Author: Colin

Jenny Tian – Jenny’s Travels

By Colin Flaherty

Jenny’s Travels follows Jenny Tian as she embarks on a rite of passage for many comedians, leaving the rather limited career opportunities of Australia behind to seek their fortunes overseas. A long held wish to visit the United States was hit with administration issues and a pandemic which eventually led to her moving to London. We travel with her via this collection of amusing stories.

The anecdotes themselves cover familiar topics of people leaving the nest that makes them immensely relatable. We hear of her very protective mother’s disapproval of her heading to such a dangerous place. A story of settling for a peculiar housemate will click with everyone who has cohabited with a weirdo.

The show sometimes drifts off on asides that have a logic to them as they often clarify the main story. Others tales are inserted just for the hell of it, such as her need to explain why she’s freezing her eggs. Similarly an extended routine about intimate encounters feels a little shoehorned into the narrative but wins over the crowd regardless with its titillating shock of such racy material coming from the mouth of this nice young woman.

Audience interaction at the top of the show asks if anyone has moved their lives overseas. This resulted in some fascinating information from a gentleman who’d moved to Australia from North Korea via South Korea on this particular night. She added some witty quips but didn’t go much deeper. This seems as if it will have the same impact if it had just been a rhetorical question. Perhaps modern audiences have been trained to expect some crowd work in every show.

Jenny is a delightful performer who keeps the audience entranced throughout. This is a solid hour of storytelling stand up that has won over many fans as the packed Saturday night show, will attest.

Jenny’s Travels is on at the Melbourne Town Hall until April 20

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/jenny-s-travels/

Kate Dolan – The Critic

By Colin Flaherty

A lot of comedians, even the most successful ones, talk about having self doubt and some form of Imposter Syndrome during their career. Kate Dolan uses this widespread affliction as the basis of her show, employing a brilliant device as a counterpoint to the cheerful performer we see on stage.

Her inner dialogue pops up at various points in the performance: a voice possessing an accent that sounds appropriately thuggish. It offers performance tips (which Kate immediately ignores), tut tuts the lukewarm response to her A-material and wonders aloud if the audience are bright enough to appreciate the jokes. It is one hell of a tough taskmaster.

The material proper covers anecdotes from her life including her dating experiences, being en guard against would-be attackers, body image, shopping for a wedding dress and getting intimate with her partner. All seemingly fun, breezy topics upon which she expertly adds considerable heft. Some weight is applied via uncomfortably amusing dark turns that keep the punters on edge. A feminist subtext appears as she regularly lands killer punchlines by laying the boot into the Patriarchy. There is silliness galore, taking concepts to their daftest conclusion. Her brilliant witty wordplay is a treat for all the word nerds.

Kate is a loud and brash personality on stage delivering her material at a brisk clip. Lots of mugging and broad gestures drive the points home. Constantly on the move around the small stage, she’s a bundle of manic energy. A few prop gags go to a lot of effort for a laugh, giving her inner demon ammunition to taunt her.

Things calm down towards the end with a beautiful monologue set to a cosmic light show. It is here that we are allowed to catch our breaths as she seriously reflects on her troubling thought processes with the occasional amusing quip thrown in for relief. A little more levity follows to end things on a happy note, wrapping up a hilariously inventive variation on the stand up form. Bravo!

The Critic is on at Bard’s Apothecary until April 19

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/the-critic/

Scout Boxall – God’s Favourite

By Peter Hodgson

Have you ever had to white-knuckle a night without your meds? Scout Boxall definitely has. Boxall’s 2025 MICF show sees them face this dreaded dilemma in what’s gotta be one of the worst times and places to have to go through a mental health crisis: the night before a LARP wedding in regional Victoria, far away from precious Seroquel and getting deeper and deeper into the sort of stuff that your mind throws at you when you’re off your meds and getting into your medieval nun outfit.

This is the setting for a theatrical confessional that ponders the LARPy charms of medieval life verses what it really might have meant to be on the spectrum in the oldentimes. It could easily have gotten real dark and stayed that way, but Boxall expertly lifts us back up at the perfect moment, often with emphasis from the most utterly perfect sound and light cues. Sometimes it’s as subtle as a background light effect gently shifting with the story. Sometimes it’s a Scout-on-Scout conversation, or an atmospheric soundscape under a monologue, or a perfectly timed audio sting on a particular word. Boxall certainly doesn’t need all this stuff in order to be funny, but it sure is a treat to see this level of production after previously enjoying shorter standup sets at local shows.

Boxall has crafted a show that is relatable, intimate and sensitive, and which had me cackle-laughing, particularly at some of the specific references (Questacon, a certain type of jellybean, an infamous Scienceworks incident). It’s an ultimately uplifting story, beautifully punctuated with amazing atmospherics.

God’s Favourite is on at The Malthouse until April 20

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/scout-boxall-god-s-favourite/

Douglas Rintoul & Max Paton – Doug & Max Do 50 Minutes of Their Worst Ideas

By Colin Flaherty

Upon entering we are teased with a list of various sketch titles on the wall titled “Doug & Max’s Best Ideas.” but this is soon torn down by the duo… That is not what we have paid to see! We are here for Doug & Max Do 50 Minutes of Their Worst Ideas.

This is sold as a “lower your expectations as we throw things at the wall to see what sticks” type of performance but despite this workshop presentation it is brilliantly written sketch comedy. Sure it’s a little rough around the edges and not all of it lands but therein lies the charm: the scrappy little sketch show that could. It’s a deliberately messy affair with the pair often breaking character to discuss the success (or lack) of the current scene and get a little meta. This self doubt adds some comedic fun but is largely unnecessary as the audience is already rolling in the aisles.

You know you’re in for a high octane performance from the outset as Max dances around the room to some bangin’ dance music as the audience files in. The random sketch conceits wedged against one another results in a rollercoaster ride of scenarios that keeps you on your toes and chortling with barely a pause. We get silly song parodies that hilariously fail to scan, strange game show segments, surreal scenes that ridiculously escalate, and some disturbing physical acts that have you simultaneously repulsed and bent over with laughter. Add some airborne foodstuff and you have fifty minutes of wonderful anarchy.

Douglas Rintoul & Max Paton work brilliantly together with both throwing themselves bodily into the wacky scenarios, unafraid to look the fool. It works particulary well when Max plays clown to Doug’s straight man though both have delightfully crazy stage personas. They have their tech person Jacinta working overtime with an extensive foley and wacky effects to soundtrack the boys’ mimed sketches. It is through this soundboard that she becomes the third member of the cast, insulting the guys with a cartoonish cuss or deliberately messing with their cues.

With such a limited run, you should ensure you spend a Monday evening with this hilarious duo. You will not be disappointed.

Doug & Max Do 50 Minutes of Their Worst Ideas is on every Monday at The Motley Bauhaus until April 14

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/doug-max-do-50-minutes-of-their-worst-ideas/

Dom McCusker – Be Gae Do Crime

By Lisa Clark

If you’ve ever dreamed of running away to sea ala The Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet of Our Flag Means Death, or Elizabeth Swann of Pirates of the Caribbean, Dom McCusker is proof that you can find a jolly life working on the sea, while also keeping people laughing and singing.

Dom is a very different kind of Musical comedian. She found her way to the sea via singing sea shanties which led to working as a comedy sailor on tourist boats to party boat tours and working on the tall wooden ships such as replicas of historical ships like The Endeavor. Dom has hosted teenagers in need, Grand Prix fans celebrating a car race on a boat and the ubiquitous “booze cruise” drunken work parties. In between singing very silly sea shanties with us Dom has many amusing tales and anecdotes to regale us with. Dom has an interesting background and has seen some things!

She tells us sailor’s secrets like flag lore and their own sailing language, very important when the crew you board with is always different, from all walks of life with varied skills and experience. Luckily they have shared language and of course a passion for sailing. They bond working together under diversity,  the shared love of sailing, hard work, and seasickness, then before you know it, you have found a new family.

Be Gae Do Crime is a delightfully jaunty show that’s about 60% original funny sea shanties written by Dom and the audience is encouraged to join in, but it is very voluntary. If you don’t want to sing, you can clap or tap a foot, or not. It is hard to resist though, as they are utterly delightful. My only advice to Dom is that she needs a bigger flip chart or screen to present the singalong lyrics. The lyrics can be more complex than you expect and they are hand written in cursive on a small sheet of paper – hardly visible from the second row, let alone the back of the room. Still, the audience only joins in on the chorus and you can gradually pick it up.

Dom performs shanties and comedy for her day job on boats and she was a 2024 Victorian RAW State Finalist, so although this is her festival debut, she is confident, charming and entertaining, keeping audiences laughing both at sea and on shore

Dom McCusker performs Be Gae Do Crime at Storyville until April 6

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/be-gae-do-crime/

 

Charlie Lewin – Frogaccini

By Bella Jones

Charlie Lewin’s Frogaccini is unlike anything else at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Part traditional stand up and part cabaret Lewin effortlessly balances stories of millennial nostalgia and missed dessert with the highly engaging musical plot of a gay frog who lives in the Vatican.

Lewin is a writer and producer for Channel 10’s The Project and co-hosts queer pop culture podcast POPGAYS but it would be hard to argue that onstage isn’t where he belongs. Lewin is not only an incredibly talented singer, but also a master of timing and stage presence.

Melbourne’s StoryVille serves as the perfect venue with its whimsical theme only helping to draw the crowd into what is both an extremely well performed and also surprisingly emotional tale of a gay frog who dreams of something more. The duel storyline makes sure that the performance never lags and the audience is engaged the whole time. All of this builds to a finish that has the whole crowd singing and leaving the show on an absolute high. Frogaccini is a must-see for anyone who enjoys good writing, Chappell Roan or has had the experience of their idols being embarrassing.

Frogaccini is on at Storyville until April 6

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/frogaccini/