s lifestyle and bravely goes off script to his daughter’s horror. He seems to be really enjoying touring this show with his daughter.

A bold and ambitious endeavour, Sweet Child of Mine has been garnering acclaim at various Fringe Festivals but it is still geared towards dramatic performance rather than a comedic one. Nonetheless it has enough warmth to keep you smiling.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/sweet-child-of-mine-bron-batten-her-parents

Daniel Connell – MR PERSONALITY 1988

By Lisa Clark

Daniel Connell is a laid back country boy with a delivery that reminded me of Dave Quirk minus any hint of darkness. He’s a personable personality to spend an hour with but as perplexed as anyone why he won a personality contest when he was five.

The first ten minutes of Daniel Connell’s show about travelling on public transport is completely dispensable and had me a bit worried. The one consolation was that those who arrived late didn’t miss anything important. When he did finally don his winning sash, he admitted that he didn’t remember anything about the win, which had me worrying again. This wasn’t going to be one of these festival shows that lures you in with an interesting premise that it then fails to address was it?

Thankfully Daniel was setting himself a quest and gradually, he pieces together the mysteries of that day and how he ended up in possession of a sash and white ceramic owl. Daniel paints a warm and amusing picture of his family in Batemans Bay with its Bowling Club, Rotary Club and Neptune Festival which hosted the Mr Personality contest in 1988, that he somehow won. He has tales of his mean older sisters, two wacky mates and parents with senses of humour as dry as his own. This is the backbone of the show and the most successful part.

He goes off on some tangents which are cleverly woven in. It doesn’t really matter that they’ve been shoved in, because his material about the ‘animals fighting in the wild’ website is clearly gold. Unfortunately the disappointing ending feels false and forced and despite some laughs doesn’t fit with the show we’ve just enjoyed and leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.

Daniel’s style is often deadpan with a quick twinkle in the eye that stops it becoming too monotone. He has just the right amount of props and family photos to support his stand up and it’s not a bad way to spend an hour. With only a few cuts and tweaks there are the makings of a top notch festival show here.

Daniel Connell is performing at The Forum Theatre in the Carpet Room.
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/mr-personality-1988-daniel-connell

Picture This!

By Colin Flaherty

Live cartoons drawn alongside stand-up comedy is an intriguing concept. Add a lively host in Alexandra Elizabeth Howell, four brave guest comedians, Illustrator Hadley Donaldson, a guest scribbler (in this case Jason Chatfield, who has his own cartoon based show), a willing audience and toasted cheese sandwiches, and you have Picture This!

Lining up to have their words immortalised visually at this particular show were Luke McGregor, Michael Hing, Claire Hooper and Celia Pacquola. Apart from Michael (who is a multiple visitor to the Picture This! stage) they performed sets that I have come to know almost word for word from seeing them often at local rooms. I was dying to see what dimension the drawings would add to their material.

The illustrators used one of two methods to work with the comedian; they either drew a literal representation of the jokes or they would toy with the performer and add their own humour to the images. Both were entertaining in their own way.

The literal method resulted in a detailed picture that grew as the routine went along and, while not always adding laughs to the source material, was a feat to behold. It was amazing how rapidly the illustrator worked as the jokes went through their life cycle. After the punchline was reached, it would have to be sadly erased (I hope copies are saved!) to make way for the next joke.

A loose cannon approach tested the comedian’s improv skills as they were forced off the script. Some performers suggested additions to the drawings to which the cartoonist would oblige with amusing results. For the most part it was an exercise in trying to embarrass the comedian with suggestive doodles (ie. lots of penises).

This is a show of sensory overload. Focusing on the screen runs the risk missing any nuances of the comedian’s performance but the words aren’t really the main focus of this show. If you are familiar with ta particular comic’s material you can see where this set goes visually while keeping an ear open for any instances of a curve ball being dealt with. Many times the comedian was surprised by what had been made of their words but usually they were intrigued by the visual representation of themselves.

It was a fun event and certainly something different from your bog standard stand up show with tight five sets. It left some interesting memory imprints to go along with the jokes.

Picture This! is on at The Tuxedo Cat

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/picture-this

Dave O’Neil in 33 Things I Should Have Said NO To

By Caitlin Crowley

In 2013 Dave O’Neil’s looking back over his life and weighing up some of the decisions he’s made. Should he have caught that train? Should he have accepted that gig? Should he have eaten the hot dogs?

Tying the show together through this series of reflections works perfectly with O’Neil’s self-deprecating story-telling style. Every anecdote is recounted with warmth and humour, even when O’Neil is poking fun at himself he does it affectionately. O’Neil makes the whole thing look effortless and you get the sense that if he weren’t on a 50 minute time limit he could probably mine his life for another 50 regrets, as a result the show flies by.

I don’t know if O’Neil just attracts a good natured crowd, or if he creates that atmosphere through his own energy, but the result is that it feels like O’Neil is in a room chatting with a bunch of mates. He has such an easy relationship with his audience, employing them to help him out when required and bouncing off their energy. I’m probably sitting right in O’Neil’s demographic when it comes to age, background and stage of life but there was a bunch of teenagers in front of me who appeared to enjoy it just as much. Interestingly one was sporting a mullet and a sheepskin jacket, very early 80s Melbourne, which led O’Neil to wonder if this kid had been someone who beat him up as a teenager.

The venue is the upstairs bar at Hairy Little Sister and it’s a comfortable, convenient spot to catch a string of fine acts.

There’s a sense that O’Neil is glad he didn’t say ‘no’ to any of his experiences, that all those mistakes led him right to where he is now – happy and successful – but there’s no way he’d ever employ such mawkish sentiment. Dave O’Neil is damn fine company.

Dave O’Neil is at Hairy Little Sista
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/33-things-i-should-have-said-no-to-dave-o-neil-in

These Kids are Good.

By Lisa Clark

It’s great to see a show where you get a taste of several performers, to give you an idea of what they are like and hopefully encourage you to see their solo shows. This one is six regular comedians, plus a guest, who do around five minutes each. If one doesn’t appeal, it won’t be long before you’re checking out the next one.

The comedians appearing in this show have been handpicked by affable host Tom Ward, most famously best friend of Josh Thomas in real life as well as playing the part in the TV series ‘Please Like Me.’ Tom is getting a fine reputation of his own in comedy circles and has chosen the kind of comedian that he enjoys and is unsurprisingly closest to his own and Josh’s style. So we get a line-up of six youngish gen Y bespectacled and/or bearded, smart, slightly awkward, gentle charmers doing a modern brand of observational humour and getting away with the occasional filth. These are not ‘angry young men’ (or woman) shouting about what boils their blood, they’re more likely to be bemused or annoyed about stuff.

Some of the performers though unknown have been treading the boards for a while and are pretty solid standups including the laid back Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall, cheeky Jonathan Schuster and ever delightful Neil Sinclair. Then there is Nellie White who’s been living away from Melbourne, in the UK and Perth for the past six years. She’s someone I’ve always admired for being very left of centre, if a little nervous in her delivery. She’s doing some filthy gear and it’s nice to have her back on the scene.

It’s lovely to discover new faces too like tonight’s guest comedian John Campbell (he had a MICF show last year, but is new to me) reading his annoyed letter about public transport and the confident Andy Matthews who is currently doing a double act in the festival with Tony Besselink

I’ve seen several of these comedians performing elsewhere and they’ve been refreshing in the line up and often even killed the room, but all together, I felt they needed some sort of contrast to add more balance to the hour. Still, if this style of comedy is what really rocks your boat, it’s a great way to see some appealing up and comers who are pretty good at it.

These Kids are Good is on at The Imperial Hotel
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/these-kids-are-good

I Love Green Guide Letters Live.

Last Saturday, Steele Saunders kicked off his run of Live “I Love Green Guide Letter” podcasts at the Melbourne Town Hall.
Special guests Tony Martin, Sam Pang and Tom Ballard helped Steele discuss letters about Digital TV, netball, Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me, Formula 1 advertising, Peter Mitchell’s Melbourne and The Biggest Looser.

Check out the shorter sizzle video below for a taste of what went down, and grab the entire episode from iTunes or direct from here.

The Green Guide Letters live show will continue throughout the comedy festival with more special surprise guests.
Grab your tickets here http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/with-steele-saunders-i-love-green-guide-letters