Tag: Jonathan Schuster

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

The Happiest Bowerbird and other Stories – Jonathan Schuster

Lisa Clark

Jonathan Schuster’s show at Melbourne Fringe has a beautiful poster, an intriguing name and his show opened with some amusingly edited house music that got the laughs going and set up expectations for something different and interesting that he’d put a lot of work into. Then came Jonathan’s rambling intro which was a bit hard to follow but was basically an apology that his original idea for the show – as described in the poster – hadn’t panned out, because he hadn’t gotten around to writing his Bowerbird story, so had decided instead to structure the show around (ie wedge his material into) ‘Five Reasons Why I am Like a Bowerbird’ instead. This made my heart sink a little.

In the end, the show did deliver a lot more than his lack of confidence would suggest. The structure around Jonathan’s  stories works well, though after the Third Reason he seems to lose heart with the concept and doesn’t really point out four and five, though they are there if you pay attention.  The stories themselves are mostly engrossing with various levels of humourousness. He even told, much to our astonishment (considering his intro), a cute bowerbird story at the end, where for a moment Jonathan himself became the bowerbird, but I’m not sure if he noticed. It made me wonder, is the slacker persona and opening explanation a rouse to lower our expectations and surprise us
? Nah, the overall impression of the show unfortunately did not support this theory.

Jonathan’s strongest stories centre around penfriends (gosh, does this still happen in this day and age of Web 2.0?), his scurrilous letter to Slater and Gordon and his encounters with women. The high point was actually his response to a late coming audience member, who turned out to be a huge fan who delighted  him with a call back to Schuster’s gig material. It showed Jonathan to be a dab hand at audience interaction. One or two of the stories failed to elicit more than smiles and sort of petered out lamely. This material in particular needs some sharpening and more humour.

There were many points in the show where Jonathan said something like ‘if you want to know about that letter I wrote see my facebook’ or ‘if you want to know what a bowerbird looks like check out my poster’. Does he expect us to all turn on our phones and start googling during the performance? Do some homework afterwards? I wanted to point out ‘Hey see that big projection screen up on the wall behind you? You can use that to project things on. It would add some pizzaz to your show.’

Jonathan Schuster won RAW comedy in 2007, as he mentions cheekily throughout  the show and you can see why.  As his comedy festival show Dad! (And the Other Men My Mother has Been With)  showed, he is a talented comedian with a lot of potential. The evidence is here too, there are the bones of a fine little show, but at the moment it is a bit ramshackle and needs some work. Of course ramshackle can be funny, if pitched right, if you make that your thing, but after his rambling apologist opening, this simply came across as lazy. And lazy is something that Bowerbirds are definitely not. Bowerbirds are all about putting on the best show they possibly can.

Jonathan is performing The Happiest Bowerbird and other Stories at the Imperial until Sept 27th

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/the-happiest-bowerbird-and-other-stories/

5 Good Reasons to see 10:45pm World Record Show.

THE 5 STUPIDEST WORLD RECORDS WE’LL ATTEMPT:

1. DARING STUNTS:
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall and Pat Burtscher will compete to see who can snorkel in a fish tank the longest, whilst completing puzzle challenges.

2. SEX APPEAL:
Greg Larsen will try and set the record for the ‘fastest time to get an erection and play Baker Street on saxophone.’

3. YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY:
We’re going to break records with the audience:
– Most people eating a single Le Snak biscuit.
– Most people pretending to fate at once.
– Most people saying ‘Beat Cancer’ in Chinese (all real records).

4. TRUE LOVE:
We’re going to lock comedian and local lover Jonathan Schuster in a sound proof booth with a stranger for an hour and get to them to complete a series of scientific experiments to see if we can break the record for ‘Fastest time for Jonathan Schuster to fall in love.’

5. REAL RISKS:
Hosts Adam Knox and Dave Warneke will compete to break ‘The world’s most terrifying message left on their own mother’s voice mail…’

(We’re also going to try a bunch of real records including the LONGEST EVER VARIETY SHOW on Saturday October 5th from 10am at Tuxedo Cat).

The most chaotic and unpredictable comedy show of the Fringe is on at Tuxedo Cat on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:45pm from September 20 – October 5.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/10-45pm-world-record-show/

5 Good Reasons to see a Melbourne Fringe Festival show at The Imperial

Five Reasons to visit The Imperial during Melbourne Fringe

ONE) The Imperial will be hosting 19 fringe shows this year! All comedy!

3 LITTLE GIGS
OUR LITTLE STORIES
XANDER ALLAN – GLAM
SIMON TAYLOR – FUNNY
LOVE, FACTUALLY WITH TOM LANG
NELLIE WHITE IS THE SHITTY CARER
NEIL SINCLAIR ‘CHARMINGLY USELESS’
VICTORIA HEALY PRESENTS WE ♄ COMEDY
MURPHY MCLACHLAN HAS TWO LAST NAMES
SONIA DI IORIO – DON’T KISS THE WEIRD GIRL
THE LATE NIGHT BOARD GAME SLUMBER PARTY WITH MIKE BROWN AND FRIENDS
SOME NUTTER’S DONE A RUNNER WITH CRAIG MCLEOD AND DOUG GORDON
THE HAPPIEST BOWERBIRD AND OTHER STORIES BY JONATHAN SCHUSTER
SITCOM THEME SONG SINGALONG (AND TRIVIA) WITH BERT GOLDSMITH
PEOPLE CRYING ‘ADAM KNOX’ AS THEY LEAP FROM PLANES
ROLAND HOFFMANN – EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT
BEING A WHEEL FAMILY. MEET THE MCGERES
BEAU STEGMANN: HERE’S LOOKING AT ME…
COME HECKLE JESUS

TWO) We have a lot of shows on every night. You can show up, and know something will be on. In fact, we only have two nights off for the whole festival (the first two Saturdays). We have shows starting on the hour, and we’ll have some discount drinks cards around for anyone who wants to come and hang out in between shows. We’re a comedy hub!

THREE) Whether you want to sing along to sit com themesongs, or shout abuse at Jesus Christ, we have a show for every taste! We also have a lot with zero audience participation, if the singing and heckling isn’t your style. The Imperial is a great place to take a punt on a new show. Our volunteers on the door can tell you all about the shows, and make recommendations based on your tastes. Sketch, poetry, standup, impro, storytelling, and whatever else you can think of.

FOUR) We are very generous. Head to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/impycomedy) where we will be giving away tix and keeping everyone up to date on deals, whether tickets will be available on the door and of course, instagramming the hell out of the whole thing.

FIVE) The Imperial is a great place to observe comics in their natural habitat. Stick around after the show, have a beer with these kids, and you’ll be fast friends. Buy the beer, and you’ll have a friend for life.

The Imperial is one of the main Fringe Festival venues in Melbourne’s CBD at the corner of Bourke and Spring streets right near Parliament Station.

Find out more at The Imperial Website

http://comedyattheimperial.com/

These Kids are Good.

By Lisa Clark

It’s great to see a show where you get a taste of several performers, to give you an idea of what they are like and hopefully encourage you to see their solo shows. This one is six regular comedians, plus a guest, who do around five minutes each. If one doesn’t appeal, it won’t be long before you’re checking out the next one.

The comedians appearing in this show have been handpicked by affable host Tom Ward, most famously best friend of Josh Thomas in real life as well as playing the part in the TV series ‘Please Like Me.’ Tom is getting a fine reputation of his own in comedy circles and has chosen the kind of comedian that he enjoys and is unsurprisingly closest to his own and Josh’s style. So we get a line-up of six youngish gen Y bespectacled and/or bearded, smart, slightly awkward, gentle charmers doing a modern brand of observational humour and getting away with the occasional filth. These are not ‘angry young men’ (or woman) shouting about what boils their blood, they’re more likely to be bemused or annoyed about stuff.

Some of the performers though unknown have been treading the boards for a while and are pretty solid standups including the laid back Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall, cheeky Jonathan Schuster and ever delightful Neil Sinclair. Then there is Nellie White who’s been living away from Melbourne, in the UK and Perth for the past six years. She’s someone I’ve always admired for being very left of centre, if a little nervous in her delivery. She’s doing some filthy gear and it’s nice to have her back on the scene.

It’s lovely to discover new faces too like tonight’s guest comedian John Campbell (he had a MICF show last year, but is new to me) reading his annoyed letter about public transport and the confident Andy Matthews who is currently doing a double act in the festival with Tony Besselink

I’ve seen several of these comedians performing elsewhere and they’ve been refreshing in the line up and often even killed the room, but all together, I felt they needed some sort of contrast to add more balance to the hour. Still, if this style of comedy is what really rocks your boat, it’s a great way to see some appealing up and comers who are pretty good at it.

These Kids are Good is on at The Imperial Hotel
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/these-kids-are-good

5 Good Reasons to see a show at The Imperial during MICF

We love supporting smaller independent venues away from The Town Hall during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, ’cause lets face it, everyone knows about that venue – they really don’t need any of our help. We were sad to say goodbye to the little bar Rue Rabelons as a venue in Melbourne, but we’re happy to announce a new venue for the festival up the posh end of town, opposite the Government House – The Imperial Hotel. The comedy there is being curated by Angela Thompson and Micah D Higbed. It will have 2 rooms running through the festival with a variety of young and up and coming performers giving it a great vibe. They had their own mini Gala on Thursday night where host Jimmy James Eaton and performers Tom Ward, Victoria Healy and Neil Sinclair (above) gave us a great taste of what’s to come. So with fourteen shows to choose from, a bar and some yummy pub food deals on offer, don’t forget to hop on a tram and pop up to The Imperial during the festival this year.

5 Good Reasons to see a show at The Imperial during MICF

1) There are 14 great shows on in the one venue!

1. Andy Matthews & Tony Besselink – Atchieve Nothing
2. Balderdash (Tim Clark & Liam Ryan)
3. Dave Fairclough – In Love
4. Elliot Cyngler is Too Small to Function
5. Jason Geary & Jimmy James Eaton – Sketch-ual Healing
6. Jonathan Schuster’s Chrysalis
7. Micah D Higbed – Noteworthy
8. Neil Sinclair – Phoney
9. Sam Peterson, Natalie Harris & Nick Quon – 3 Little Gigs
10. Sullivan & Bok
11. The Time Machine
12. These Kids Are Good
13. Victoria Healy’s Anatomy
14. Xavier Toby – White Trash

2) The shows are all cheap. Most are $15 full price. Some are even cheaper. Also, cheap student tickets on the door.

3) Independently produced! We’ve even kitted the place out ourselves. BYO stage? Yes siree.

4) The Imperial has great food, and they are doing even more special specials during MICF. They also have a top notch drinks selection.

5) All the shows are great. We don’t have any duds, hidden away in a smaller font. They are ALL THE SAME FONT SIZE!

Check out facebook.com/ImpyComedy for updates on the shows, pics, giveaways and competitions. We’re also on @ImpyComedy if you’re in to that kind of thing.

The Imperial Hotel is at 2 – 8 Bourke St Melbourne on the corner of Spring St.

See the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Guide and website for show details

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au