Sir Cedric and Friends! – The Beginning: The Beginners Guide to Begin Stand-up Comedy

By Will Erskine 

I’m not normally a fan of line-up shows. I feel like stand-up takes time to progress and the brief sets don’t give enough time for an arc to develop. Sir Cedric and Friends is a line-up show with a difference – principally because each act in the line-up is excellently performed by Christy Pearce with some rapid costume changes and a slick, precise script. If you are keen to support new comedy performers, get going because this show has five of them.

The show, as indicated by the subtitle, is about getting started in stand-up comedy – each of the characters presented is performing their first ever set and is introduced by the wonderfully dry and deeply un-enthused MC, “MC emcee”. The arc is pinned to the journey into performance of the titular Sir Cedric, falling in love with performing on his debut, questioning himself in a difficult second act and ultimately ending his career in the grand finale. Sir Cedric’s material is exceptionally well written, but the biggest laughs of the evening were delivered by the supporting characters including “Dave the Racist”, a characateur of a typical British lad and “Unfunny Pete” who delivered a stream of ironically quite funny dad jokes.

Sir Cedric is a performance that thrives on the energy of the audience, it requires a bit of buy-in from attendees to go along for the ride and those who go along will be rewarded. Those who are not willing to jump in to a quirky fringe comedy show might find themselves sharing awkward glances with their neighbour, those willing to jump right in and support the absurd will have a blast. This is also a show that will improve throughout the run, as the performer gets more intimately comfortable with each character and the material and allows himself to go beyond the script and play with the audience more. I’d love to see this show with a moderately intoxicated weekend crowd as I think the atmosphere would play into the hands of Sir Cedric and his crew of stand-up debutantes.

Sir Cedric and Friends! Plays until September 19th at Pilgrim.
https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/sir-cedric-and-friends/

Boss Octopus – A Sketch Show

By Lisa Clark 

Boss Octopus are are back with a bit of an onstage line up change though previous members are still involved in the background. The performers are Will Burrage, Yianni Efstathiadis, Brit Green and Sam Hawthorne. There is a larger group working on this than those you see on stage and it shows in the excellent sketch writing. The troop formed out of University of Melbourne medical revue friends and their experience also shows in confidence, timing and stage presence.

The opening has a whiff of Aunty Donna about it with the comedy all about the rhythm of the music and the movement of the performers. It’s a lovely big musical opener and the first sketch which is simply about walking in the street is very funny which sets everything off nicely and helps the audience relax into having a good time. The sketches have different rhythms and styles which keeps the audience on their toes and they rarely outstay their welcome. There is the odd groan and some dodgy sexual carry-on type humour but all of the sketches were pretty entertaining and occasionally, actually hilarious (and I don’t bandy the word hilarious around lightly).

Generally this is a big old fashioned sketch show with the bare minimum of props and costumes and most of the sketches end with a tag, applause and a blackout or pause until the next sketch. It’s a very enjoyable, familiar style, though some work towards making the scenes change more smoothly wouldn’t go astray, especially as there were rarely any prop or costume changes to warrant a pause. A better flow of sketches would also help hide the odd weak tag (a couple of which could be dispensed with altogether), but the tech is spot on. A particular shout out for the sound queues which were superb.

Yianni can’t help but stand out for his comedy prowess, yet Will and Sam are equally as talented and all are great at comedy characters and silly voices. Brit is a new kid on the block and it shows. While others were adept at garnering laughs with a pause, a look to the audience or a nuanced phrase, she tended to shout all her lines at the back wall which does not really suit the intimacy of the Butterfly Club, but props for enthusiasm.

Boss Octopus put on a very entertaining hour of high quality, silly sketches packed full of surprises and laughs. There’s no political message here, so this is a chance to take a break from the world and just sit back and laugh at stuff.

Boss Octopus – A Sketch Show is on at The Butterfly Club til Sun Sept 16

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/boss-octopus/

5 Good Reasons To See: Lauren Bok – The World’s Worst Babysitter

1. It’s a fun, new kids’ comedy show, starring a terrible babysitter!

2. It’s at the beautiful Melba Spegieltent in the heart of Collingwood!

3. It’s about celebrating the alternative role models in kid’s lives – Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents, Babysitters, Neighbours, chosen family – everyone!

4. It’s about making mistakes and how we learn from them!

5. There’s a bit where we play Ninja Fart Warrior that is very, very funny!

The World’s Worst Babysitter is on at The Melba Spiegeltent from September 22 to 30

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/the-worlds-worst-babysitter/

5 Good Reasons to See Charisa Bossinakis – None Taken

1. I play Cardi B at some point in the show

2. You get to hear about the time I almost got abducted in Cuba, never again will you get the opportunity to laugh at something so traumatic. Unless you see someone wearing Uggs publically, then I give you my blessing to laugh at them, but also cry at the dismal realisation that someone thought it was ok to wear those things of the house, maybe they thought it was a sexy moonboot? But then again a sexy moonboot is like a sexy Peter Dutton, there’s no such thing.

3. I’m performing at the Belleville and they have the best-fried chicken (sorry Colonel). Come for the deliciousness and the chicken as well!

4. I will show you my tits, and by tits I mean….
Talent
Intellect
Thoughts
Sarcasm

I hate myself for doing that

5. Buy a ticket and it’ll go towards feeding my German Shepherd, if you don’t, he will have no food. Also picture of him below:


Charisa Bossinakis – None Taken is on at Belleville Sept 24 – 30 (but not 29)
https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/charisa-bossinakis-none-taken/

5 Good Reasons to See: Oliver Cowen – Straight White Knight

1. “Don’t pick up the phone, you know he’s only calling cos he’s drunk and alone.” (Dua Lipa, 2017) aka it is DEEP and THOUGHT-PROVOKING.

2. Are you very, very, very easily impressed? This show has got you covered.

3. A man is wearing a trenchcoat and is NOT naked underneath! For once!

4. A silent knight attempts to dismantle the patriarchy through the medium of physical comedy based jokes and puns.

5. Bravery. Do you like it? Do you thrive on it? Do you somewhat dispute it? This knight-boy experiences and re-experiences it before your very eyes.

Straight White Knight is on at Belville from September 17 to 23
https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/straight-white-knight/

5 Good Reasons to See… DUDEBOX!

1. A never before seen line up

2. Jock strapped chaos

3. Hair in all the right places

4. 100% dude free

5. Award winning comedians (featuring The Travelling Sisters, PO PO MO CO, Beau Heartbreaker, and Becky Lou just to name a few)

Kimberley Twiner presents Dudebox at The Fringe Hub: Lithuanian Club: The Ballroom on Sept 26, 27 & 28

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/dudebox/