Colin – Page 3 – Squirrel Comedy

Lehmo – I Have To Tell You About A Thing I Did

By Nick Bugeja

Anthony Lehmann’s (‘Lehmo’) latest show, I Have To Tell You About A Thing I Did, is a fast paced hour of storytelling, jokes and crowd work. Known for his part on Utopia, work on the panel AFL comedy show Before the Game and radio, Lehmo doesn’t lean on his fame to garner easy laughs. Instead, his show is made up of personal stories, observations and well-crafted jokes and throwbacks, demonstrating his skill as a stand-up comic among other talents.

The show is framed around Lehmo’s recent visit to Papua New Guinea to conquer the Kokoda Trail, an expedition ripe for misadventure and humour. Lehmo recalls a fellow trekker whose preparation consisted of ice skating, the guide climbing the trail in adidas slides and his disconnection from technology (including his wife who couldn’t reach him).

Much of the show explores domestic life, and the tension and conflicts which arise with his wife and son. This is familiar territory for Lehmo and unsurprisingly, this section is a real highlight, delivering the biggest laughs of the show. Lehmo’s run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is short, but certainly one worth fitting into your schedule. He’s a professional at ease on stage, and I Have To Tell You About A Thing I Did is a consistently funny and entertaining show.

I Have To Tell You About A Thing I Did is on at Beer Deluxe until March 31

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/lehmo-show/

Bunker – Jett Bond

By Colin Flaherty

Downstairs at Bard’s Apothecary is an appropriate venue for a show about a Bunker. A basement with bare brick walls is where we are to wait out the end times. Seats are strewn almost randomly throughout the space with boxes of miscellaneous items, setting the scene for this hastily thrown together refuge.

Our equally dishevelled host of sorts, Jett, wanders around the space, stumbling over empty chairs and asking questions to this disparate group of people so we can plan how to cohabitate. As it’s a small room, it’s likely they will speak with everyone but there is no pressure to play. There is plenty of chat about how we spent our time in the “before times” leading to plenty of amusing lines about pop culture.

This is one of those shows where audience interaction decides whether it’s a brilliant performance or merely a good one. In a rambling conversational manner (it is the Apocalypse, not many people are in a rational state of mind!) Jett probes for material to spark some witty lines and progress the story forward. Sometimes we’ll hit pay-dirt encountering some eccentric characters in the crowd and veer off into hilarious tangents. When these responses lead to animated discussion between audience members it makes for an entertaining communal experience.

It appears that our interaction has the ability to guide the performance to some extent but there are scripted moments to keep the show on a redetermined path. Some wonderful prop gags delight and a moment of dramatic tension brings the collective together as a team. The conclusion feels a little lacklustre but it is somewhat appropriate for this absurd high stakes situation that is tackled with minimal urgency.

This immersive piece will keep a smile plastered to your face. Even if you are part of an audience of timid folk who don’t offer up the seeds of comedy gold, Jett Bond is a fun and engaging performer with which to spend an hour.

Bunker is on at Bard’s Apothecary until April 5

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

MICF shows we’ve already seen and recommendations.

As the Melbourne Internation Comedy Festival approaches and you are considering what shows to pop on your spreadsheet this year, we have some recomendations and shows we’ve previously reviewed to help you make your decisions. Some shows, for example those at The Butterfly Club begin as early as Tuesday 25th of March, the festival ends on Sunday April 20th. There are many shows that don’t start til a bit later, the 7th or 15th of April, and some are having very short runs, so keep an eye out.

First I will recommend some artists that have piqued my interest for various reasons. There are MANY brilliant shows and I will discover more interesting things as we go along, but these will do for now, or we’ll be here all day!

Recommendations:

One of the most charming monthly podcasts to emerge in the past couple of years is From The Hideout with three generations of Australian showbiz hanging out and making us and each other laugh. Pete Smith (85), famous for his voice over work on Channel 9 has many nostalgic stories to tell about working with Don Lane, Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton and co from the beginning of television in the 1960s and radio work. Tony Martin (60), ex Aotearoan/New Zealander famous from The Late Show in the early 1990s and his groundbreaking radio work on Martin Malloy and Get This. And finally Djovan Caro (35), more famous as Luis from the award winning Lessons with Luis and shows on Channel 31 including Famous with Luis, Catcam and Fishcam in the 2010s (these can all be found on Youtube featuring a cavalcade of other Australian comedians). Anyway these three friends are bringing their delightful podcast From The Hideout – Live! to the civilised time of 3pm on Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend of the comedy festival. I’ll be at both!

My Favourite show from last year was Flo & Joan’s One Man Musical (starring George Fouracres as a very famous writer of Westend musicals). We cannot name the subject of this musical, but if you have seen musicals about cats and things and maybe not loved them, this is the show for you. It is a pretty vicious and hilarious satire on the delicate genius. It’s a masterpiece, don’t miss it.

Elf Lyons Horses was another show we gave 5 nuts to. Performed by a “horse”, it’s won many awards such as Best Show and Spirit of the Fringe at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024 and Best Comedy Award at Adelaide Fringe 2024 and has received many rave reviews. I am looking forward to finally seeing this.

Free from his radio responsibilities Sammy J is ready to get back to his first love of performing live. In The Kangaroo Effect Sammy J will have a big story to tell, no doubt, which begins with accidentally wearing a costume to a party that wasn’t a costume party. Sammy J is a born showman who knows how to put on a stunning show. There’ll be new songs and lots of laughs. He also has a new album of old songs to look out for.

Go see Guy Montgomery, one of the best of the new wave of Aoteoroan/New Zealand comedians, who has certainly got the funniest show on Australian TV last year (I was in tears every week) Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee It’s a massive venue and slightly different to the TV version, but you will have a ball. Go see his solo stand up too, I’ve Noticed So Many Things, It’d Be Unfair To Keep Them To Myself. He’s very funny.

Rhys Darby, one of the original wave of Aotearoan/New Zealand comedians to break through at the beginning of this century (Most notably as Murray in the radio and TV series Flight of the Conchords), has returned to Australia with a new live show The Legend Returns after eight years of concentrating on TV and film work, Such as the Jumanji films, the sublime Uproar (my fave film of 2023) and as Gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet,(who’s love interest is Blackbeard) in the hilarious and heart achingly romantic queer pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death. Rhys’s standup comedy style is storytelling involving a lot of physical comedy and impressions of things such as robots. This year, the famously cheerful and non political comedian, is tackling the very real threat of robots to humanity head on.

El Salvedorian/American Julio Torres is an absurdist comedian, who writes for Saturday Night Live and also created the HBO series Fantasmas. He is bringing both his solo show Color Theories and a special one-off viewing of his movie Problemista staring Tilda Swinton, Greta Lee and the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA

Previously reviewed shows:

We recommend All of them!

Elf Lyons – Horses

Here’s Ron’s Review from Edinburgh Fringe 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/elf-lyons-horses/

Flo & Joan starring George Fouracres – One Man Musical

Here’s Lisa’s review from Edinburgh Fringe 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/one-man-musical/

Jake & Liv – We Forgive You, Patina Pataznik

Here’s Colin’s review from Edinburgh Fringe 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/we-forgive-you-patina-pataznik/

Julian O’Shea – M is for Melbourne: The World’s Mostly* Liveable City

Here’s Colin’s review from MICF 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/m-is-for-melbourne-the-world-s-mostly-liveable-city/

Olga Koch Comes From Money

Here’s Ron’s review from Edinburgh Fringe 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/olga-koch-comes-from-money/

The Late Nite PowerPoint Comedy Showcase

Here’s Colin’s review from Edinburgh Fringe 2024

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/the-late-nite-powerpoint-comedy-showcase/

Nina Rose Carlin: Seeking Representation

By Ron Bingham

Nina Rose Carlin performs a – not autobiographical at all☺- one woman play, about a New York girl who flies to Hollywood to realise her dreams of stardom and fame. In doing so we get to enjoy a wide showcase of her many talents.

Seeking Representation is a jaunty Cabaret which includes amusing songs, kooky impressions, a little audience participation, a lot of jokes and some sage advice for any other young girls with stars in their eyes. It’s all pretty much solid cabaret fare. Then she surprises with an audacious shock ending that is somewhat jarring after the preceding lightness, but also astute in it’s topicality about the looming AI avalanche affecting the Arts industry. I’m not sure if she completely carried it off, but I give her credit for a big bold fringey move!

A very enjoyable show, with a good story, told well by a charming performer, and a bit of scifi to keep us on our toes. Nina is a talented singer and actor, with excellent stagecraft. This is a great way to start the day of Fringe. it will definitely wake you up and get you thinking.

Seeking Representation is on at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall until August 24

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/nina-rose-carlin-seeking-representation

Danny Clives: Danny Explains It All

By Ron Bingham

Danny is from Dudley and has been doing stand-up for about ten years. He is a very deadpan comic with very few jokes. Everything is designed to fail. I can see his routine working in a ten minute slot, but it’s almost impossible to sustain that lack of tension and release for a full hour. I admit I had trouble focusing on his show, but I had just seen three high energy shows in a row so this slower pace is jarring.

Danny told some stories of his life, including living with his mum and breaking up with his girlfriend, and a few jokes with feeble punchlines and a couple of poems. It didn’t move me, but some of the audience seemed to enjoy it.

Danny Explains It All is on at Pleasance Courtyard until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/danny-clives-danny-explains-it-all

Takashi Wakasugi: Welcome to Japan

By Ron Bingham

Takashi is a Japanese comedian who has relocated to Australia which he loves, but is finding the language and cultural differences somewhat complicated. He is a quirky comedian, with a genuinely unique style that is both bossy and cheeky. It can take the audience a while to get into his rhythm, but once he gets going he wins us over with his charm and skill as a comedian.

Welcome to Japan sees Takashi pondering about some of the idiosyncrasies of the English language (I’ve always wondered why it isn’t teethbrush, too) and the general oddness of Westerners. As a comedian, it’s not surprising that he would find laughs in the tools he needs for his craft and his discovering western culture overall. He does also talk about some of the quirks of the Japanese people both in and out of their homeland, so it’s not all one way.

There is sometimes a vibe of Takashi being a school teacher or hard Taskmaster, he gets a little upset when we don’t respond quickly enough to his audience participation, but the ethical dilemmas he poses often need a little more time – CAN you justify buying the cage eggs if the free range ones are sold out? What do you do with pizza the next day, and how does it relate to your social status? The hard stuff. His slideshow is a highlight that has the audience in fits, but mostly it is just Takashi giving us some good jokes and asking us complex questions.

The room was full of well-entertained people on the night I was there. Takashi was a pleasant and genial host who kept us laughing for the full hour with his stories of encounters with the world outside Japan, and this was a fun show that may have you thinking the next day about the words you use.

Welcome to Japan is on at Assembly George Square Studios until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/takashi-wakasugi-welcome-to-japan