Melbourne International Comedy Festival Previously Reviewed Shows

It’s nearly time for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival!!!

Our tails are waggling excitedly as we plan our festival and the shows we will be seeing and reviewing for you. It’s a big 30th Anniversary and we’ll be enjoying a lot of the wonderful birthday events and exhibitions too.

As always to help you make decisions about which shows you should see at the festival we have a list for you of all the shows we have already reviewed so you can check them out.

Don’t forget to take a punt on someone you’ve never heard of, they might change your world and you, for making up an awesome audience, theirs.

Down the bottom of this article, I’ve listed some shows that have been cancelled.

Meanwhile here are some reviews we prepared earlier:

Christopher Welldon Christopher Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9253

Dave Callan A Little Less Conversation 3: Even More Less Conversation

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9380

Dilruk Jayasinha – Sri Wanka

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9383

Geraldine Hickey Winner!

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9243

I love Green Guide Letters with Steele Saunders

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

Lauren Bok Is That A Burrito In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Happy You Have a Burrito

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9270

Lauren Bok, Sam Marzden & Bert Goldsmith Radio Variety Hour

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=5089

Lisa-Skye & Nick Caddaye Gentlemen’s Agreement

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9309

Little Dum Dum Club: Live!

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

Rama Nicholas in Mary Weather’s Monsters

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9298

Set List

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

Soothplayers Completely Improvised Shakespeare

https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=9433

 

Cancelled Shows

The following is the list so far. We will pop any more of these up on the ‘In Brief’ section of our site as they come in:

ACE Comedy vs Politics Gala Dinner

Funny Folks Have a Crack!

Squeaky Clean Comedy

5 PM Variety Show

 

 

Sam Marzden – Peculiar Avenue

By Sofia Monkiewicz Sam Marzden

There are countless stand-up comedy shows in this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which is why it is refreshing when a comedian attempts something a little different.

Peculiar Avenue is an elaborate sketch comedy show, involving various stories and an abundance of characters all portrayed by the multitalented Sam Marzden. Over 30 characters are introduced during the course of the performance, each with distinct personalities and delightfully varied accents. Set at a mental asylum, we meet Doctor Christmas, the owner of the asylum who acts as a springboard for the two long sketches that the show is primarily focused on. Doctor Christmas is a strange, eerie fellow, who interacts with several sanatorium inmates before he plays them a murder mystery movie, which Marzden then acts out for his audience.

The movie sketch is a classic whodunit story, complete with murder, corruption, numerous motives, and several shocking secrets that are revealed under much suspense and spectacle. The characters are all suspicious: from Miss Feathertail who has experienced (and solved) over 3000 murder mysteries, to the nervous Commander Blank with his unsettling and creepy demeanour. Once the ‘movie’ finishes, the action returns to the asylum, where Doctor Christmas unwillingly brings our attention to faded singing sensation Johnny Witness who demands to communicate his story. Johnny’s segment is filled with catchy musical numbers, which describe his rise to fame with the help of a deal he made with the devil. This sketch is vastly more energetic than the previous scene, with bright lights, fast-paced dialogue, and a mixture of Elvis-inspired crooning and some very impressive rap.

The two central sketches are incredibly imaginative, with original and diverse characters, and compelling storylines. The murder mystery tale is quite difficult to follow at times, as the dialogue is extremely quick and there are so many characters to differentiate between. The whodunit genre does require sharp, snappy delivery in order to be effective, however the dialogue could afford to be slightly slowed down for clarity purposes, especially as there are so many accents to keep up with. While this story is well-structured and funny, it would benefit from some further editing, particularly during the final few minutes of the sketch.

Johnny Witness’ musical medley is brilliantly hilarious. This act really showcases Marzden’s singing abilities, and incorporates some truly funny gags to conclude the performance. With the help of an enthusiastic stage-side technician, who seamlessly controls music and lighting changes, this sketch is by far the highlight of the show.

Marzden is more of an actor than a comedian; he comfortably swaps from character to character, and he has memorised his script well. He does have the propensity to pace back and forth across the tiny stage during longer monologues, which is somewhat distracting, but that is just a minor issue to his performance style. My main criticism is that the show’s ending comes too suddenly; it would have made more structural sense to return to the asylum to tie everything up neatly, and so the end of the show comes across as a little abrupt.

Overall, Peculiar Avenue is an entertaining and original piece of theatre. Marzden has clearly found his comedy niche in character sketches, and his show matches his imagination in that it is vividly detailed, charmingly versatile and indeed peculiar.

Peculiar Avenue is on at The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure Hotel until April 19.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/peculiar-avenue-sam-marzden