Squirrel Comedy – Page 224 – We're Nuts About Australian Comedy

Fancy Boy Variety Show

By Colin Flaherty

There has been a lot a buzz about this show. Many have told about the wild, debauched exploits of its performers. It generated so much interest that extra late night shows were added to its limited week long run. The basic premise is of a variety show where anything can happen. The line ups are closely guarded secrets and tickets are sold with the warning “No Refunds.” Colour me intrigued!

The core cast comprised of John Campbell, Greg Larsen and Henry Stone who, along with special guests from the festival, portrayed the acts performing at this variety night from hell. We saw stand up from the “king of crowd work”, a piss-weak song parodist, a magical duo, an inappropriate song by Geraldine Hickey’s conservationist, a high tech clairvoyant, Jonathan Schuster in Singer/Songwriter mode and a Rock Eisteddfod entry.

A lot of shows and performers sell themselves as edgy or dangerous but this one comes damn close to fitting that bill. The all male cast makes for quite a testosterone filled hour with male nudity and frequent jokes about penises and bodily fluids. Some of it was a little repetitive but generally this was very clever smut that had the audience in stitches. It is certainly not for the faint hearted and we did lose a couple from the front row who found it all too much.

The variety show conceit provided a brilliant forum to cleverly ridicule all manner of acts who perform at the festival, making it perfect for comedy nerds and fellow performers who get off on this naughty meta humour. All the “acts” were ridiculous stereotypes of their genre or the worst examples who were portrayed beautifully in the short time we were with them; no unnecessary background was required to laugh at these pitiful souls who were thrown into this bear pit of a show.

Our host (played by Stuart Daulman) kept the show moving along at a cracking pace. The acts usually didn’t overstay their welcome after we had cottoned on to the joke, occasionally stopped short by the MC which was a great bit of scripting. It was something sketch troupes should take note of

If you’re not too prudish and up for a dangerous and filthy late night show this is an awesome choice. Make sure you get in early before all the comedians fill up the room.

Fancy Boy Variety Show is on at the Imperial Hotel at 12:15, Thursday to Saturday until April 18
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/variety-show-fancy-boy

Nath Valvo : Boy Next Door

By Ellyse O’Halloran

In this witty hour of entertainment, Nath Valvo chronicles stories of growing up and his journey to find a date to his brothers wedding so as to avoid the dreaded singles table. Valvo begins the show by engaging in some small talk with the audience. He is a joy to watch and has a charming cockiness about him that adds to his appeal.

The stage is adorned with three bright red mailboxes. As he tells anecdotes from different stages of his life, starting with his childhood in Greensborough, he moves along the mailboxes. He recites various things like love-letters he wrote as a child and responses he received to his ad on flat mate finder. He builds a good rapport with the audience through interaction and at various points in the show, invites certain audience members up on stage.

Valvo is confident in his physicality and its nice to see a stand-up not just playing their self but also making bold choices with delivery for example when he’s talking about other people, he embodies their demeanor which embellishes the story and adds comedic value.

The show is about being a kid in the nineties and being single at thirty, with insights into the gay dating scene. He tells one particular hilarious story about a first date with a man he nicknamed McDreamy that took a turn for the horrible. Valvo’s comedy is honest, brazen and full of energy.

Boy Next Door is on at the Melb Town Hall – Backstage Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/boy-next-door-nath-valvo

Boy Next Door is on at Melb Town Hall – Backstage Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/boy-next-door-nath-valvo

Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall : Success Arms

By Elyce Phillips

Could the secret to success be in your stance? Can you limit your chances of having an ugly baby? These are among the many questions you didn’t know you had that Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall answers in Success Arms.

Success Arms is a grab-bag of bits. It’s sort of about getting older and sort of about finding success, but mostly about quick, well-written jokes. Tremblay-Birchall stumbles from one to the next with self-depreciating clumsiness. Stilted bouts of audience interaction bridged the gaps, conversations rarely being more extended than, “What’s that you’ve got there? A cornetto? Where’d you get that?” For the most part, Tremblay-Birchall’s delivery style is endearing, though at times it interrupted the flow of the show. It was in longer pieces, such as a cringe-inducingly extended bit about his urethra, where he built up some momentum and really shone.

The material is all quite strong, but ‘Success Arms’ feels more like a particularly good extended set at an open-mic. Tremblay-Birchall keeps things very casual, as though he’s testing out his stuff on a group of mates. It makes for a nice sense of camaraderie sitting in the audience. At the end of the show, with no back exit to the Ladies’ Lounge, Tremblay-Birchall stands by the door and high-fives everyone as they leave, the sound of slaps filtering into the hall behind you as you exit the Forum.

‘Success Arms’ is rough in its presentation, but highly enjoyable. Tremblay-Birchall is a talented writer and a personable performer. The show has some great moments and you’ll definitely leave with a smile on your face.

Success Arms is on at the Forum Theatre – Ladies’ Lounge until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/success-arms-alasdair-tremblay-birchall

Steele Saunders : Rosebud

By Lisa Clark

It’s clear that Steele Saunders has put a lot of work into crafting this year’s festival show about coming of age in Rosebud in the early to mid ’90s. With a strong structure and setting on a single night in the last week he lived there before moving away and becoming a different person, it has a touch of American Graffiti about it.

Rosebud is an interesting tale with memories within memories as Steele walks down the streets of his old seaside home town two decades ago on the way to a party. Walking, ‘cause his mate Dave hasn’t turned up to give him a lift. It’s a pity we don’t learn more about Dave (or I somehow missed it amongst the nick-names), because he becomes more significant later on. We do learn more about other colourful characters like Slab, Bedwell and his klepto mate Booga, less about the few women they encounter.

I’ve never understood how people especially blokes can have such dickhead mates, but after seeing Rosebud and Damian Callinan’s show The Lost WW1 Diary of Private Paddy Callinan, the more I realise that teen mates can be like war buddies. People thrown together, doing their bit to get through the dangerous battle that is the teenage years. This includes celebrating their shortcomings and bad boy behaviour (like stealing), the nick-names, the drinking, planning strategies for entertainment and losing their virginity, hiding out from the enemy (adults and other teens), as well as mourning those that don’t make it through. I think I learned that men (in general) don’t seem to have changed much fundamentally in a hundred years. I also learned that since leaving home Steele has changed; he’s grown and can luckily look back at it all and find the humour.

I’ll admit that the main topics for Steele’s 2012 show (The Cat’s Meow) – his cats and his relationship with his girlfriend – were more up my street but this show is much stronger in its structure and writing. Steele has eased his material, some of it ‘classic Steele’, into the story fairly impressively so that you don’t notice and it feels fresh. The first part of the show is particularly funny and is later brave enough to go into dark places, even if it doesn’t want to analyse them too much. Frustratingly, Steele’s flat delivery throughout lets the show down somewhat. The few times he smiles, there is a twinkle in his eye and the material benefits. Having heard him laugh and muck about with friends on his Green Guide Letters podcast, it’s clear that when he is more animated he is better able to sell a punchline, but he does have a tendency in his standup to pull back too much, perhaps in an effort to maintain a dry persona.

Rosebud is aimed at his own demographic, dudes who grew up in the ’90s in the suburbs, though, as men haven’t changed much over the years I’m sure there is nostalgia here for many age groups. There is a lot to enjoy in Steele’s reminiscing and it is definitely an entertaining show to take a bunch of your mates to.

Rosebud is on at the Imperial Hotel until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/rosebud-steele-saunders

Genevieve Fricker : The Pineapple

By Noel Kelso

Performing in a room which appears to have only just been rediscovered after many years and had the cobwebs and dusty boxes removed, Genevieve Fricker entertains her audience with an hour of great gags, brilliantly observed musical comedy and tales of her life.

Wielding an electric guitar, Fricker begins her show with a very funny song about writing routines on her phone. This warms her audience up for the tales which follow.

This includes reminiscing over adverts from the previous decade and positing a tragic backstory for the main character. This is well done by Fricker and it mattered not that I had not seen the ad in question as she paints such a vivid picture with her words.

Her curiosity at the world is infectious and the audience finds itself pondering if there really is a phone call gossiping conspiracy betwixt cab drivers and convenience store clerks. There is an honesty to her delivery which is refreshing as she speaks about her depression and the overcompensation this leads her to.

One of the highlights of the show is Fricker relating the tale of finding her car vandalised in quite a strange manner and the confrontation this leads to with one of her neighbours whilst Fricker herself is dressed like a prim Sunday school teacher from the 1950s. Apparently comics are prone to doing crazy things when criticised.

This was really funny, naturalistic comedy which included several astute observations about the foibles of modern life and thoughtful musings on her family and mixed cultural heritage including some well-timed call-backs.

The Pineapple is on at The Duke of Wellington Hotel until April 7
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/the-pineapple-genevieve-fricker

Tien Tran : If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

By Colin Flaherty

Things have been moving rather quickly for Tien Tran. After competing in RAW in 2011 and being in the MICF Comedy Zone last year, he has taken the next step and put on his debut solo show. Have things been moving too fast for Tran? Possibly.

Tran covered the topics that most twenty-somethings talk about; Weed, laziness and porn amongst them. These were topics that he easily milked laughs from but at times it was almost like shooting fish in a barrel. He also included some interesting views on child-rearing, front lawns and religion that were surprising and hilarious.

In an effort to differentiate himself from all the white middle-class performers out there, he explored some serious topics such as immigration and racism with which he was able give a slightly different perspective by being an Australian born of Vietnamese descent. There were some unique and amusing ideas amongst these topics but he often provided straight opinion and fact instead of jokes, leaving us agreeing with him rather than laughing.

Most of his material was structured in a way where he would run with an idea to its logical conclusion. This worked some of the time, taking them to genuinely unexpected places, but often the punch lines could be predicted ahead of time. He also had the habit of continuing past the actual punchline, ending on a whimper rather than a bang. The result was a hour whose laughs were patchy.

On stage, Tran is personable with a slight hip hop edge (he did name his show after a Biggy Smalls lyric after all). He had the audience hanging on his every word even through the lulls.

This was an enjoyable hour in spite of his rookie mistakes. There are lots of fertile ideas in his set, some that already work but others which have plenty of potential with some retooling. Tran has a unique voice and is definitely a performer to keep an eye on.

If You Don’t Know, Now You Know is on at The Forum – Carpet Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/if-you-don-t-know-now-you-know-tien-tran