5 Good Reasons to see The Boy With Tape On His Face – More Tape

1.

Somebody you know maybe a friend of a friend or long lost cousin who has an aunty that dog sat for a neighbour in Edinburgh saw the show and said it was good and word of mouth is the only form of promotion that people should really listen to.

2.

It will remind you of being a child again. Playing and imagination is something that forced out of us as we enter into adulthood for some reason and I am on a mission to get people to see things differently!

3.

The voices in my head said it was good.

4.

Where else are you going to see Darth Vader fighting and John Lennon in the same show?

5.

The bit at the end….it’s very good.

The Boy With Tape On His Face More Tape is on at The Forum Theatre

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/more-tape-the-boy-with-tape-on-his-face

WRONGTOWN Wednesdays with WRONGTOWN!

By Noel Kelso

 

Wrongtown duo Rose Sejean & Claire Bowman return to the Melbourne Comedy Festival for a second year with a further selection songs and sketches touching on subjects as diverse as problematic travel tickets, lingerie league and celebrity chefs.

The performers prowl the stage, skewering their targets with sharp wit, perfect pitch and vibrant colours. Cabaret show Wrongtown Wednesdays, is a tour of all those places in life which are just that bit not quite right.

If Bob Fosse had written slapstick in Melbourne, then something like Wrongtown might have been the result. The songs use well known tunes and wrap them around fresh lyrics poking fun at familiar targets such as public transport, Geelong and Bogan drinking habits.

The audience were kept laughing throughout by the risque humour, which – as the name of the show intimates – may occasionally have been considered tasteless. One gag managed to provoke a ‘Too soon’ response from the audience. Unfortunately aside from that one comment about the lost Malasian plane, the material is not really as shocking or offensive as some of the other, more established acts might perform. Of course- what one person might consider an ordinary if amusing gag, might scandalise another, but really, prime time ABC TV contains more shocking concepts.

In contrast to their 2013 show, this production included a higher proportion of video and sketch material – some of it more successful than others. The local news segments hit their targets with pinpoint accuracy and garnered plenty of laughs, but other segments – such as one lampooning the way celebrity chefs try to make food sexualised – garnered mild chuckles at best.

If you are a bit of a wallflower, then Wrongtown is not the place for you as two unsuspecting members of the audience were picked to join the performers on stage in a sketch about a TV dating show which proved one of the funniest pieces in the whole show. For a first night, the pacing was good but will no doubt tighten as the season progresses.

There are only four shows of Wrongtown during the festival – all on Wednesdays – so if you want to see them, best plan in advance.

Wrongtown Wednesdays With Wrongtown is on at the Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place every Wednesday until April 16
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/wrongtown-wednesdays-with-wrongtown

Interview with Luke McGregor

By Noel Kelso

Luke McGregor is a stand-up who came to prominence after winning Best Newcomer award at the 2013 Melbourne Comedy Festival. Since then he has continued to perform stand-up both in Australia and the UK and has appeared on television on the ABC’s Dirty Laundry Live with Lawrence Mooney and acting in It’s A Date.
I spoke to him about his new show at the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival – I Worry That I Worry Too Much.

Noel: Do you find it easy to write your routines, or is it more like a long, slow process?

Luke: It can be sometimes. It’s like when you hear a musician say that a song just came to them, it’s the same with comedy. You sometimes get a piece that comes through and it’s fully formed, but it may need a bit of tweeking, but essentially you’ve got it ready to go. Other times you might have a bit you think is funny – or there’s something funny about it and you can’t quite work-out how to word it. Sometimes you just take in front of an audience and just talk it out, and you may have a couple of bad gigs, but eventually you’ll end up with material. Some pieces can take a lot longer than others, definitely.

Noel: You won Best Newcomer at MICF 2013 – is recognition by your peers important to you as a performer?

Luke: yes. You can get very down on yourself when performing and doubt yourself a lot. If you have a bad gig you might actually think about retiring. But with something like that – and when you see the people who’ve wone it previously – it does help. It’s kinda like a nice little thing that you can’t argue with and makes you think that maybe I am doing the right thing. I have a lot of respect for those who have won it before like Ronny Cheung and Matt Okine. Those two guys are just legends. It was really nice to win.

Noel: Did growing-up in Tasmania influence your decision to enter the performing arts?

Luke: I guess so. I did it on a whim. I did my first gig because I went to watch my housemate perform in RAW and someone pulled-out, so I asked if I could get up. And that was how I got into comedy. I think that no matter where I was I would probably end up going into it. I think it was more school that had an influence. I used to try and get away from bullies by making them laugh. So I just kept that up, I suppose

Noel: Your on-stage persona appears nervous and ill-at-ease. Is that purely performance or is it your actual personality just turned-up to eleven?

Luke: Pretty much the second one, yeah. I just don’t try and hide anything which can be good or bad, but I feel that if I’m really open it’s better than trying to hide. I feel people kind of relate to me more if I just open-up and let that come out.

Noel: You traveled to the UK to perform last year. How did you find the audiences across there?

Luke: They were great. Really switched-on. They got subtle stuff and nothing was really lost on them. The comedy that comes from there is incredible. I was really nervous at first because I’d never done anything outside of Australia before, but they were great. There’s just so much of my favourite stuff comes from there. I got into Alan Partridge whilst I was there. I watched all three seasons in one go.

Noel: Which comedians have inspired you?

Luke: Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray were heroes growing up. They have such presence on stage. More recently Zach Galifianakis, David Chapelle, Brian Regan, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais – there’s quite a few now. Basically anyone who talks about their own experience or view on something as opposed to just jokes. Like Louis CK just talks about his life and is just really open. Chapelle is just a genius.

Noel: You’ve had your fair share of acting roles. Is that something you’d like to do more of or do you just see it as an additional part of your skill-set?

Luke: Yeah. I’d like to do it more. I really enjoy it. I think I should take acting classes, so far Ive been pretty much playing myself with slightly different words. I haven’t really played anyone too different. I haven’t played a tough-guy who rides a motorcycle yet. I think it’s a lot of fun. If I could keep doing both stand-up and acting that would be great.

Noel: So what can you tell us about your show this year – I Worry That I Worry Too Much?

Luke: Well – I’m worried that title is no good for a comedy show. It’s basically a show about me
talking about all the stuff I worry about, seeing if anyone else worries about the same things and then trying to collectively get over it in a funny way. Hopefully people will enjoy it.

Luke McGregor’s show I Worry That I Worry Too Much is on during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival from March 27 to April 20 at The Portico Room, Melbourne Town Hall, corner of Swanston and Collins Streets.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/i-worry-that-i-worry-too-much-luke-mcgregor

5 Good Reasons to see Beau Stegmann – Here’s Looking At Me

1. Let’s get this one out the way – It’s funny. You’re gonna have a good time. I have fun performing it and you’ll have fun watching it.

2. If you like, have seen or know of a movie you’ll like this and should go. If you don’t even know of a movie WHAT’S GOING ON MAN? But you should come anyway.

3. Maybe afterwards we talk and become good friends? Wouldn’t that be nice?

4. It’s a story about love and loss and I think everyone will relate to this. I love talking about the full spectrum of emotion and nothing encapsulate this better than love. (This was a serious one)

5. I talk about my adventures on TV and Radio and one time I bumped into Wayne Carey and it was weird.

Beau Stegmann – Here’s Looking At Me is on at Fort Delta in the Capitol Arcade

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/here-s-looking-at-me-beau-stegmann

5 Good Reasons to See Ivan Aristeguieta – Lost in Pronunciation

1. I’m a Spanish speaking comedian on a bridging visa. Please come, before some guy in budgie smugglers pushes me off the bridge (into Papua New Guinea).

2. Seriously! I’ve been here for two years! My home country is in trouble. If you don’t come to my show, I’ll have to go on the dole, and you’ll make it so the racists are right.

3. I will make you a better lover, using my special Latino formula: 90% Antonio Banderas, 10% Ricky Martin. (This is not a promise, but if I say it in my accent, you’ll believe me)

4. You will hear a legendary Australian rock song in SALSA. (This is a promise!) Or as I like to call it: “acca daccas with maracas”.

5. You’ll laugh a lot. And if you don’t, I’ll eat my hat. (You don’t want me to do that. It’s a good hat)

Ivan Aristeguieta – Lost in Pronunciation is on at The Portland Hotel in the Pool Room.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/lost-in-pronunciation-ivan-aristeguieta

Justin Hamilton – Johnny Loves Mary Forever 1994

By Lisa Clark 

The mood is set with blue lighting and a blue song from Bowie, ‘Sound and Vision’, to place us in the mind set of Justin Hamilton pretty much at the time where his last show The Goodbye Guy left off, a time of change, of feeling a bit wistful and taking time out to reassess his direction. Developed from his more theatrical shows, Justin has found a style that works really well and suits him and his confidence in the audience’s intelligence and its willingness to go with him. There is no preamble, no banter, he’s straight out of the gate, like a primed racehorse in top form.

Johnny Loves Mary 1994 is proof that a year off from the festival can be a good thing and allow an artist to get off the treadmill and have the time to explore life and come back again when the passion returns with something exciting to share. Not that he stopped working. Constantly cranking out several popular podcasts and a blog that diarised every single show he performed last year as well as organising regular seasons of The Shelf and then there was his eye-opening trip to perform for the troops in Afghanistan which was clearly the inspiration for the theme of this year’s show; exploring what it means to ‘be a man’.

Justin is the master of taking his standup routines and weaving them seamlessly into his festival show. He also seems to cram in even more jokes to give audiences maximum comedy value for their bucks. This year he takes his recent standup stories, familiar with die-hard fans, much further, into darker places than he might share with a pub crowd and some take on greater meaning in this larger context. These include helping a woman in trouble in an impromptu attempt to be Batman and why he might not make such a great dad. His tale of an argument at a BBQ becomes the juxtaposition to his war experience. He presents us with two different forms of conflict and confrontation. At the front, in a place of genuine danger he sees and feels how ridiculous his nerdy persona is when placed beside the soldiers, the men ‘carved in granite’ he meets, like ‘Buzz’ and ‘Chook’. At the BBQ he wields his own powerful weapons with great expertise; his words and they find their target. Though proud of his skill he still feels somewhat dubious about its brutality.

With Johnny Loves Mary 1994 Hamilton sets the bar even higher for himself and other Festival performers. He takes the same style used in his more fictional stories of the past and strips away the veneer of fantasy revealing a very personal and accessible festival show about his recent life experiences and observations. Some that are obviously still quite raw, there were a couple of fragile moments where he seemed close to tears. The laughs are never far away though and this is definitely a must-see for comedy fans and a masterclass for other performers. The show finishes as abruptly as it began and couldn’t help but leave me wondering  about the material he chose to perform for the soldiers in Afghanistan, but I can be certain that it was carefully chosen, expertly constructed and brilliantly executed.

Johnny Loves Mary Forever 1994 is on at the Victoria Hotel – Acacia Room until April 19

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/johnny-loves-mary-forever-1994-justin-hamilton