Geraldine Hickey – Page 3 – Squirrel Comedy

Geraldine Hickey – Winner!

By Lisa Clark

Lotto even more than other forms of gambling is about dreams, plans and anticipation. Geraldine Hickey is in a happy place having won at love but there is a catch and she’s discovered that sometimes when you realise your dreams they are not always the completely perfect thing you imagined, but that’s OK.

During Fringe, in a sea of nervous newbies it’s lovely to relax in the presence of a seasoned pro like Geraldine Hickey. She’s an expert at putting the audience at ease, with relaxed funny banter and pertinent questions that engage, add to the concept of the show and help fill that time when people are settling in. When some audience members arrive really late she manages with ease, asking them what they would do if they won lotto and gradually brings things back to where she’d left off in her tale.

Geraldine is a famously engaging storyteller with some very funny stories to share with us. I’ve heard the one about horse riding done in short form at a pub gig, but here in full and in context it’s even better. Importantly the stories don’t feel like they’ve been shovelled awkwardly into the theme. Everything in Winner! flows seamlessly. Throughout she cleverly dots her tales with sizzle about the big finale and her special guest Pat presenting ‘Pat’s Lotto’.

The finale which invites the audience to play ‘Pat’s Lotto’ is a crowd pleaser and may win you cash or, more likely, some alcoholic shots. It was great to see the cliché of barrel girl turned on it’s head somewhat and the glamorous woman taking control with hosting duties, as well as the barrel. The cash prize jackpots every night. If there are no winners of the shots Pat must drink them instead, so if you don’t get a drink there’s sure to be joy in seeing her becoming quite squiffy and trying to finish the show. Pat ended the show sober on our night and did a fine job, but there seemed to be something unfinished about our mate Geraldine not returning to tie things up a little and see us off, but maybe that’s just me.

This is a fair bet for a good time at the fringe, even if you don’t walk out with the cash, by picking Geraldine’s show you’ll be winning.

Winner! is on at The Imperial Hotel

For tickets and Information: https://www.melbournefringe.com.au/program/event/view/37e48c5e-35e0-43c7-bad8-561bf63beb96

Squirrel Comedy’s Recommended and Previously Reviewed Shows at Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2015

By Lisa Clark

Well the Squirrels are getting ruffled up and ready for autumn nut collecting. And comedy reviewing. There are soooo many shows on offer at the 2015 Melbourne International comedy Festival and it can be very difficult for us to see everything we want to see, let alone review everything we want to review. For those readers who are planning their Festival schedules and are in need of help, we have some good news: Squirrel Comedy has previously reviewed thirty of this year’s shows and we have laid out links to all those reviews below.

First Up here are some brilliant shows I previously saw & loved but Squirrel Comedy hasn’t reviewed.

I recommend you see:

Claire Hooper’s School Camp

Claire takes us back to school days in a raw & truthful way where nostalgia takes some surprising and dark turns that make this show very special.

Celia Pacquola – Let Me Know How It All Works Out.

Celia’s show about fortune telling and her international lifestyle was another of Celia’s crowd-pleasing corkers.

Barry Nominated last year as word got around it was selling out like hotcakes, so if you weren’t lucky enough to see this gorgeous show better book now.

Denise Scott – Mother Bare

Denise deservedly won the Barry Award last year for her droll and often riotous reflections on motherhood and other aspects of her comedic life.

She’s only doing four shows this year at the fan friendly time of 4.30 Sundays, so get your tickets early.

And now for shows that we have previously reviewed.

Particular highlights this year that I can also recommend include:

Are You Afraid of the Dark by Watson

Watson’s funny and occasionally genuinely scary show is not for those with a nervous disposition or heart condition but my goodness it is a monstrous load of fun. It can only fit smallish audiences into the space at the Old Melbourne Gaol so book early, I hear the first week is booking out fast. Not surprising as this show won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and considering it is site specific it is one you will have to come to Melbourne to see.

Bart Freebairn Ultra Power Lord

Bart is a comedian at the top of his game just waiting to be discovered by the mainstream. I get the joyful shivers when I see a stand up comedian reach a point where they can host a room and own it keeping everyone rolling with laughter non stop. Bart is there and I hope everyone loves Ultra Power Lord as much as I did at Fringe last year.

Bucket’s List by Sarah Collins starring Justin Kennedy

Buckets List is a whimsical, beautiful and of course very funny tale with a star turn by the amazing Justin Kennedy (who we just don’t see enough of on the circuit any more – I miss him, but if this is the sort of work he’s producing then I’ll forgive his absence). Justin is blessed with the ability to make an audience laugh without saying a word and when I see independent theatre this good I think our major theatre companies should have a good hard look at themselves.

Damian Callinan – The Lost WW1 Diary of Private Paddy Callinan

A perfect show for this anniversary of ANZAC it’s another comedy character tour de force by Damian where truth and tall tales blur with loads of laughs and a streak of darkness. The true spirit of the ANZAC is thoroughly celebrated.

We can’t wait to discover new exciting comedy at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival but meanwhile

Here’s the full list with links of those we reviewed earlier:

The 13–Storey Treehouse

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6692

Anthony Jeannot is Unaccept-a-bubble

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7985

Bart Freebairn: Ultra Power Lord

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7643

Clem Bastow – Escape From LA

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7956

Damian Callinan – The Lost WW1 Diary of Private Paddy Callinan

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6010

Dr Brown – Befrdfgth

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=1244

Dylan Cole – The Moon in Me

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7760

Fancy Boy Variety Show

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6647

Faulty Towers – The Dining Experience

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=1633

Geraldine Hickey – Listen Out For The Castanets

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7669

I Love Green Guide Letters Live

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=5892

Justin Kennedy – Bucket’s List

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7723

Late Night Letters and Numbers

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=3846

Lee Naimo – Finding Lee

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7970

Lisa-Skye’s Lovely Tea Party

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=5880

The Little Dum Dum Club Live

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=5938

Luke McGregor – I Worry That I Worry Too Much

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6045

Mark Butler – Grammar don’t matter on a first date

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7885

Political Asylum – Late Night Riot

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=3785

Sam Rankin – Wake Up, Sheeple! (2.0)

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7639

The Sexy Detectives – Mono Logs

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7952

The Sound of Nazis

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7712

The Umbilical Brothers – KiDSHoW – Not Suitable for Children

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6870

Stuart Daulman is an Absolute Credit

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7706

Stew Walker – A Hard Day’s Night of Beatles Parodies

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7920

Gary Portenza: Apologies in Advance

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7915

Set List

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6695

Watson – Who’s Afraid of the Dark

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=7786

World Record Show with Andy Matthews, Adam Knox and Dave Warneke

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=5973

Zoe Coombs Marr – Dave

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=6963

Geraldine Hickey – Listen Out For The Castanets

by Elyce Phillips

From the moment this show starts, you know three things for certain – Geraldine Hickey is hilarious, has badass fashion sense and a natural gift for dance. The remaining 50 minutes merely serve to confirm that first fact over and over again.

In ‘Listen Out For The Castanets’, Hickey recounts a time where she found herself in a dangerous situation, and how she found the bravery to intervene. We’re taken back to Hickey’s childhood, we explore her love of theme parks and are left in no doubt as to her feelings on drinking. Although her stories are often tied down to specific places – Albury-Wodonga and Puffing Billy, for example – they are immensely relatable. We’ve all been in similar terrifying situations, even if we didn’t react to them in the same way.

Hickey has a gruff likeability that you instantly warm to. Her storytelling style is like the kids at the back of the school bus ranting about their school holiday exploits, using curse words as commas, constantly diverting on to the story of this other cool thing they did. Each distraction from Hickey’s main tale is cleverly crafted, beginning as an apparent non-sequitur but eventually returning to her story in surprising and amusing ways. The jokes may be presented as a down-to-earth ramble, but this is a very polished and accomplished piece of comedy. You are never left in any doubt that Hickey knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s one of those comedians that just appear to be effortlessly hilarious.

‘Listen Out For The Castanets’ is a wonderfully funny show and it deserves a great big audience. I highly recommend you get down to The Imperial and check it out.

Please note – it’s best if you have $2.50 on hand when you leave the house to see this, because if you’re as impressionable as me, you’re going to want to go buy a Bubble O’ Bill immediately after the show.

Geraldine Hickey – Listen Out For The Castanets is on at The Imperial Hotel until October 5.
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/geraldine-hickey-listen-out-for-the-castanets/

Fancy Boy Variety Show

By Colin Flaherty

There has been a lot a buzz about this show. Many have told about the wild, debauched exploits of its performers. It generated so much interest that extra late night shows were added to its limited week long run. The basic premise is of a variety show where anything can happen. The line ups are closely guarded secrets and tickets are sold with the warning “No Refunds.” Colour me intrigued!

The core cast comprised of John Campbell, Greg Larsen and Henry Stone who, along with special guests from the festival, portrayed the acts performing at this variety night from hell. We saw stand up from the “king of crowd work”, a piss-weak song parodist, a magical duo, an inappropriate song by Geraldine Hickey’s conservationist, a high tech clairvoyant, Jonathan Schuster in Singer/Songwriter mode and a Rock Eisteddfod entry.

A lot of shows and performers sell themselves as edgy or dangerous but this one comes damn close to fitting that bill. The all male cast makes for quite a testosterone filled hour with male nudity and frequent jokes about penises and bodily fluids. Some of it was a little repetitive but generally this was very clever smut that had the audience in stitches. It is certainly not for the faint hearted and we did lose a couple from the front row who found it all too much.

The variety show conceit provided a brilliant forum to cleverly ridicule all manner of acts who perform at the festival, making it perfect for comedy nerds and fellow performers who get off on this naughty meta humour. All the “acts” were ridiculous stereotypes of their genre or the worst examples who were portrayed beautifully in the short time we were with them; no unnecessary background was required to laugh at these pitiful souls who were thrown into this bear pit of a show.

Our host (played by Stuart Daulman) kept the show moving along at a cracking pace. The acts usually didn’t overstay their welcome after we had cottoned on to the joke, occasionally stopped short by the MC which was a great bit of scripting. It was something sketch troupes should take note of

If you’re not too prudish and up for a dangerous and filthy late night show this is an awesome choice. Make sure you get in early before all the comedians fill up the room.

Fancy Boy Variety Show is on at the Imperial Hotel at 12:15, Thursday to Saturday until April 18
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/variety-show-fancy-boy

5 Good Reasons to see That Sexy Show

1) Do you think Cosmo’s sex advice is socially irresponsible and dangerous? So do the (sane) humans of That Sexy Show! Go and watch Cosmo sex tips debunked right before your very (horrified) eyes! (This may or may not involve audience participation and often gets physical.)

2) They feature delicious pornstars and sexperts alongside some of Melbourne’s best tasting comedians! (Check Facebook for the linep – facebook.com/ThatSexyShow). Previous guests include Luke McGregor (Dirty Laundry Live, Nova FM, Time Of Our Lives), Catherine Deveny, Tom Ward (Please Like Me), Aeryn Walker (Game of Thrones) and this time round they’ll be joined by the likes of Fiona Patten – leader of the Australian Sex Party and pop-music comedy duo Die Roten Punkte.

3) You are guaranteed to learn something. Last time all in attendance became more knowledgeable about the pleasure (and seemingly lack of pleasure) derived from docking.*

*Docking; The act of placing the head of ones penis inside the foreskin of another’s penis.

Use it in a sentence? David and Patrick enjoyed docking immensely because of Patty’s stretchy foreskin.

4) The absolutely babin’ Geraldine Hickey (Triple M, The Librarians) is in it, joined by host and sex geek babe Sarah Jane and Adam Knox (Raw National Finalist) who are pretty good value too.

5) It’s central and on late, so you can fit it around anything else you’re seeing (The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Pl, 10:30pm-midnight every Thursday of the festival)

Bonus:

6) Cause you’re a kinky mother fucked (yay for you!) and you like watching awkward porn of a girl fucking a man in a panda suit just so that you can look at all the awkward looks on everyone else’s faces.

That Sexy Show is on Thursday nights at the very sexy Butterfly Club.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/that-sexy-show

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/