I Love Green Guide Letters Live.

Last Saturday, Steele Saunders kicked off his run of Live “I Love Green Guide Letter” podcasts at the Melbourne Town Hall.
Special guests Tony Martin, Sam Pang and Tom Ballard helped Steele discuss letters about Digital TV, netball, Josh Thomasā€™ Please Like Me, Formula 1 advertising, Peter Mitchellā€™s Melbourne and The Biggest Looser.

Check out the shorter sizzle video below for a taste of what went down, and grab the entire episode from iTunes or direct from here.

The Green Guide Letters live show will continue throughout the comedy festival with more special surprise guests.
Grab your tickets here http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/with-steele-saunders-i-love-green-guide-letters

 

Commedia Dell Parte

by Luke Simmons

Commedia Dell Parte may well be one of Melbourneā€™s best kept secrets. Itā€™s got a reputation for holding a great ā€œundergroundā€ night where new and high profile comedians can test their new and existing material. To the good fortune of everyone in the packed house, many of the performing comics provided samples of their upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows.

The night was MCā€™d by Sean Ryan (co-runner of the night) who commands attention on the stage with his Ned Kelly / ZZ Top style facial hair and comedic style of storytelling. Heā€™s great at giving examples about how not to win friends and influence people ā€“ in a wide variety of settings. To his credit, not all examples feature him as the villain. He maintained the pace of the night well and kept the audience grinning throughout.

After Seanā€™s intro, the first act was Lijretta who is a unique comedian who hails from Ambassell, Ethiopia. With his sunglasses planted firmly on the top of head, he got the audience laughing straight away with a series of punchy observational one-liners. The highlight of his set came when he took everyone through an odd situation on the tram which involved two good Samaritans almost coming to fisticuffs. His show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is called The Lijretta Show.

Jay Morrissey stormed onto the stage and showed everyone how his thousands (not millions) of miles an hour style helped him win the Victorian final of the RAW competition. Whether he was talking about mind-altering experiences at work or how females find it easier to garner support on Facebook, he generally had the audience in stitches. Check out his #bollard show at the current festival.

Xanda Allen then came on looking like heā€™d come straight from a Whitesnake concert. Purely based on his look, he demanded attention on the mic and used his visual gags to extreme effect. In fact, if he grows tired of comedy, he could do well on the catwalk. Melbourne needs to see more of this guy because he has the X factor.

Dean Eizenbergā€™s quirky style provided an interesting change of pace for the night. He also used the intimate stage to full effect for his visual gags ā€“ mixed in with his stand-up of course. If comics are going to use some edgy material (see: bad taste gags), they need to be able to come back with a strong punch. Based on the crowd reaction, Eizenbergā€™s sucker punch almost hit the mark. His unconventional style of stand-up was a gas though.

Ronny Chieng hit the stage and unleashed a volley of jokes towards the audience for the length of his short set. For some of his material, he loves to use his ancestral roots as both a source of boasting and piss taking. After all, we are currently in the ā€œAsian Centuryā€. Heā€™s clearly got a keen observational wit and an acidic tongue to match. He took exception to poor old (or, young) bar tender who had the audacity to capture his attention which was a highlight. His show at the current festival is ā€œCan you do this? No you canā€™tā€ and would be well worth it.

Steele Saunders then took the mic and immediately took control of the crowd. In fact, this man oozes stage presence and doesnā€™t mind taking a risk with a bit of banter with the audience. His power set was a mixture of short gags and extended stories ā€“ which both went down well. Donā€™t make a fool of yourself in a nightclub when Steeleā€™s there because karma may make you pay… His show at the festival is The Steele Saundersā€™ Venue Got Demolished Late Night Show.

Daniel Connell is a rising star and this stunning set proved why. His voice has the calming effect akin to a doctor which helped him connect with the audience. On this particular night, Connell took the audience on a journey of piss-funny storytelling with the highlight being his tumultuous (and sumptuous) upbringing. In fact, he made most in the audience lose their appetite based on the groans… See his Mr Personality 1988 show at the festival!

The night ended with Luke Heggie whose dry style of joke telling makes Dave Hughes sound like a giggling Rodney Dangerfield. He peeled off joke after joke and whipped the audience into a wee-in-the-pants frenzy. What a way to end the night. He obviously dislikes people with jet skis, sneaky strippers and would rather drink paint that head to the horse races and/or greyhounds. Unsurprisingly, his upcoming show at the festival is called Mega Dry. Check this man out!
Following Radioheadā€™s lead, the night is run on a pay-as-you-like basis with most being happy to part with a fiver or a tenner on the way out. If youā€™re ever around the St Kilda area and have a free Thursday night, Commedia Dell Parte is a perfect place to hear some short and punchy sets from a wide selection of comedians.

Commedia Dell Parte is at George Lane Bar every Thursday night thoughout the year.

Steele Saunders ā€“ The Cat’s Meow

By Lisa Clark

Lets get this straight upfront, this is a show for cat people. If you hate cats, this is not the show for you. The title should give you a clue and once youā€™re in the room a screen showing 50 pics of an orange grumpy looking Persian while Tom Jones croons ā€˜Whatā€™s New Pussycatā€ should ring some really loud alarm bells. This is not an ā€˜Icanhascheezburger.comā€™ kind of cutesy show, thank god. I mean, really, if cats could use computers they would be able to spell and have good grammar. This is a story about Steeleā€™s relationship with cats and especially his grumpy looking marmalade Persian named Jerry.

The idea for this show was spawned by the fact that Steele included his cat Jerry in his twitter avatar and noticed there was more interest in Jerry than in himself. This led to Jerry getting his own twitter @JerryThePersian which is not at all surprising considering the proven success of cats on the internet. The Catā€™s Meow is all about how successful cats are, especially in comparison to ape descendent life forms. Steele has a list of topics stuck to the wall behind him of things that Cats are better at than humans, such as Fitness, Honesty, Happiness and Intelligence. He covers them all, some more successfully than others, with funny anecdotes about cats being smart and people being not so smart.

Steele is an anecdotal comedian, itā€™s not a grand biographical story show and his experience as a regular in the clubs and pubs of Melbourne is clear from his confidence and ability to get laughs. Some of his stories are crackers and most of them actually stuck to the topic of the show (which isnā€™t always the case with even the best of comedians) but there was one long personal tale that made me wish the rest of the show had been a bit more of the same, but then Iā€™m a fan of a story show. His account of Chewy the cat and how Jerry came into his life was funny and moving and will stay with you long after seeing the show.

From the get go, Steele reminds us that cat lovers are often teased and looked down upon and I canā€™t help but be amused that he rarely speaks of his own emotional attachment. He tends to put the blame on his girlfriend for his cat owning, but there is no doubt of his affection. Steele is a warm, friendly comedian and this is the best I’ve ever seen him.Ā This would be a great date show for cat lovers, it is a sweet and funny show.

Steel Saunders is performing The Cat’s Meow upstairs at Spleen

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/the-cat-s-meow-steele-saunders/