Tag: Tegan Higginbotham

Tegan Higginbotham in Game Changer

By Alanta Colley

 

The brilliant Tegan Higginbotham is back this Comedy Festival with the third instalment of her sports-themed comedy trilogy; ‘Game Changer’. ‘Game Changer explores everything from Pole ‘Sports’ (no longer Pole Dancing), to the Legend’s league, boxing and to Tegan’s continuing devotion to AFL. How do you change the game when it comes to the tradition-steeped world of sport?

Higginbotham blends commentary of new trends in sport with personal reflections on what sport has meant for her. She examines her personal attitudes and comfort with the ‘sexiness’ of certain new-wave sports. Higginbotham takes the ‘method’ approach to her comedy; after all, if you’re going to talk about boxing or pole dancing – surely first you need to do it! We learn about Tegan’s personal adventures in Pole dancing lessons. Imagine if more comedians committed to their material in the way Higginbotham does!

Tegan poses important observations to us about how female athletes must sell sex as well as skill to gain recognition. Is the formerly Lingerie now ‘Legends’ League demeaning or empowering to those who participate? And who gets to decide which; the players or the punters? Is the very existence of the sport putting that question in the spot light?

The method with which Higginbotham explores her personal relationship with sport and what it has meant to her personally takes a unique place on the comedy scene. Higginbotham’s continual commitment to talking about sport was initially met with scepticism by people who assumed it was for novelty or comedic purposes only. But third show in Higginbotham is now recognised as serious when it comes to her love and knowledge on sport.

While some of the more nuanced Carlton/Collingwood jokes were lost on the non-sports devoted Higginbotham fans in the audience, enough was accessible for all. Tegan’s step towards revealing more of personal self in this show is a welcome one. We’d love to get to know more about the woman behind the Sports Columns in the Age. This show definitely showed potential for Tegan to work within the medium of pathos, as well as her proven talents in the fields of sketch and improv.

Dust off your footy boots, put in your mouth guard, and head along to this funny and fresh scrum of laughter and learning.

Game Changer is on at The Portland Hotel – Gold Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/game-changer-tegan-higginbotham-in

Interview with Tegan Higginbottham

By Alanta Colley

Tegan Higginbotham is a fresh-faced force for good with a firm foot in the Melbourne Comedy Scene. Humblingly  younger than most of her contemporaries; Tegan has for the past few years been prolifically producing fast paced sketch in outfit  Watson,  The Anarchist Guild Social Committee, regularly appearing on The Shelf,  as well producing regular commentary in her column in the Age on sport.

Tegan is back and better than ever this Comedy Festival with the release of her new solo show ‘Game Changer’. Game Changer forms a trilogy of Sports themed shows for Tegan,  following her very successful ‘Touched by Fev’ (dedicated to AFL star Brendan Fevola) and previously with the acclaimed ‘Million Dollar Tegan’; which explored Tegan’s personal foray into the bizarre world of boxing. ‘Game Changer’ explores social attitudes towards pole dancing and lingerie football, and asks the question: just who sets the standards when it comes to what defines a ‘real sport’ anyway?

Tegan took a quick few minutes out of her Comedy Festival prep to talk to me!

Your love of sport has been a central theme of your last two comedy shows, with Touched by Fev and Million Dollar Tegan. Can you tell me about how your love of sport and comedy came together?

I didn’t mean for it to happen. It wasn’t a conscious thought – when I took up boxing the experience was so ridiculous comedy was a way of sharing what happened. But as a massive film buff I love a good trilogy. Star Wars is the main reason this ended up being a trilogy!

Pole Dancing is a bit of a break from boxing and footy. What attracted you to Pole Dancing as a theme?

I came across a really heated and negative response to the idea of pole dancing becoming an Olympic sport. As I engaged in the argument I realised I didn’t know anything about pole dancing, so I wanted to find out more about it. I started doing a lot of research about pole dancing online. You have to be really careful what search terms you use when you’re researching pole dancing! But it was fascinating.

I found out that there was a massive movement of people who accept pole dancing as a sport. I ended up trying it out. I found it incredibly hard. Women who do it are so strong. There’s a lot of  muscles  and skills that they need to develop that are different from any other sport.

It was similar to the lingerie league – when it came to town all that anyone noticed was what they were wearing. It took a while for people to realise that they were extremely strong and fit athletes.

What sort of response do you get from people as a woman in comedy, talking about sport?

It took a lot of convincing people that I was telling the truth about my love of sport. They thought of it as a gimmick or didn’t believe I knew much about it. Having a regular column in the Age has helped a lot to help people take it seriously. The more I perform the more people are getting on board with it. I want to be seen first and foremost as a comic.

Who should come and see this show?

This show should be perfect for everybody. It’s great for people who love sport, but I’m also a massive nerd so there’s no way I’ll be able to keep that hidden. I’ve also challenged myself to talk more about myself in this show; so there’s a bit more story telling about my life in it than there’s been before.

What do you hope your audience takes away from your show?

Hmmmm. I’d hope they’d take away the willingness to think about sports like pole dancing a little more before reacting so strongly to them.  And I hope they have a really good laugh.

Many of us are super sad not to see Watson this comedy festival.  Will Watson rise again?

Absolutely. Adam and I love working together. It was really hard but we made the decision that doing a show at Comedy Festival show this year wasn’t going to work with our schedules.  But our ideas keep getting bigger and bigger. You’ll see Watson put on something pretty special at Melbourne Fringe this year.

You recently reappeared with the Anarchist Guild Collective Social Committee, which performed to a  sold out room. What for you is the biggest difference between performing sketch and stand up?

Sketch for me is more like play and stand up, while rewarding, is a lot more work. I love stand up and how challenging it is.  Though stand up is a little bit lonelier after the show. I really like having the chance to do both.

I hear that you’ve got upcoming television role, This is Littleton  can you tell me a bit about that?

This is Littleton goes to air this February! It’s a really fun sketch show. The story is set around a Town Hall Community Centre.  I perform various roles  throughout the show. The comics performing all write their own material; many of the characters are based on characters they’ve taken from their own work, so it’s a really interesting collaboration. The show is lots of fun. 

What are you looking forward to the most this Melbourne comedy festival?

The first show.  There’s nothing like the feeling after your first show for the run.  You have so much doubt and you put in so much preparation and you don’t know how its going to turn out. The feeling of relief after the first performance is over is just amazing.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing?

I always love seeing Celia Pacquola. And because I love sketch I love seeing Girls Uninterrupted, and Lords of Luxury and Aunty Donna. There’s a lot of great sketch this festival.  

Thanks Tegan!

 

You can catch Tegan’s New show ‘Game Changer’ at the Gold Room at the Portland Hotel from the 28th of March to the 21st of  April (no shows Mondays)

Tickets: $24 Full, $22 Concession, Tight-arse Tuesdays $20

Times: 7:15pm (6:15pm Sundays)

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/game-changer-tegan-higginbotham-

 

Her Website: www.teganhigginbotham.com

THE ANARCHIST GUILD SOCIAL COMMITTEE RETURNS TO MELBOURNE

Sketch comedy is notoriously difficult. Even for the best sketch troops not every skit hits gold, but brilliant sketches can live forever, shared around, re-discovered by new generations and quoted by nerds at parties. It can be an intimidating art form to go into and requires hard work and a certain amount of discipline to create so much silliness.

Between 2008 and 2010 Melbourne was blessed with a group of experienced local comedians who regularly pumped out over an hour of new, entertaining live and recorded sketches with an infectious sense of fun and camaraderie. For comedy fans The Anarchist Guild Social Committee became “must see” comedy in Melbourne. Audiences gathering at the Bella Union Bar of Trades Hall on a Sunday afternoon got to feel they were part of a group of friends who mucked about together, enjoying making each other laugh. So it was pretty exciting to learn that the Guild are re-uniting for a special performance at the Bella Union this coming weekend.

The core of the old crew are back including Andrew Mcclelland, Celia Pacquola, Richard Mckenzie, Tegan Higginbotham, and Nick Caddaye along with a long list of guest appearances.  The Committee’s acerbic host Nick found time to answer some questions about working with the group and it’s upcoming reunion.

Lisa: How long did the original run of the Anarchist Guild Social Committee actually go for?

Nick: The AGSC (which is what I’m abbreviating it to from now on because long titles are exhausting) ran one year full-time and one year part-time. In the first twelve months we put on a totally new 75-odd minutes of sketch comedy every month alongside special guests and other malarkey. We travelled interstate, did charity gigs and best-of shows, and generally ran ourselves into the ground.

In the second year, we were more a special-event kind of thing. We’d only turn up to celebrate seasonal holidays and festivals. Our last show was our 2nd Anniversary show in June 2010.

Lisa: Why did you stop doing it?

Nick: Exhaustion. We genuinely lived in each other’s pockets for 18 months or so – we’d see each other every week if not two or three times. Even when a team is as awesome as ours is, that can be too much. Also, people started to get busy, and in the end Celia moved to England. So, there just wasn’t the time.

Lisa: Why have you got the Guild together again?

Nick: Everyone was (mostly) available. So, we thought we’d give it a crack just the once and see how it went.

Lisa: There is a much smaller core group for the reunion show [5 down from about 8]. Was it hard to produce the same amount of material?

Nick: It wasn’t. The thing is, if you all write two good sketches, you’ve got 10 sketches and that’s the backbone of a show. Then I go away and write piles of extra stuff to tie it all together.

Lisa: Was it terrifying/thrilling to put on a live monthly sketch show of new material in front of an audience?

Nick: Everyone in the team is pretty experienced and frequently play to big houses here and abroad, so there’s no particular fear of the audience. The scary part is doing otherwise untested material for the first (and often last time) on stage. But that’s also part of the pleasure – the opportunity to try things that you might not otherwise be able to and work with people you might not otherwise get to work with.

Lisa: There was a great sense of camaraderie on stage, yet I often wondered about the tensions behind the scene and of herding a bunch comedians into getting material together & putting on a monthly show. I’m guessing it’s about everyone having certain strengths to add and knowing each other well. Are you the main wrangler?

Nick: I’m the main creative driver but our Producer, Leah Collins, is the one who worries about logistics. And yes, the hardest thing about this project was never the ‘funny’ parts – it was the logistics. Thankfully everyone not only gets along famously but they also understand each other’s strengths and can write to them. Chemistry cannot be over-rated in this context. And that means we can get a lot done in a short amount of time because so much of the work is already done.

Lisa: Was it hard when everyone had festival shows to put on etc. Or did it help in creating ideas & material for the performer’s festival shows?

Nick: Festival time is bloody hard because everyone is being pulled in a million directions. One of the reasons that we’ve been able to do this show is because Andy isn’t doing a MICF show for the first time in 12 years or so. And then Richard and I have gigs and stuff like Late Night Letters and Numbers lined-up, but not full shows. It’s only Celia and Tegan that have to maintain the balance.

As far as influencing the individual work, I know Celia has adapted sketch ideas into stand-up bits. But generally I find creativity begets creativity, so if I’m working on one thing, the next thing is much easier to start. I’m not sure if it works like that for the others, but we always managed.

Lisa: I’ve always admired the strong female contingent of the Anarchist’s, it was especially noticeable back then, but even now it seems to be a rare thing in sketch comedy groups. (Any chance of Courteney Hocking popping in?)

Nick: Yeah
 I’m not sure why it’s a rare thing. Impro groups are full of women tearing it up, but a lot of sketch groups tend to be reasonably phallocentric. There are always exceptions of course, like Girls Uninterrupted who are a two-women sketch duo. But for every one of them, there are great lumps of men putting on silly voices and dropping their trousers.

It might have something to do with sketch comedy groups usually being groups of like-minded friends, and that the sort of person who says ‘yes, I will put on a sketch comedy show with my friends’ being the sort of person who doesn’t have many female friends? But that’s a maddeningly sweeping statement that’s both insulting and reductive.

Or perhaps it’s a matter of influence? What comedy do young sketch comics watch? Do they see women in these shows and view them equally? Or do they only see men and, as such, only consider men in this context?

My plans for the AGSC were to have three men and three women. It turned out to be three men, three women and two extra men floating about (myself as host and Ben McKenzie, who was intended as a utility player but is such a fine performer and a whizz as learning lines that he ended up with more work than I had planned).

Whilst I was friends with Courteney Hocking, I’d only met Tegan and Celia once or twice each before I asked them to be in the show. All I knew was their work – that they were bloody good. So, it was and wasn’t about gender – I was looking for women for the show, but in the end I just chose the funniest people. It was a bonus that they were women.

As far as Courteney is concerned
 I asked her to be involved in the show, but she replied that she’s been Comedy clean for eleven months and wanted to keep it that way. I can understand that.

Lisa: How else have things changed?

It’s funny how little it’s changed. Despite it being three-and-a-half years since we last did it, we’ve mostly fallen back into our old rhythms and the style and structure of the show will be classic AGSC.

Lisa: Will you be doing pre-recorded sections again?

Nick: We’ve done quite a bit of pre-recorded stuff. Our promos can all be found on Youtube (just search for The Anarchist Guild Social Committee) and there is other stuff we’re keeping for the live show. Filming stuff is hard work, but very rewarding because at the end of the day you have *something*. Live comedy is more ephemeral.

Lisa: I got the impression that the Anarchists hoped get picked up for TV ala The D-gen?

Nick: Well, it’d be bloody lovely if it was. We’ve looked into it in the past, but it’s something of an impossible dream. I’ve always thought the show would suit the TV and I suppose you never know what the future holds of course


Lisa: Do you think today’s TV might be more up for Melbourne based sketch comedy than it was say 5 years ago?

Nick: Well, there are more channels than there used to be, so there’s a need for more content. And slowly but surely things are improving – you’re seeing more Australian comedy voices on TV. But it’s always going to be cheaper to show repeats of ‘sitcom X’ than fully fund new comedy.

Lisa: Do you think there seems to be more interest in sketch generally than there was a few years ago?

Nick: There really wasn’t much around when we started, and in a live sense, there’s still nothing regular. This is because it’s hard – what the AGSC did in putting on a new show every month for a year was HARD. And that’s why no-one else is doing it.

That being said, I can think of half-a-dozen sketch groups that you’ll see listed come Festival time that are good (and more that aren’t besides
). And there’s slightly more sketch comedy on TV than there was then.

These things are often cyclical.

Lisa: Do you think with a new government it might be less acceptable now to do political stuff (If aiming at a show on TV)?

Nick: The AGSC was never especially political, because the endless churn of new material meant that jokes that worked on script submission day would be two weeks old by show day and lose their zing.

Lisa: As a regular audience member I always felt like I was part of a cool club, is that what you were going for?

Nick: Absolutely. It was always supposed to be ‘clubby’. Although I’d say it was more a big nerdy club for nerds than ‘cool’


Lisa: Has anyone turned up to the Bella Union Bar at Trades Hall expecting a meeting of actual Anarchists?

Nick: Possibly at our first show, but not in a demonstrative sense. Around the time we started there was a controversy about ASIO infiltrating some groups at Trades Hall, and I always loved the idea that the mole came to see our show just to see if we were up to something subversive and then had to write a report on it.

“There was very little discussion about bringing down the government, but one of the cast seemed to eat a lot of chicken
”

 

The Anarchist Guild Social Committee (and  guests) will re-unite this weekend – (and we’re quietly hoping it might lead to more shows.)

SUNDAY JANUARY 12th @ 5pm
Bella Union – Trades Hall (cnr. Victoria & Lygon St. Carlton)
Guests include
Lawrence Leung
Yianni
The Von Muiznieks Family Singers
WATSON
Dave Bushell,
Ben McKenzie
Kelly Fastuca

and more!

Get your tix from the Bella website 

The Butterfly Club, Brackets and The Greatest Show on Earth*

The Butterfly Club has built a reputation over the past decade as one of Melbourne’s finest performing spaces, particularly for cabaret and comedy. It has famously nurtured talented artists such as Tim Minchin and Eddie Perfect. You might have heard that after crowd-sourcing help last year The Butterfly Club has moved premises from South Melbourne to a laneway in the heart of the city. This proved particularly convenient during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as the venue is now a short stroll from The Town Hall and other festival venues.

Owner, Simone Pugla is proud of showcasing world class cabaret  and comedy at The Butterfly Club. He has recently launched a new comedy room called Brackets late on Friday nights run by fellow ex West Australian Clayton Steele. Also coming up is a short season of comedy nights called The Greatest Show on Earth run by Tegan Higginbotham. I interviewed both Clayton and Tegan about their new nights.

 

There has always been a tradition of intelligent comedians. From Shakespeare’s King Lear, where the Fool is clearly the smart one in the play, through members of Monty Python and The Goodies who were university students often giving up careers in law and medicine much to their parents’ horror no doubt. Here in Australia we have many working comedians who gave up lucrative lives as Surgeons (Rob Sitch), Lawyers (Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Libby Gore), accountants (Lehmo) or architects (Rod Quantock, Barry Humphries). Brackets is a room that wants to give comedians a space to showcase their brains to an appreciative audience. We were there on opening night and discovered that you don’t have to have a PHD to have a great time in the audience.

Clayton Steele

Tell us a bit about your background in comedy and how you found yourself working in comedy?
I lived in Melbourne for a short period in the early 90s and, having known Matt Parkinson (Empty Pockets) and Judith Lucy from working together in Perth, I naturally found myself frequenting the Espy and the Cheese Shop. I was hooked.
I moved back to Perth and after searching for like-minded souls, managed to find the local scene which, at that stage, was still in its infancy.
We established The Laugh Resort (a comedy co-op) and eventually I found myself running it for many years. During this time we saw the emergence of talent such as Rove, Dave Callan, Brendan Burns, Dave Hughes, the list goes on.
After that I was still always involved, judging, coaching, writing, whatever it took to get my fix.
Now living permanently in Melbourne, I fill my time directing, producing, coaching, writing and secret stuff I can’t talk about.

How long have you been in Melbourne?
About 5 years. Long enough to know that those horse and buggies in the city can do hook-turns better than most drivers.

How do you see the current state of comedy in Melbourne (or generally)?
I see the Melbourne scene in particular as problematic and I’ll focus on this scene because that’s where I am.
It would be easy to focus on the positives. The potential and the talent is there but I don’t believe the industry is as healthy as it could be.
I think there are too many people in this industry who want to use it only as a springboard to something else. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with comics going on to do TV or Radio. It’s the prevalence of comics, who got into the industry solely as a way to become famous, I find disrespectful and damaging to the art form.
I think that Melbourne comics (and perhaps others) have become too festival-centric. It seems that what you see in rooms nowadays is a trial for an upcoming festival show. The way that it is supposed to work is that a festival show is meant to showcase your highlights from the year. It would appear sometimes, to be a case of putting the cart before the horse.
I think that we have lost our way with how rooms are run. If you charge nothing to see comedy, do you want punters to think that that comedy is worth nothing? People are prepared to pay $19 to see a projected recording of a Michael Bay movie, surely a live performance is worth something. Why does it cost $19 to see a movie? Because movie stars get paid so much. Why do movie stars get paid so much? Because people are prepared to pay $19 to see a movie.
Having said that, open-mic nights are an exception. The problem is that open-mic nights in Melbourne are advertising big names to compete for the audience. A choice has to be made. Are you running an open-mic or are you running a professional room? If the latter, you need to respect the performers. Rather than competing for the same slice of pie, we need to focus on making the pie bigger.
And, if I’m going to be on my soap box, I think we have moved way too far into the realm of audience participation. At last year’s Comedy Festival I was dragged on stage on 6 separate occasions. Audience participation is great for the extroverts in the audience but I personally know a lot of introverts who will not go to comedy because of this. If you really have to involve an audience member, learn how to read their body language. An unwilling “stooge” can quite easily become a comedy ex-punter.

How did Brackets come about?
I spend a lot of time outside venues. It’s what I refer to as exit-polling. If punters are leaving a room and rather than talking about something they just experienced, they are talking about what they are doing tomorrow, maybe they haven’t been engaged.
I see this a lot more now than I ever used to.
Back in the day, comics were very proud of their material and competitive about how clever their gags were. Now I see a tendency towards shock tactics and, quite frankly, I’m not shocked by a rape gag, I just think it’s become rather hack and you have to ask the question: Do those jokes make the world a better place?
Another thing that has bothered me is that the norm is for rooms to have short sets. I feel like the comic never has enough time to get to the “meat”. Short sets are like take-away food, they satisfy the hunger but sometimes you just want to sit down to a nice meal.
So, I knew what I wanted, I just had to find the right room.
The answer came in the form of Simone from The Butterfly Club. As a fellow Mensan he shared my yearning for intelligent comedy.
Very rarely do you find the perfect fit with a venue but Simone, Xander and, for that matter, everyone at The Butterfly Club have made it feel more like joining a family than I could have ever dreamed.

Did it occur to you that it might be hard to find sufficient smart comedy to fill Friday nights? – Or are you confident in our local comedians’.brainpower.
I have a list of comics who could justifiably play the room and, if they all did, I would have a 6 month turn around. Comics, by their very nature, are generally highly intelligent and they all seem to relish the opportunity to show their capabilities.
I think that some comics have been guilty of occasionally playing to the lowest common denominator but who can blame them? It’s easier and the audience isn’t invested anyway.
The harder part is getting the message out to the audience who “get it” and are prepared to do a bit of thinking themselves. I know they’re out there.

Have you had positive feedback from the Mensa people so far?
As far as I can tell they are loving it… Or they are just really polite.

Do you think smart people in general are attracted to comedy?
I think human beings in general are attracted to comedy.
I’m not saying that “smart” comedy is superior. I have a lot of respect for your Kevin Bloody Wilsons etc. Benny Hill was a genius who found a niche and hit it hard. I just don’t happen to fall into that niche and I need to have a bit of a puzzle to solve for me to feel comedically satisfied.
For some, the audience participation, the physical involvement in a performance is necessary, for some it’s titillation, for me and, I’m sure, others it’s all cerebral.

Is there anything you would like to add?
I do want to explain the basic idea of what we are doing.
By saying “intelligent” comedy I am not saying that it is necessarily intellectual. It isn’t jokes about Maths or Tunisian politics. What the room is about is attracting an intelligent audience which in turn will give the comics the freedom to explore areas they may not otherwise feel comfortable in.
To me, shock comedy is nothing more than verbal slapstick. Stand-up comedy can be, and should be, much more than that. We have a responsibility as an industry. We get on stage and ask a group of strangers to listen to us. We better damn well have something to say

Future line ups at Brackets include:

June 7th:
Matt Elsbury
Adam McKenzie
Dave Thornton

June 14th
Harley Breen
Geraldine Hickey
Ryan Coffey

Information and tickets for Brackets can be found here

Tegan was asked to put these nights together in a bit of a rush and managed to get a top line up to perform over the four nights. The performers include herself and Adam Mckenzie as Watson, Justin Hamilton, Girls Un-Interrupted, Randy, Lessons With Luis, Adam Richard, Rama Nicholas and Adam Rozenbach. I spoke to her about what putting the show together was like.

Tegan Higginbotham.

Do you consider yourself the ‘curator’ of this show?
I suppose that technically I am the curator. Adam will be helping with things, of course, as that production is “Watson presents…”. But I think I’ll be doing a bit more of the heavy lifting given the late notice of the whole event. So “Ruling Overlord” is probably name I’m more comfortable with.

Did you have help?
So far Simone, Adam and Hammo have all been very helpful, yes.

Have you put a show together before?
Several. This show is an exciting little show out of a Festival setting, and I think it will be perfectly timed for everyone who’s beginning to feel the SADs a little. But as far as shows go, in the past two years I’ve put together a Melbourne Fringe show, 2 solo Comedy Festival shows and 2 Comedy Festival shows as a part of Watson.

Have you had a big idea like this bubbling away in the back of your mind for a while or did it all come together quickly?
The show itself has come together very quickly, but Adam and I have been talking about doing mini-shows throughout the year for a while. We also have plans for a big old Christmas show too.

How is it going to work, will all of those acts be performing on the same evening or will it be a different line up each evening?
The line-up will change each night. Some acts will do more than one night, like Hammo. Some guest will only join us once or twice. The idea is that all of the artists will be using this event as an opportunity to try something new and different.

Was it hard to get the line up you wanted?
I was pleasantly surprised how of my wish-list acts jumped on board. With Roadshow happening at the moment, I was expecting many comics to be too busy. But I also feel that there is a lot of good energy toward the Butterfly Club and comics are keen to jump behind the venue.

This feels a bit like a mini-The Shelf
.? (Or is it just that they were the logical go–to people because you know and work with them?)
It is definitely logical because I know them and work with them, but it’s also because I know all these people will put on a good show. And in the case of Girls Un-Interrupted, Rama Nicholas and Randy, these are 3 acts that havn’t hit The Shelf stage yet (but I’m kind of hoping will)

Is this Justin Hamilton’s first outing of his mini festival-type show? Does he plan to expand on it or perform it in the future or is this a way of getting it out of his system.
I’m not sure what Hammo plans to do with the show in the future, but it will be it’s first outing.

Anything you would like to add? (about performing at The Butterfly Club?)
I visited the new Butterfly Club only 3 weeks ago and was really excited by how amazing the space is. Upon further conversation with Simone, I got to hear how much effort the venue puts into supporting its artists and creating an artist community. This is the sort of thing we need in Melbourne. So if by doing this show we can create positive buzz not only for a load of great comedians (some of whom will be heading into a Fringe season soon) but also a great comedy venue, then I’ll be incredibly happy.

The Greatest Show on Earth is on from Thursday June 13th until Sunday June 16th Thur – Sat at 8.30 and Sun at 7.30. Bookings can be made here

For more information about upcoming shows go to The Butterfly Club website
*No Guarantees.

Late Night Letters and Numbers.

By Lisa Clark This is a fun nerdy little comedy quiz show that is based upon the stupidly axed Letters and Numbers which was based on the UK show Countdown, but not called Countdown for very obvious reasons. Before that there was a French show called  Des Chiffres et Des Lettres, but you didn’t need to know that. The best way to see it on TV is being sent up in a stunning episode of The IT Crowd. called The Final Countdown.

The basic idea is; two contestants compete in various rounds, in this case they are guest comedians. The Letters round is like boggle where the contestants try to make the longest words out of 9 random letters. In the numbers round a random target number under 1000 is given by an audience member, then 6 random numbers are drawn and the contestants must use these to somehow reach the target number using mathematics. The final round is the Conundrum which is an anagram that the contestants must be the first to unscramble. Where it differentiates itself from the TV shows is that it is live, it is comedy and it is late at night.

The late night comedy atmosphere means that although they take the game seriously to a point, there is a lot of silliness, veering off topic and naughty language. They are also fairly encouraging of audience participation and will award points to impressive audience members. You could hear a lot of audience members around you guessing at words or getting the maths perfect, but not everyone was brave enough to pipe up when invited to do so. It can be pretty hard not to participate in this infectious show.

The night we were there guest comedians Karin Danger – nee Muiznieks (Hot Box) and Yianni (Numb & Number) made admirable adversaries while up the other end of the desk the Watson (Once Were Planets) duo played comedy relief with Adam McKenzie and Tegan Higginbotham as moderators in charge of the giant dictionary. Ben McKenzie (Splendid Chaps) makes a fair go at being Lily Serna, letter displayer/ maths genius but for reasons I can’t put my finger on, cannot quite capture her demure allure. The host, in great contrast to the cheerful and rather straightlaced Richard Morecroft, is the famously cynical & comically grumpy Nick Caddaye who does a great job of keeping it all rolling and not running too late.

Late night Letters and Numbers is a fun way to finish a full Friday night of comedy. Also keep your eye out for further Letters and Numbers nights happening outside of the festival at Trades Hall throughout the year.

Late Night Letters and Numbers is only on Friday nights of the Festival at Trades Hall in the Old Council Chambers
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/late-night-letters-and-numbers

Tegan Higgenbotham – Touched By Fev

By Colin Flaherty

Since setting out as a solo performer several years ago after doing time in the trenches of sketch, Tegan Higginbotham has progressed in leaps and bounds. Her latest show, Touched By Fev, sees her at the top of her game; commanding the stage with absolute confidence and hitting every comedic beat.

Although Tegan sets out her adoration of Brendan Fevola at the beginning, those people who bought tickets primarily to hear about Fev have to sit through many personal anecdotes and various asides before she gets to the crux of the performance towards the end of the hour. This is certainly far from a chore as these are delightful tales and jokes delivered by a personable and adept performer.

She apologises for the show’s unfortunate title at the outset (it sounds more like a victims support group) and begins by covering her other youthful obsessions. I had seen her trialling this material in various rooms recently and it had given me the impression that this was going to primarily be about Idol worship. However through many detours, she presents something that covers so much more ground. Apparently random but humorous asides are tied into the main thread; perhaps not always perfectly but she pulls it off with such charm that you follow her regardless. Repeat customers from Million Dollar Tegan are even treated to material that expands upon themes covered previously which are carefully constructed not to exclude newcomers.

The show has a pleasing rhythm to it with her punchlines spaced at comfortable intervals that keeps the laughs rolling along. This however changes when she hits the extended tale of her interactions with Fevola and it becomes more sombre and the laughs drop off considerably. Not that this concerns the crowd as they are transfixed by her words; clearly fascinated by the story.
When referring to Fev, she does so in a compassionate way. We are allowed to have a laugh at the ridiculousness of his various indiscretions but for the most part the focus is about Tegan and her experiences. In the hands of someone else, Fev could have wound up as a comedic punching bag but not here, so those looking for dirt need look elsewhere.

Tegan has once again mined her real life experiences to construct a wonderful show with plenty of laughs while at the same time allowing for a bit of self-reflection.

Touched By Fev is on at Spleen

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/touched-by-fev-tegan-higginbotham