By Nick Bugeja
A few months ago, Claire Hooper was asked by a friend to make a speech at her wedding. Although she had nothing written down the day before the wedding, Hooper blitzed the speech, leaving her audience in stiches, enamoured of her sharp, witty comedic gifts (that’s Hooper’s recollection of the speech, she can be trusted). Hooper’s husband – made to seem docile and parochial over the course of the show – burst her bubble of satisfaction, telling her, “you’re a professional, you don’t get to take credit for a good speech.”
Even if that’s the case, Hooper can surely accept praise for her stand-up sets. Her latest show, All The Rage, deserves it in abundant amounts. It’s absorbing, intelligent, gratifying and hilarious, cementing her place as one of the most prominent and renowned comedians in Australia. She’s at ease with the tone-setting, introductory jokes, taking down Perth and Adelaide in a couple of words (it’d be interesting to see her out of Melbourne, to see how she would denigrate the city). Even more impressively, the main part of Hooper’s set, a series of interwoven jokes and scenarios dealing with her irrepressible feelings of anger and rage, is consummately executed.
The set isn’t just about eliciting laughs, it’s about acquainting us with Hooper’s life and her most intractable personal problems. This means her comedy is relatable and sympathetic; we aren’t only laughing at her flaws and neuroses, but also our own. That’s the thrust of her comedy, which is helped inordinately by her disciplined modulation of voice and movement. All The Rage is a fine show from an experienced comedian, who keeps us laughing from when she announces herself from behind the curtains to the final words she speaks. The show might be focused on Hooper’s pervasive, inescapable feelings of pure rage, but it ought to be all the rage in this comedy festival, too.
All The Rage is showing at the Melbourne Town Hall until 22 April
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/claire-hooper-all-the-rage