Simon Amstell’s – What Is This?

By Jess Welch 

If you’re looking for the answers to life, or positive affirmations, Simon Amstell’s What Is This? is not the show for you. While Amstell asks the questions, he doesn’t have the answers and that’s ok. He might not have your answers, but he’ll take you through some of the things he’s learned so far in life. They might be applicable to the audience, or they might not, but we all learn a lot about Amstell and the life he’s led.

What Is This? delves into Amstell’s psyche, examining how he’s become the man he is today. It’s the stuff most would only share with their psychiatrist, but Amstell honestly and vulnerably shares his experiences. It’s a glimpse into the backstory of a stranger, the likes of which are rare to find. At times you will feel sad for the things he’s experienced, but Amstell is a master at toying with our emotions and somehow turns the melancholy into hilarity.

The stories of his childhood are especially heart breaking in places, but the understanding and healing from those times are the highlight of the show. Many have fraught and complicated relationships with their parents and hearing the story of Amstell and the journey, especially with his father, is incredibly personal and touching.

Of course, there are other, less serious and slightly less child friendly than others, but they blend perfectly with the stories of childhood as a sort of cause and effect. I have never seen such honesty and self-awareness in a show, and it’s wonderful. There is one moment in the show that opened my eyes to not only what Amstell was feeling in that moment, but what the other person in the story is feeling and it’s eye opening. The empathy that Amstell shows is astounding.

The audience leaves examining their own life, taking stock and trying to work out what happiness looks like for them. You will leave asking What Is This? 

Simon Amstell performs What Is This? at Arts Centre.

 https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/simon-amstell

Burger King Illuminati : 1 Hour Lo-Fi Comedy || Royalty Free

By Colin Flaherty

Sydney Sketch troupe Burger King Illuminati (Bruno Dubosarsky, Jacob Henegan, Liam Scarratt and Daniel Scarratt) made their first appearance at MICF this year and it was an brilliant showing. This solid hour of sketch was equal parts silly and dark that kept the audience in hysterics.

All the tried and true elements of sketch were present including recurring scenes, a plethora of silly characters and even a bit of Chekhov’s Gun complete with red herrings. Keeping with the Illuminati theme, amusing conspiracies were sprinkled throughout with a big revelation tying the show up neatly with a bow.

Sketches rushed along at a cracking pace with barely a break for applause. Downtime between scenes gradually increased as costume changes happened (not that they were elaborate get ups, just a lot of different hats / headpieces). Thankfully they pushed someone out on stage to keep us occupied with a quick joke.

The cast regularly broke out in song. These tunes were hilarious and perfectly crafted lyrically but none of the boys had angelic voices. On the plus side, this cringe factor could be seen as an extra giggle at the performers’ expense. I’m sure we weren’t much better when they gave us an opportunity to join in for a sing a long.

This foursome were mighty impressive, selling the material to the back of the room, working seamlessly together and demonstrating deft comic timing. All were great at hamming it up and inhabiting the cavalcade of wacky characters perfectly. Being in the sketch trenches for the past four years had certainly paid off.

Their tech person was certainly overworked with lots of backing tracks, snippets of music and video clips to coordinate with the action, many of them vital to the punchlines. Bravo to you and the talented guys on stage!

1 Hour Lo-Fi Comedy || Royalty Free is on at either Loop Project Space or the Tickle Pit at Rozzi’s until April 20
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/1-hour-lo-fi-comedy-royalty-free-please-don-t-steal#

Michael Williams – Clip Art Cowboy

By Lisa Clark 

Clip Art Cowboy is a late runner to jump up to the top of my favourite shows of MICF 2019. WOW, this is a stunning show from Michael Williams. It tells one story, he and his wife went to America on holiday and found themselves caught up in the Las Vegas mass shooting. Still the biggest mass shooting America has seen. It’s dark and very funny.

Each year Michael’s shows are full of surprises and better than I think they will be. One of his earliest shows about Abraham Lincoln was so good that it made me sit up. Anyone who could make a 19th century American President into such a hilarious, memorable Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, really had a unique talent. Then 2016’s An Evening With Michael Williams (Who is Trapped under a Boulder)  that had Michael doing his PowerPoint and musical numbers with one arm trapped under a boulder which suddenly, halfway through, came to life as a puppet (voiced by Jack Druce) was so brilliant that I feel sorry for everyone that didn’t get to see it. I now make Michael a regular addition to my festival calendar and he has never let me down, but Clip Art Cowboy is a Festival Must-See.

Michael Williams is famous for visual comedy using lo-fi digital graphics and pop culture references. He started his career doing big notepad drawings then moved to PowerPoint. The tech in Clip Art Cowboy is ,unsurprisingly, impressive and spot on. A highlight for me was a spoof of an online crafting video.  He’s also been gradually adding Vaudeville style song and dance numbers to his shows, he’s no Fred Astaire but entertaining none the less.

Michael’s opening musical number is, as always, a thigh slapping crowd-pleaser. “Tragedy Plus Time” sets the tone of comedy being borne from dark subject matter and has the audience gasping. Yet the show itself is mostly pretty light and funny, with lots of songs, stories and silliness on the road through the tale of Michael’s dream trip to America with friends. Find out what nerds get up to in Vegas! Check out his Fidget Spinner tricks! Gradually some dark portents gather and we get glimpses of the villain readying his plans while our hapless heroes enjoy their holiday oblivious.

Michael’s comedy is so adorably daggy and he’s so self-deprecating, he tends to be a very under-rated Festival comedian. I cannot recommend this enough. Michael is a brilliant story teller, Clip Art Cowboy is chilling, and silly, and brutal and adorable. A story that will live with me for a long time.

Michael Williams performs Clip Art Cowboy at Trades Hall at 9.30pm

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/the-clipart-cowboy

 

Josh Earl Talks

By Lisa Clark

Josh Earl has been putting on shows at MICF since 2005. He started out as a “musical comedian”, and even his most successful shows like Josh Earl vs The Australian Women’s Weekly Childrens Birthday Cake Book always had great comedy songs in them. This year Josh Earl Talks, but you will not really miss his songs, because it is straight up hilarious.

Josh Earl is doing straight standup this year about growing up working class in Bernie. If you are a fan of Josh’s you may have heard some stories of his childhood and the family tensions but this is the one that, as Josh says, is his Marvel Origin Story. The one that shows you why he left home to become the performer he is today. And if you have heard some of this stories around town in warm up spots, you’ll be amazed at how many more fabulous jokes he’s pumped into them. He really had me in fits.

His family have always been a source of humour for Josh, but there has always been a bit of darkness there and some of that is explored, though this is not a weepy therapy type show by any means. Meanwhile at school on the one hand is his speech therapist, a source of kindness and encouragement and on the other hand is a nasty teacher who bullied him and makes the audience boo. We all remember teachers who enjoyed bullying kids.

Josh Earl Talks is a storytelling show about nostalgia and childhood that Josh has always done so well. Some people in front of me were in hysterics every time he cracked a joke about his small home town, but you don’t have to be from Burnie to have a great time. Josh has pulled out the most uproarious, mind blowing finale that I’ve seen at the festival so far. It had the audience gasping and screaming with laughter.

I thought it might be a bit more about his life long speech issues, but Josh is more interested in giving the audience a good time. This is one where you can go to during the festival and forget about the troubles of the working week and nasty world politics and just laugh your head off, while Josh Earl Talks.

Josh Earl Talks is on at The Victoria Hotel til Apr 21

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/josh-earl-talk

 

Late Night Party Boyz : Rebel Without Applause

By Colin Flaherty

The Late Night Party Boyz (Ross Purdy and Damien Vosk) bill themselves as absurdist sketch which is not far off the mark. In this not so late show they throw everything at the wall, some of it sticks while the rest leaves you scratching you head. Their high energy performance ensures you won’t be bored.

The advertised theme of rebellion kinda fit this collection of sketches that went in all sorts of surprising directions. Scenes regularly overshot their natural conclusions just so they could club us over the head with some social commentary even though this was repeating what we had already seen in the body of the sketch. There was plenty of cartoon violence complete with wacky sound effects and grotesque characters to chuckle at. Video segments with comically underwhelming punchlines were very repetitive, which was by design but not a joy to sit through.

Things regularly got meta with sketches discussing the scenes we had just witnessed. Offhand comments and rants about the tropes and shortcomings of sketch shows were a none too subtle wink to the audience combined with a slap to the face.

Audience participation varied from being warm bodies for them to project back-stories onto through to somewhat embarrassing situations usually involving foodstuffs. The “Mr Ice cream” sketch was fascinating to witness as it was so creepy from the outset that absolutely everyone was reluctant to play along. It’s a good thing they had some amusing patter and an additional character to throw on stage to fill in the very long time before the action could proceeded.

Purdy and Vosk played everything big and bold, bringing this cavalcade of weirdos to life. They certainly weren’t afraid of looking foolish for the sake of a laugh and we readily giggled at the degrading things they did to one another. The debris left on the stage at the end was an apt reminder of how the duo had given their all to entertain.

If you like it freaky, messy and too clever for it’s own good, you’ll have a grand time at this hour of lunacy.

Rebel Without Applause is on at The Tickle Pit at The Croft Intitute until April 20
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/rebel-without-applause

Daniel Sloss X

By Jess Welch 

If you haven’t seen Daniel Sloss yet, you’re missing out. Clever, cheeky and often “controversial”, Sloss is a comedic force and only getting better every year. Now in his 4th year of attending MICF, he’s become a must see for many and for good reason.

For such a young man, Sloss is making quite a name for himself. Though the same couldn’t be said for his shows. In the succinctly named X, following his equally eloquent and nebulous Dark, So and Now, Sloss tackles problems that seem impossible to make funny. If you know Sloss, you’ll know that this isn’t a new brief for him. In Dark and So (later renamed Jigsaw for the Netflix special) he talked about death and disability and relationships and love respectively. Having now broken up thousands upon thousands of couples, his shows clearly have an impact.

Like most other comedy, Sloss isn’t for everyone. But he definitely appeals to many, selling out all over the world, deservedly so. At the X show I attended, two women in the 5th row walked out about 20 minutes into the show. Admittedly, the first part of the show isn’t his most profound material, but it serves a purpose and if you trust him, the payoff is entirely worth it. I don’t know what they would have thought if they’d stayed, but I hope they would’ve thought the show was more than just jokes about genitalia.

Because X is a 90 minute show of two acts. The first part is the more traditional stand up fare. He discusses the well worn topics of sex and the differences between men and women. It’s not new ground for a comic to cover, but Sloss brings his own flavour and it’s a learning experience, no matter your gender. The second act is where Sloss shows his true form. Like many other comics, he discusses the Me Too movement and sexual assault. But his take on it is wildly different. I can’t say why or how, because that’s the journey you need to take with him, but it’s unlike any other show you’ll see. I teared up and I would be surprised if I was the only person affected that way.

It’s raw, it’s honest, it’s brutal and it’s uncomfortable. But it’s also not graphic, or victim blaming or inappropriate. It’s at times hilarious (the woman across the aisle was laughing so hard I thought she might hyperventilate), it’s also tragic and it’s perfectly done. With full respect to Sloss, it might be his show, but he’s not the ultimate hero. Sloss has a way of seeing and articulating things we all think, but in ways we never could. He covers well worn trails, but in new ways. It’s a rare gift and Sloss wields it with skill. When I saw Dark, I worried he couldn’t beat it. Then I saw So, then Now and now X. He is constantly surprising his audience and it’s incredible. He is getting better and I can’t wait to see what’s next. 

While his Netflix specials are masterpieces, Sloss needs to be seen live to fully appreciate just how brilliant he is. If you can get a ticket, grab it and trust him. You’re in good hands. 

Daniel Sloss performs X at The Forum.

See website for detailsÂ