Reviews – Page 115 – Squirrel Comedy

Neil Hamburger – Discounted Entertainer

By Elyce Phillips

As he shuffles onto the stage at the Portland, Neil Hamburger (Gregg Turkington) cuts a tragic figure. His oily comb-over is slicked firmly to his skull, the four drinks he cradles in the crook of his arm slosh over his tuxedo with every movement he makes. The expression on his face is pained, his spirit already as deflated as the balloons that are scattered across the floor. This is America’s Funnyman – a monstrous congealment of every hack comic that’s played a dive venue for booze money in the last 50 years.

Hamburger is a magnificent creation, simultaneously hideous and hilarious. His jokes are filled with pop culture references at least a decade old, taking shots at the likes of Gene Simmons, Paris Hilton and Blind Melon. Vile, convoluted set-ups lead to baffling, filth-ridden punchlines, all punctuated by Hamburger hawking up a seemingly endless supply of phlegm and whimpering pitifully. What may have once been signs of showmanship in Hamburger are now pathological ticks of delivery, his catchphrases nothing more than whining drawls directed at the floor. As you watch, you can feel the soul-crushing history of his career.

This is a show for comedy masochists. It’s a chance to wallow in the stinking morass of comedy at its most repugnant. The audience was almost disappointed on the odd occasions a well-crafted joke came along. One audience member actually exclaimed, “Hey, that was actually a good one!” after a particularly funny joke about hummus. However, rest assured, these moments are few and far between. Hamburger harbours nothing but contempt for his audience and himself. When the jokes don’t work, the blame lies squarely with the punters, and abuse is doled out accordingly.

Both painfully funny and just straight-up painful, ‘Discounted Entertainer’ is a very unique comedic experience. Take a chance, brace yourself and you will be rewarded with one of the most brilliant acts going around this festival.

Neil Hamburger – Discounted Entertainer is in the Portland Room at the Portland Hotel until April 19.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/discounted-entertainer-neil-hamburger

Penny Greenhalgh : Pop Pop

By Lisa Clark

Pop Pop is a show that needs an audience… well, requires an audience….Well, without one there is not much show. Despite Penny’s obviously well-honed stage skills, this show was a bit of a disappointment for me because it was not my cup of tea as I’m not a big fan of excessive audience participation.

I feel sorry for the couple who come in on that quiet mid-Festival Wednesday when they are the only audience members and discover they have to play all the parts the rest of the audience would normally perform. Hope they are in the mood for a bit of audience participation. Well a LOT of audience participation.

Penny is very assured on stage… well, extremely confident… well, bordering on looney megalomaniac. She starts out badgering the sound guy, which is always a bit of fun schtick in a show and he barely bats an eye as he hits every cue perfectly, though at one point he added an extra one to catch her out and make her laugh. Or to get revenge.

Penny is giving us her ridiculously grand idea of what her show would be if it were performed at Rod Laver Arena with huge props and elaborate costumes she cannot yet afford. Meanwhile her skits deconstruct different styles of comedy. Unfortunately for me it actually played like a precocious 12 year old performing a series of stunts for visitors who are trapped in a living room while she shows off her skills, talents and knowledge about ‘how comedy works’. To entertain an audience while you deconstruct comedy requires you to be bloody brilliant at it, but unfortunately Penny doesn’t quite have the comedy chops to pull it off.

The same can be said about her stunt audience participation which she took too far without the comedy skills to back it up. She bullied audience members to do some pretty outrageous stuff at one point refusing to take a polite ‘no’ for an answer which is where she lost me. He should not have had to explain his disability to the audience before she finally gave up. Forcing passive or unwilling audience members into physical interaction is a no-no as far as I’m concerned. (I don’t like it when famous comedians do it either).

The opening had a bit of Paul Foot about it. She intricately explained what she was doing and roles for every audience member and dragged it out to extremes, repeating it as latecomers arrived. By the third time it was actually very funny but only if she can arrange exactly 3 groups of late comers, more or less and it wouldn’t be so funny. The closing however was inspired, joyful and worked really well. As long as she has a big audience to help her carry it off.

Penny is an engaging performer, with a lot of potential, she elicited laughs from the audience and there were others in the room clearly having a great time. If you love audience participation and watching others being bullied by an overbearing performer, and many do, then you should go along and give this show the audience it needs.

Pop Pop is on at The forum Theatre until April 19
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/pop-pop-penny-greenhalgh

Isabella Valette – Media Release

By Sofia Monkiewicz

After a successful season at last year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, Isabella Valette has brought her cabaret-style show Media Release to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with a few changes in place and many more laughs to be had.

The performance centres on April Fools, a fame-hungry actress who finds herself taking a couple of drastically wrong turns in an attempt to kick-start her career, and ends up down a horrifying path to reality television stardom. We meet her simpering agent, her arrogant British love interest, her in-the-closet, homophobic brother, his prim and proper wife-to-be, and several others, in a series of short scenes that take us through Fools’ life of faux luxury.

Valette has taken on even more ownership of this production since MFF, playing not only naïve April, but also the majority of other roles in the show, previously shared between three other actors. This change showcases her performance talents well, as she switches effortlessly between characters, adding a prop or costume piece to distinguish between them further.

While the concept of parodying reality television is far from original, Media Release does provide some comical perspectives. We watch as April transforms from a sweet drama school graduate with a big heart and bigger dreams, to a plastic, self-centred ‘celebrity’ with an inevitable plummet to infamy, and see how her newfound fame affects the lives of her family as she drags them, unwillingly, into the spotlight. It proves quite challenging to truly like or relate to any of the characters; they are outwardly funny, but are essentially nothing more than shallow stereotypes. Despite this, these stereotypes certainly achieve what they set out to do: make us laugh. The agent is a crowd favourite, with her cold smile and callous attitude, and the South Yarra persona of April’s sister-in-law is frighteningly familiar. A scene involving a hipster barista is a little stilted and not as polished as the rest of the play; the character only appears in one scene and doesn’t really add much to the overall performance.

Amid the sketches and monologues, Valette regularly breaks into song, changing up the lyrics of well-known pop tunes to describe the sad state of affairs surrounding April Fools. With a voice not unlike Australian songstress Kate Miller-Heidke, Valette hits the high notes and then keeps going, incorporating some impressively piercing shrills in almost every song she delivers. She also attempts to involve members of the audience in several scenes, which relies heavily on the enthusiasm of the chosen individual in order for it to work. Valette has little difficulty transforming herself from character to character, however some of the transitions between scenes are long and sloppy. One particular scene involves a long (and necessary) costume change, and no theatrical distraction is provided while the change is happening; instead the audience is forced to patiently wait several minutes staring at the empty stage, wondering if there is a technical problem or some other major production issue. Unfortunately, the scene transitions distracts from the enjoyment of the performance, which makes it harder to properly engage with the storyline.

Media Release is a fun and energetic production that delves into the dark side of reality TV, but it is let down by a lack of character depth and poor technical decisions. The catchy songs and witty one-liners, along with Valette’s talented and quirky efforts, are what renders this show entertaining, and with further tightening and editing it could be something really remarkable.

Media Release is on at Pleasance House Comedy until Sunday 5 April.
For bookings & further details visit the Comedy Festival Website:
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/media-release-isabella-valette

Wolf Tokyo Club At Rehearsal

By Colin Flaherty

Wolf Tokyo Club are a struggling band trying to get through a rehearsal. As much as Anton wants to get through a single take of his new love song, the others would rather be talking about or doing something else. Ahh…the joys of working with bunch of dysfunctional people on a project!

For a show about a band the music certainly took a backseat to the story. All seemed competent on their instruments but as soon as a groove started, things would hilariously fall apart which was fine as we got to learn more about this group of loveable misfits and see the comical sparks fly.

On paper, 45 minutes of some guys bickering with each other may seem like it would get tiresome quickly, but the wonderful script certainly prevented this. Not only were there plenty of clever and amusing distractions to keep derailing the rehearsal but some interesting sub-plots were introduced to keep the animosity bubbling away throughout. We got to chuckle at some inane conversations that musicians probably have to endure as well as marvel at a unique method of identifying notes. The various methods of procrastination led to many amusing lines to keep the laughs rolling along.

It was interesting to see how they managed to shoehorn the usual character traits that are normally associated with a comedic trio into this four person (with a small fifth role by Shane Matheson) performance. Your Alpha male guitarist Anton (Seamus McAlary) played the role of straight-man perfectly while cool guy drummer Fudgy (Eric Hutton) was a constant source of hilarious disruption. The dim character was split between the seemingly stupid bassist Matty (Rodney Todd) and the extremely slow-witted keyboard player Ethan (Todd Allen) which worked brilliantly. You got some smarts beneath the surface of Matty (in between going off on many a hilarious tangent) to make him a threat to Anton leaving Ethan, in his permanently stoned stupor, to be totally clueless.

I’m still trying to get my head around the conclusion to this play. Following what would be the final punchline of the story they immediately launched into a post-script that was quite surreal. It certainly tied up the main sub plot neatly but it was quite a shock after the relative normalcy that had preceded it. Perhaps this wacky curveball was influenced by Matheson? Despite leaving the venue slightly confused, it was a satisfying and hilarious play performed by some of Sydney’s great underground comedic talent.

Wolf Tokyo Club At Rehearsal is on at the Tuxedo Cat until April 7
For Bookings & information go to the MICF website:
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/at-rehearsal-wolf-tokyo-club

Alice Fraser : Savage

By Lisa Clark

Alice has been going through a rough time. The sort of time that might make some people want to withdraw to a quiet place for a while and not have to entertain a bunch of strangers for a month but the show must go on and Alice is a trooper. A born entertainer who’s managed to rustle up an impressive show that she admits wasn’t quite what she planned when she made her Festival application.

Australia is blessed with comedians who appeal to all levels of taste and sophistication and Alice is definitely at the intellectual end. At its heart is a talk she gave for TEDx, but her themes and ideas are universal. What is love, belief, tragedy, truth and beauty and can we explore them while laughing at how absurd it can all be? There is also the story that surrounds her whole TEDx experience which is hilarious in itself.

Alice is skilled in transforming her densely written piece into a conversation with the audience. And it is a conversation, there is space for the audience to express themselves providing entertaining feedback, recognition and sing-alongs. Yes, Sing-alongs. Alice plays some cute songs on her trusty talking banjo which is an unexpected delight. There are also engrossing stories, delightful observations, dating advice, threaded through with a pre-recorded interview and peppered with excellent gags. She is in turns hilarious, charming, moving, gently sarcastic, silly and always a warm presence in the intimate space.

For a show put together under duress, there are a lot of laughs to be had. There are also a few tears so you might want to remember the tissues. It is quite an ambitious show that while entertaining as it is, it would be extra awesome with a decent sound and a tech rather than just her laptop. Alice gives her audience the best show she can and proves that she is a household name in the making. Go and see her so you can say ‘I saw her when’ and help get her moved to the bigger, better equipped room she deserves to be in.

Savage is on at The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure Hotel until April 19
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/savage-alice-fraser

Snort With Friends

By Hannah Frazer

Walking into a dark room not knowing what is about to happen in front of you is scary, but sitting in the front row while it all unfolds is terrifying. This is not the case when you are in the company of the SNORT family though. From the get go the cast, which this particular evening consisted of (Eli Matthewson (MC), Nic Sampson, Donna Brookbanks, Guy Montgomery, Chris Parker, Laura Daniel, Rose Matafeo and Joseph Moore) relax you into their show, making you feel as though the words they are given, like some sort of magnificent, magical spell had been planted in your minds, and they had actually been practising the material for months. If you didn’t know it was improv, you wouldn’t know it was improv.

The show separated into 3 monologues and 3 sets. A nervous audience member will throw them a singular word and then you just sit back, relax and watch their minds explore the possibilities. They are miraculously able to bring life, colour and madness to the stage where just seconds before there was nothing. You see them delve into their subconscious to source personal anecdotes, stories and crazy characters at the drop of a hat. It really is something to behold.

All seasoned pro’s with their regular Friday night gig at ‘The Basement’ back in their homeland. As well as some having their own solo shows at the festival, they didn’t let the smaller than usual audience discourage them. The intimate nature of the night although not ideal didn’t diminish the size or scale of the laughs they received. All inherently quick thinkers, leaving the audience two steps behind and always delightfully surprised with where they would go next.

The comradely and mutual admiration of each other evident. Laughing and supporting one another when on the sidelines, seamlessly bouncing off one another or coming in to challenge and keep things interesting. You are able to sneak a glimpse into each of their uninhabited, wild and remarkable quick thinking minds and as the audience, we reap all the benefits of their madness.

Unlike a phone throwing Crowe, these are some New Zealander’s that we would be happy to claim as our own. This show only lasts until the 5th April, so make sure you don’t miss these honorary Aussies at the 6pm (6.15 Sunday) at the Portland Hotel.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/with-friends-snort