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

5 good reasons to see Harley Breen, Never Say Always and Rodney Todd

5 good reasons to see Harley Breen -Some Kind of Something

1. I have a child and need to feed it.

2. Brisbane thought it was funny and you wouldn’t want Brisbane to get
something that you don’t, now would you Melbourne?!

3. It has four wanking jokes in it and a message about Human rights. Cutting
edge shit!

4. My venue has a stripper poll in it. Classy!

5. Seriously my kid needs to eat.

Harley’s show is on at The Portland Hotel in the Portland Room

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/some-kind-of-something-harley-breen

5 good reasons to see Never Say Always 

1. Because you saw From Arsehole to Breakfast and you just HAVE to know what happens next. Who shot JR??

2. Because you support same-sex marriage (and you’ll get the warm fuzzies from this show)

3. Because you DON’T support same-sex marriage (and you’ll be challenged by this show)

4. Because you need a bloody good laugh and appreciate a bloody good cry

5. Because you support local writers, local producers and local actors

Never Say Always is on at Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/never-say-always
http://www.neversayalways.com.au/

 

5 Good reasons to see Rodney Todd in Arguing with Seagulls 

1. The flyer is so well made and informative. Imagine how good the show will be?

2. It features the award winning comedian Shane Matheson!

3. You have the chance to win a prize at the end of the show

4. You’ve once argued with a seagull and you thought “Those pesky seagulls! If only someone had a Melbourne International Comedy Festival show called Arguing with seagulls I’ll see that for sure.

5. It’s on early so you can see it before you have a Masala Dosa, laksa, bucket of dimmies, interesting burrito, pad thai pie, nasi gorgeng dinner.

Rodney Todd is arguing with his seagulls at GERTRUDES brown couch
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/arguing-with-seagulls-rodney-todd

DC3 The Ringtone Cycle

By Lisa Clark

Having just come from another more traditional stand up type of comedy festival show, the atmosphere and audience at Fortyfivedownstairs is distinctly different to a typical comedy crowd. There’s an arty rock n Roll feel. Is that someone I’ve seen perform on Rockwiz? Is that someone wearing sunglasses at night? Is that man on stage an ex lead singer from This Is Serious Mum? If you’re too young to remember TISM you might know their song Somebody Start a Fight or Something used as the Theme for Paul Provenza’s The Green Room. If you’re too young to remember TISM this might not be the show for you.

Damian Cowell is still angry about a lot of stuff and is still amused by so much that abhors him that he is able to turn it into comedy. The only difficulty for the audience is keeping up with his avalanche of satire. The opening is a bombardment of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie, a welcome song about the gathering with traces of nuts and a lengthy spoken word monologue somewhere between poetry and stand up. Meanwhile you are trying to read all the words projected onto the white wall behind the band. The words can get quite dense with the back wall occasionally resembling a telephone book (remember them?) but become more effective when it features one word at a time. The best approach is to let it all wash over you, take in what you can and enjoy laughing at the funny bits. Things repeat enough to build up a kind of concept collage that comes together to make sense.

But What’s all this about Wagner’s Ring Cycle I hear you ask? Well I’d rather not give that away, I’ll leave that for you to discover and enjoy, and needless to say you don’t need to know anything about Wagner to enjoy this. However you might have to be over 30 to get a lot of the humorous pop references as he eviscerates our love of popular culture and how it’s changed since the 1970s. There’s a romance to Damien’s sarc that is connected with nostalgia and softens his vicious wit. His delivery and style is reminiscent of John Clarke but with a little more venom.

If you know TISM or DC3 you’ll know what to expect from the songs that act as sign posts in the well structured show. These include (and I’m guessing at some of the titles here) ‘A Gathering, Shitness, No Longer Popular Search Word Party (hilarious!), Root Shoot Marry, Henry Fucking Wagons and Stop. Some of these are available on their new album “May Contain Traces of Nut”. This wasn’t a concert as such but I still had to fight an urge to dance. The other two members of DC3 in elegant white suits, played guitar and bass, or politely sat in the audience during Damian’s rants and helped set the stage behind him.

I’m sure the irony of performing to an arty crowd sitting at little tables in an art gallery/theatre/bar in Melbourne while tearing strips off pretentious arty wankers is not lost on Damian. This is comedy at it’s most cerebral and socio-political. It’s also wildly entertaining and hilarious. Certainly not your bog standard stand up comedy.

The DC3 are performing the Ringtone Cycle at Fortyfivedownstairs
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/the-ringtone-cycle-the-dc3

Interview With Andrew Spiers and Elliott Tiney from Idiots of Ants

By Luke Simmons

Andrew Spiers and Elliott Tiney of UK sketch quartet Idiots of Ants had a moment in St Kilda to answer some important questions for us.

Luke: Are there any comedians or groups that inspired you to get into sketch comedy?

Elliott Tiney: Obviously there’s the Monty Python stuff and perhaps the Goodies. But I wouldn’t say we’re surreal so we’re not really like them. Our stuff’s probably more akin to Big Train and Not The Nice O’Clock News. It’s quite traditional sketch comedy what we do rather than having 4 stand-up comedians like some other sketch acts out there.

Andrew Spiers: What we do is we take traditional sketch comedy and put a modern twist on it. We sketch about modern things that people can relate to.

Luke: What are the strangest things you’ve ever seen on the tube in London?

Elliott Tiney: A friend of mine opened up the doors which link up the carriages and had a wee in between! Which I think is dangerous. You could get electrocuted!

Andrew Spiers: I once saw a man swinging from the handrails by his knees with his trousers and underpants around his ankles. That was pretty bad. Oh no! Wait!

Elliott Tiney: Here we go.

Andrew Spiers: I saw a man take off both of his shoes, take off his left sock and then his right sock. He put his left sock on his right foot, he put his right sock on his left foot and then he put his shoes back on.

Luke: What do you guys think will be the next Internet craze that will take over the world?

Elliott Tiney: Ough, if only you could predict the next viral hit…. I tell you what’s never really been done on YouTube. It seems like a wasted opportunity. When I was a child in the 80’s, mooning was a big thing. And you know how they brought out that Rick Astley thing where you’d be watching a YouTube video and suddenly his song would cut in. What was that called?

Andrew Spiers: RickRoll’D!

Elliott Tiney: Yeah, RickRoll’D! This is what we should do. Listen up. We get videos with some really interesting titles and it must have a good start so everyone’s focussed and then BAM. My arse is there.

Andrew Spiers: Is it always yours?

Elliott Tiney: It’s my arse, yeah. And what I’ve done is, I’ve pulled my bum cheeks apart a little so it’s disgusting.

Luke: We call that a brown eye in Australia.

Elliott Tiney: Oh right, we call it arsing

Andrew Spiers: So brown eyeing.

Elliott Tiney: Yeah, so that’s going to be the next Internet craze. You heard it heard first kids!

Idiots of Ants are performing their sketch type comedy at the Victoria Hotel in the Banquet Room
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/model-citizens-idiots-of-ants

St Kilda Comedy at Felix Bar

by Luke Simmons


To mark the first official day of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a near full-house
witnessed a great night of sample comedy at the Felix Bar in St Kilda. And unlike the measly samples
you get at supermarkets, everyone left this night feeling full to the brim. MC’d skillfully by Matt
Okine, the night provided punters with a taster of the other 7 comics’ shows which are happening
throughout the festival.

The balmy night got off to a great start when it became clear that the crowd didn’t need any extra
gee’ing up. Okine then slammed into his routine and had everyone in his hands throughout the
night as he brought us into his world of money (see: envy), food and… his square-looking nuts.
Great job Matt and do check out Broken Diamond House!

Greg Fleet hit the stage and killed it as per usual. As a taster for his upcoming show, Greg mostly
spoke of drugs in both the sporting and “relaxational” sense. If you ever have a beer with him, ask
him whether he’s ever been recognised for his role as the killer in Neighbours… For more of Fleet,
see: The Boy Who Cried Sober.

Dayne Rathbone (It’s Me Dayne) then came on and kind of took everyone by surprise with his
unique brand of humour. Part of his appeal and funniness comes from his (deliberate) awkward
style of storytelling. However, he closed with a rape joke which seemed to divide the room
somewhat.

Dilruk Jayasinha then hit the stage at a million miles an hour and took everyone through the trials
and tribulations of his love life. Not surprising, he has a show coming up with Adam Francis called
RomCom. No one likes to get dumped and Jayasinha took the crowd through some of the worst
case scenarios of being on the receiving end. He rocked the mic.

The super stylish Rhys Nicholson waltzed onto the stage and gave the audience a lesson in hard
partying, Sydney culture and to use social media to lift yourself out of the dumps. Nicholson thrives
on pushing the sexual envelope and has the slickness to pull it off – then some. Check out: Dawn of
a New Error.

Imagine that Shane Hunter is that Aussie mate of yours who loves telling stories of everything that’s
wrong with humans and/or Australians. Multiple his wit/delivery/timing by 100 and then you have
Shane. I think he’s worked out how the pyramids were made. Hunter is a piss-funny man you’d love
to have at your BBQ. His Festival show is called Help Me Hunter.

Juliet Myers then slammed onto the stage and made use of every second she had. Her high energy
set covered highbrow Brit culture and proves that some people do become ĂŒber jerks as soon as
they leave their shores. She’s got a massive reputation and proved it’s warranted based on her set.
See: Middle Lane Swimmer.

Damian Power skilfully closed off the night with a power set including an intellectually challenged
sportsman who finds clarity. This guy is a clever man. He then outlines why racist people have
mental deficiencies while pointing out how drugs can have positive effects on motivation levels. If you
like Bill Hicks, you’ll love this guy’s way of thinking. See: Monkeys In Space

Based on audience reaction alone, this night made everyone laugh, was very reasonably priced and
gave an ideal insight into what to expect at the comic’s full length shows. Felix Bar Comedy regularly
attracts funny men and women of the highest order for their Wednesday nights – and they did it
once again.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/st-kilda-comedy-at-felix-bar

5 Good Reasons to see Gavin Baskerville, Jordana Borensztajn and Doug (Tracey Cosgrove’s Dodgy Cousin)

5 Good Reasons to see Gavin Baskerville: Crunch Time

1. I have chips.

2. I’m from Tasmania. In the good way (apples, fresh air, Princess Mary), not the bad way (you know, I know, we all know).

3. I’m allowed to go to the whiskey bar if enough people buy tickets to my show.

4. I love whiskey.

5. Did I mention the chips?

Gavin is giving out chips and comedy at Three Degrees
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/crunch-time-gavin-baskerville

5 GOOD REASONS TO SEE Jordana Borensztajn in SOCIAL NEEDIA: THE EPIDEMIC
1. Are you a victim of Social Needia; an epidemic that’s gone viral? Want to find out? Lucky for you, I’ll be offering complementary checklists and assessments at my shows.

2. Got a short attention span? So do I… So my show isn’t straight stand up. It features multimedia elements. Plenty of distractions to keep you busy.

3. The longest stage spot I’ve ever done is 7.5 minutes and my show is 55 minutes. It’s my debut. Take the risk with me!

4. Rather than banning the use of mobile phones through my show, I’m encouraging them so don’t hide your iPhone or BlackBerry. Put it on your lap, wave it around, take pics, send tweets – whatever you want. If you use an Android though, ummm, you might want to hide that.

5. Got some Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email and other online frustrations you want to vent about? Bring them along. I promise my show will be therapeutic for you and me!

SOCIAL NEEDIA: THE EPIDEMIC will be on at LOOP Project Space & Bar
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/social-needia-the-epidemic-jordana-borensztajn

5 Good Reasons to see Doug: Hello Ladies!(Tracey Cosgrove’s Dodgy Cousin Returns)

1. I’m a poet. And I know it. Also a writer, not a fighter. See what I did there?

2. I’m sweeter than a deep fried Mars Bar and more dangerous than a three-day-old Wing Ding. That’s how the ladies like it.

3. I’m on at 8.30pm so you don’t have to miss Home & Away.

4. I’ll be signing body parts after the show. Any part – I’m not afraid of a bit of culture.

5. (I’ve found it’s always good to finish with a haiku):

Please come to my show,
I will wear my best t-shirt.
I love Chiko Rolls.

Doug will be performing at Three Degrees
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/hello-ladies-tracey-cosgrove-s-dodgy-cousin-returns-doug