Dingo & Wolf – Winning at Life

By Lisa Clark. 

Dingo & Wolf are a super talented comic duo of young ladies who’ve been working on their double act in gigs for around a year now. They have a classic comedic relationship with strong characters; Wolf (Eleanor Webster) being the uptight straight woman and Dingo (Laura Dunemann) her daffy second banana. I have eagerly awaited their Debut festival show, but worry that I may have expected too much from first timers

This is the third time at the festival this year that an act has started with the audience kept in the dark staring at an empty stage for way too long. With only audio and a hint of torchlight while they bickered backstage, it became a tad tedious and some editing would not go astray. When they do appear it’s in business attire, so different to their normally wacky outfits. It was the sort of beginning that may have worked better for future shows after the audience have come to know them.

The pretext for their show, a self help seminar, is not exactly a fresh idea, but it is a fun conceit with the right performers and they made it work as a flimsy framework to show off their personalities and hang their schtick around. It takes a while for their friendship to show, with a shared giggle at a naughty joke, giving the audience a chance to warm to them. There was also a bit of gentle audience participation, though it probably needed a bit of development, because there seemed little point to it.

The humour is mostly about their incompetence, bickering and silly faffing about. They did manage a bit of savvy, ironic humour based on female body image that let the audience know there were smarts behind all the lunacy. This section, which informs us of the popularity of thin girls, includes ‘Thinspiration’ handouts, which we sadly couldn’t read in the dark, but are for taking home. There are also some rather pornographic pictures that are left up on flip board for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Of course the seminar is eventually left behind with their business suits, as the show descends into an enjoyable chaos and the focus of the show shifts to their relationship. Their charm and musical grand finale thoroughly win the audience over. Although not high on the laugh-o-metre there were certainly a lot of grinning, happy faces in the audience throughout the performance. You can’t help but fall in love with Dingo and Wolf and I’m sure this is the beginning of a beautiful and successful relationship.

Dingo & Wolf – Winning at Life is on at 3 Degrees QV Centre

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/winning-at-life-dingo-wolf/