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Raw Comedy Winner

On Sunday 14th of April the RAW Grand final was filmed in Melbourne and hosted by Matt Okine. There were also special guest appearances by Celia Pacquola and the winner of the inaugural RAW Comedy India competition held late last year, Neeti Palta.

The winner of RAW comedy in 2013 was surreal performer Demi Lardner from Adelaide. She has won a trip to Edinburgh!

Runner up was Cameron Duggan from Brisbane

Third place was given to Victoria’s Andy Mathews.

Congratulations to everyone who took part.

ABC2 will be airing the RAW Grand Final on Thursday May 9.

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 he’s gone on to develop full length shows and win more awards including Time Out’s best comedian award in 2012.

This year he’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. There’s no affection for his previous customers, nor anyone for that matter, but this isn’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. There’s a slight diversion into material about how mollycoddled kids are these days. It’s solid stuff but pretty well-worn territory these days.

Heggie has a laconic stage presence, an air of the knockabout Aussie bloke, but don’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 it’s a clever way to break up the rhythm of the show and shift the energy levels around.

There’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 he’s doing a fine job; he’s relaxed, easy to watch and writes some fine material.

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

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

Recipients of the 2013 Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards

The Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards were established in 1987 to promote outrageous and fabulous creativity in creating comedy festival shows for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

On the final Sunday of the Festival every year there is a showcase of festival artists called The Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards Benefit that raises money for these awards. The Comedy Channel have also recently chipped in money to pay for a director for each recipient.

Past winners include last year’s live radio play Tie her to the Tracks starring Andrew McClelland, Asher Treleaven, Celia Pacquola, Sammy J and Adam McKenzie, Sammy J & Heath McIvor’s Forest of Dreams (2008) and Justin Hamilton’s Three Colours Hammo (2007)

The recipients of the 2013 Moosehead Awards were announced on Monday 12th of November at The Shelf. The winners are:

1. RAW winners and Best Newcomers at 2012 MICF Lessons with Luis (Luis and Family)

2. Kate Mclelland (The Debutante Diaries & Homeward Bound) and cabaret performer Wes Snelling’s show Standard Double

3. Joel Tito who was originally part of Vigilantelope and performed his solo show The Trial and Death of Socrates (No Relation) at the 2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to seeing the shows at next years Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Information about The Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards can be found on their website http://www.mooseheadawards.com.au/

Simon Munnery – Fylm Makker

By Colin Flaherty

Simon Munnery is always pushing the boundaries of stand up and this performance is no exception. Broadcast via video link from the middle of the room, he performs sketches, monologues, puppetry and songs to camera using all sorts of video trickery to create a unique and hilarious show.

Keeping the audience’s attention fixed on a screen rather than the performer is a slightly odd, disembodied experience but it works brilliantly; the strange relationship between audience and performer sitting well with Simon’s often surreal material. A re enactment of his wife’s swim around the island, a musical tribute to the creator of the Zeppelin and a Mexican stand off are amongst the silly scenarios played out for us.

Mixing between 1mulitiple cameras he could create all sorts of visual transitions and interesting effects that provided something a million times more interesting than a bloke standing on stage. Simon kept some stand up tropes in his monologues (perhaps a microphone is a safety blanket) as well as adding the odd visual item for emphasis that echoed his “League Against Tedium” days. He enacted scenes using creatively crude paper puppets as characters. It was a little clunky at times but that added to the charm.

This is not a one man venture as musical accompaniment is provided by Mick Moriarty on guitar. As well as the wonderful musical backing to Simon’s singing/rapping he provided a soundscape and score to the sketches that fitted perfectly. He was able to convey moods to fit with the action in a seamless manner.

As a break for himself, Simon screened a short film he had made called “Rubbish Night”. Although he prefaced it with a warning that it may not be particularly amusing, the crowd found plenty of things in it to chuckle at.

My highlight of the Fringe thus far, Simon once again embraces the spirit of the Fringe and gives us something far removed from your basic stand up show. Bravo Mr Munnery, Bravo!

Simon Munnery – Fylm Makker is on at The Stand
http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/simon-munnery-fylm-makker

The Temps

By Colin Flaherty

In this comic play written by Sarah Bennetto we are thrust into the unforgiving and uncaring world that is a temp office worker. Sarah plays the put upon receptionist who attempts to get through the work day with the least amount of scars.

This world is populated by oddball people with weird eccentricities who are brilliantly portrayed by the cast. We have the terse Department Manager (played by Celia Paquola), the barely functioning CEO (Tom Webb), the lecherous pants man (Robin Clyfan), the more important than he seems Janitor (James Dowdeswell) and the scheming fellow temp (Alex Edelman). These hyper-real characters are ones that those who have ever worked in an office will recognise.

Often the audience is cleverly included in the office environment to expand the world beyond the stage which is quite fun. There is also a fair bit of de-construction with some witty, knowing winks to the audience that emphasised the light-heartedness of the piece. At times it seems as though the performers are trying their darnedest to improvise bits in attempts to throw their fellow cast members (and regularly succeeding). The decision to highlight the deviation rather than plough onwards gives the show a fun, loose feel and highlights their enthusiasm for the material, although an audience looking for a tightly scripted play may find this annoying.

The staging is quite simple with basic office furniture and characters frequently entering and leaving from either side of the stage. The high volume of foot traffic gives the plot a sense of speed in spite of the static scenes of dialogue. Although the transition between scenes isn’t always clear, the action takes place over a number of days so it gets a little disorientating at times.

It’s a show that dips its toes into the cringe comedy of other office based productions but doesn’t get too dark as it tells an interesting and amusing tale. Get a hold of all of your workmates and spend an hour in this disfunctional workplace.

The Temps is on at the Pleasance Courtyard.
http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/temps

Sarah Jones does not play well with others – Review from 24/9/2011

Originally reviewed by Colin Flaherty during Melbourne Fringe 2011 for Chortle AU.

While other ventriloquists use their puppets/dummies to express taboo thoughts and show off parlour tricks, Sarah Jones uses her Fringe debut to explore the theme of being an awkward social outcast in a sweet show that demonstrates her vocal dexterity.

We are introduced to Kitten, a cat who has grown to become a bitter feline, her Uncle Bruce who tries to improve the act as only a well meaning relative can, in addition to some clever puppets improvised from household items. All the characters are brought to life beautifully and their unflinching denial of puppetdom allows plenty of your standard smart alec remarks where the audience can laugh knowingly at the artificiality of the dialogue.

A number of the standard tricks are employed to display her talents. Singing a fast paced duet impresses all. The execution of rapid banter and comical misunderstandings are spot on as these are the basis of making this kind of act work. The human dummy routine is made her own by basing it on her awkwardness with the opposite sex; a welcome change from the “let’s humiliate the volunteer” shtick you get from others.

Each segment is preceded by a short vignette in which Jones portrays a pair of bitchy girls from her peer group critiquing the show. Although she seems to be playing it for laughs with the exaggerated voices and mannerisms, as well as some implied ignorance, these scenes are tragic rather than humorous.

Jones lays on the self deprecation thickly with a trowel. Every other line criticises her eccentricities and talents creating a show containing plenty of pathos. Although the lines are filled with cheeky humour and funny self referential quips, it has a strong bitter-sweet subtext. She always maintains her lower status even when the puppet shield allows her the opportunity to be forceful. Thankfully her sweet demeanour keeps us on side and cheering for her underdog. Breaking up the performance with silly throwaway jokes and some mild flirtation with punters also helps by adding some lightness.

This is an enjoyable and gentle show that doesn’t set out to offend, making it suitable for all ages. No one is in any danger being confronted by a renegade puppet in this performance.

For details of the Edinburgh run of this show visit http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/sarah-jones-does-not-play-well-with-others