Alexis Simmonds : Tales of a Straight, Single Cat Lady

By Colin Flaherty

Alexis ā€œLexiā€ Simmonds is 41, single, heavily into craft and the proud owner of two cats and a dog. After bounding onto the stage as a wannabe leather Cat Woman, this self-professed Cat Lady tells us colourful stories from her life; from dates with dodgy characters to being a crafty superhero. Some would argue that there is too little obsessive adoration of her feline friends but the stories are interesting enough to hold your interest.

There are quite a few interesting ideas and amusing lines in this show but Lexiā€™s poor delivery works against it. Her lack of ease on stage could possibly be dismissed as the timid and socially awkward stage persona she is attempting to portray but her bold introduction suggests otherwise. Her timing isnā€™t the greatest and words often fail to flow easily. The result is punch-lines that lack the required punch and too many flat spots. It is more like a friend telling stories in her lounge-room and regularly getting herself into a verbal twist as she tries to get all the details correct.

Many props emerge during this performance, mostly her highly creative crocheted covers for mundane objects to transform them into items of power. These possessions are passed around the audience for all to witness their beauty and ingenuity.

Lexi has clearly put in the hard yards to include plenty of colour and movement in this performance. She sings a number of parody songs based upon various popular indie tracks that relate to the story at hand. Her singing voice is pleasant enough to listen to, but most of the backing tracks still have their original lyrics intact revealing that she has only changed some of words. This makes clarity an issue and things regularly become glorified karaoke.

A lack of experience and a lot of rough edges results in this show being a bit too patchy to be a barrel of laughs. Spending time with this kooky lady could give you a few chuckles.

Tales of a Straight, Single Cat Lady is on at Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets.
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/tales-of-a-straight-single-cat-lady-alexis-simmonds

Sweet Child of Mine

By Colin Flaherty

Like most practitioners in the arts, Bron Battonā€™s parents donā€™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 parentā€™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 naĆÆvety 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 donā€™t always match the conversations chronologically.

Bron does a serviceable job in making her monologues amusing. Her anecdotes about her familyā€™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 Bronā€™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 Bronā€™s lifestyle and bravely goes off script to his daughterā€™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

Luke Heggie Mega Dry

By Caitlin Crowley

Heggie first came to notice in 2010 when he won the Raw Comedy Final with a tight set of one-liners delivered in an unemotional, deadpan style. Since then heā€™s gone on to develop full length shows and win more awards including Time Outā€™s best comedian award in 2012.

This year heā€™s drawn on his time spent as a bottle shop attendant for his comedy festival show Mega Dry. His tales are about alcoholics in denial, last hope losers and middle class dad jokers. His riff on bourbon drinkers, their leisure habits and their pronunciation, is a clear highlight. Thereā€™s no affection for his previous customers, nor anyone for that matter, but this isnā€™t cruel comedy either, Heggie serves up his observations from the perspective of one who has been worn down by an endless assault of the brainless. Thereā€™s a slight diversion into material about how mollycoddled kids are these days. Itā€™s solid stuff but pretty well-worn territory these days.

Heggie has a laconic stage presence, an air of the knockabout Aussie bloke, but donā€™t be mistaken, his material is sharp, he has a neat turn of phrase and he knows how to craft good jokes. He finished the show with a song, which he admits is not particularly funny, but does demonstrate a not-too-shabby set of vocal chords. He would have been better served by using some musical accompaniment for his daggier jokes or making the lyrics tighter. Either way itā€™s a clever way to break up the rhythm of the show and shift the energy levels around.

Thereā€™s a sense that Heggie is a lot smarter than his stage personae, that if he wanted to he could challenge himself and push through to another level of deeper material. In the meantime heā€™s doing a fine job; heā€™s relaxed, easy to watch and writes some fine material.

Luke is performing at Tony Starr’s Kitten Club &Ā the Melbourne Town Hall

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/mega-dry-luke-heggie

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. Heā€™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 Connellā€™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 didnā€™t miss anything important. When he did finally don his winning sash, he admitted that he didnā€™t remember anything about the win, which had me worrying again. This wasnā€™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 doesnā€™t really matter that theyā€™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 doesnā€™t fit with the show weā€™ve just enjoyed and leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.

Danielā€™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 Oā€™Neil in 33 Things I Should Have Said NO To

By Caitlin Crowley

In 2013 Dave Oā€™Neilā€™s looking back over his life and weighing up some of the decisions heā€™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 Oā€™Neilā€™s self-deprecating story-telling style. Every anecdote is recounted with warmth and humour, even when Oā€™Neil is poking fun at himself he does it affectionately. Oā€™Neil makes the whole thing look effortless and you get the sense that if he werenā€™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 donā€™t know if Oā€™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 Oā€™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. Iā€™m probably sitting right in Oā€™Neilā€™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 Oā€™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 itā€™s a comfortable, convenient spot to catch a string of fine acts.

Thereā€™s a sense that Oā€™Neil is glad he didnā€™t say ā€˜noā€™ to any of his experiences, that all those mistakes led him right to where he is now ā€“ happy and successful ā€“ but thereā€™s no way heā€™d ever employ such mawkish sentiment. Dave Oā€™Neil is damn fine company.

Dave Oā€™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