Squirrels Top 5 Picks of the Festival

Well the 2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival is winding down this weekend.

We no longer hand out awards, because it is just too difficult for us to see everything, or even see the same shows as each other. Instead most of the Squirrels have picked their Top 5 shows. If they are still running we recommend that you might like to see some of them this weekend. It was really hard to narrow it down to only five.

Of course the festival isn’t over yet and we may see something that changes our list but we wanted to put this up before the festival was over so you could gain from our recommendations.

You’ll notice a few of the names crop up more than once. Some sold out shows are putting on extra performances in the final weekend like the play Choir Girl that had finished its run of three performances, but has added one on Sunday afternoon.

Check out the Melbourne International Comedy Festival website for details and keep festivalling ’til you drop!!

Lisa Clark 

Hannah Gadsby – Happiness is a Bedside Table

Dave Bloustien – The Grand Gignol

The Writers

Luke McGregor – My Soulmate is Out of My League

Sammy J – Potentially

 

Caitlin Crowley

Luke McGregor – My Soulmate is Out of My League

Hannah Gadsby – Happiness is a Bedside Table

Michael Workman – Ave Loretta

Best Comics Worst Gigs

Dave O’Neil – 33 Things I Should Have Said No To

 

 

Cathy Culliver 

Dayne Rathbone – It’s Me Dayne

Luke McGregor – My Soulmate is Out of My League

Simon Keck – Nob Happy Sock

Dr Professor Neal Portenza

Ryan Coffey – Late & Loud

 

Colin Flaherty 

Fabian Lapham & The Actual Musicans:God Fights the Dinosaurs & 9 Other Stories That Will Awesome You in the Face.

Simon Keck – Nob Happy Sock

Set List

Choir Girl – Sarah Collins

David Quirk – Shaking Hands with danger

 

Elyce Phillips 

Lessons with Luis – Famoucity!

Lords of Luxury

Sam Simmons – Shitty Trivia

Lawrence Leung’s Part-time Detective Agency

Mike Birbiglia – My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend

 

Luke Simmons 

Khaled Khalafalla – Devious

Brendon Walsh

Bev Killick – Goes “There”…Again

Daniel Connell – Mr Personality 1988

Trevor Noah – The Racist

 

2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival finishes on Sunday 21st of April

MICF Award Nominees Announced

There are seven Nomineed shows for The Barry Award this year.

Hannah Gadsby who is doing two shows – her personal show about surviving her teen years and becoming an adult – Happiness is a Bedside Table and her art show which this year is called Nakedly Nudes and is becoming a bit of a tradition and sells out pretty quickly.

John Conway – The New John Conway Tonight Show. An anarchic crazy late night chat show.

Kitty Flanagan, for Hello Kitty Flanagan. A stunning performer who came back to Australia from the UK a couple of years ago for which are all immensely grateful.

Max & Ivan Are Con Artists –  British performers who’ve been getting some good reviews. (I’ve clearly not seen them)

Michael Workman with another magical lyrical story Ave Lorretta.

Rich Hall he’s so fabulous his show doesn’t need a name. He kicked ass at Political Asylum’s Late Night Riot too.

Trevor Noah The Racist. He’s South African and have heard fabulous things about him.

 

Now for this year’s Nominees for The Golden Gibbo! (Named in honour of the late Melbourne comedian Lynda Gibson it is awarded to “a local, independent show that bucks trends and pursues the artist’s idea more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure”.)

Kate McLennan & Wes Snelling for their Moosehead awarded, site specific work Standard Double. A character  based show set in a hotel room that can only hold a small audience.

Simon Keck – Nob Happy Sock – For his moving and amazing show about depression with the most heart stopping opening of the festival

Slutmonster and Friends (Jessie Ngaio, Lucas Heil & Wes Gardner) – a gorgeously designed, joyful celebration of sex, silliness and puppets.

Tommy Bradson – Sweet Sixteen or the Birthday Party Massacre. Rock Musical satire of suburbia.

The Writers (Bob Franklin, Stephen Curry and Stephen Stagg) – What goes on in the mind of Bob Franklin?

 

The Best Newcomer nominees were announced on Tuesday April 16th they are….

Damien Power – Monkey’s in Space

Dayne Rathbone – It’s Me Dayne and The New Conway Tonight Show.

Luke McGregor – My Soulmate is Out of My League

and Steen Raskopoulos – Bruce SpringSTEEN LIVE IN CONCERT!


Congrats to all the 2013 Nominees, Winners will be announced next Saturday April 20th (well… actually early Sunday morning)  at the Comedy Festival Club Hifi Bar

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 ĂĽber 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