We're Nuts About Australian Comedy
1) Learn about the history of winemaking and Champagne.
2) Alcohol has a big role in Australia so find how it works.
3) Uncover some mysteries and misunderstandings.
4) Get a discount for groups of five or more, or when buying numerous festival shows.
5) Have fun even if youāre flying solo as youāll learn and laugh.
Luke Morris performsĀ The Wine Science Show at Pilgrim Bar March 28 – April 7
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/the-wine-science-show
1. Itās the FIRST solo sketch comedy show from a guy who knows sketch comedy.
Debut shows are tricky propositions, eh? You want to support new artists, sure, but damned if you want to see a crap show. Daveās done a bunch of sketch comedy show stuff previously with The Sexy Detectives and they got good reviews, so you can see Sketch Me Like One of Your French Girls knowing that if you hate it itās only because thatās just, like, your opinion, man. This very website what youāre reading right now called The Sexy Detectives, āexperimental and non-standard, utterly entertaining, and just really stupidly funnyā, which is pretty much 95% compliments.
What weāre trying to say is, Daveās relatively certain he knows which end of the sketch comedy stick makes the funnies go bang.
2. Each show will see a SECOND Comedy Fest artist appearing in a special guest spot.
Itās a short and super sneaky appearance from a different comedian each night, all in the aid of Maximum Comedy. Your show could have an award-nominated (or -winning!) comedian, or it could have an artist too-damn-cool for those awards but that the other performers all know is great. Hope you donāt turn up on the night Dave organised that one terrible comedian to turn up.
3. Sketch Me features not one, not two, but THREE jokes about famous visual artists.
Yeah, we know what you like.
This is just how Dave rolls. Heās always tossing out art history bon mots over a bottle of ā59 Grange with chums.
Real talk: Sketch Me Like One of Your French Girls is your one stop shop for gags about famed Dutch painter and primary colour enthusiast Piet Mondrian. If fact, this is really bloody likely to be the only show in this yearās Melbourne International Comedy Festival with Mondrian-related material, because all those other shows JUST ARENāT GAME ENOUGH for geometric shape-based comedy.
If Mondrianās not your guy, we feel. Thatās when the expertly-timed Jackson Pollock Blue Poles joke T-bones you, like a sucker punch to the funny bone. Itās about time someone took that Pollock joker down a peg after what he did to the socialist realism movement, amiright?
The third joke is a cheap swipe at Ken Done.
4. You can try before you buy (but please, definitely do buy) by checking out the FOUR video sketches promoting Sketch Me.
Sketch comedy! It comes in both live and not-live formats. To enjoy a little bit of the latter before you check out the former with Sketch Me, head over to the David Massingham Comedy page on Facebook to get a look-see at some great online content. Sure, thereās only one sketch up at time of writing, but the other three canāt be far off. Impress all your friends by predicting that theyāll be uploaded in week-and-a-half to two week increments.
5. Weāve made a mistake and thereās nothing in this show related to the number FIVE.
Sorry, this top five list has let you down most terribly. We only hope this doesnāt reflect poorly on Sketch Me Like One of Your French Girls, which is a very good show indeed and contains much less material about 20th century art than this write-up would suggest.
Sketch Me Like One of Your French Girls is on at Tasma Terrace March 28 – April 8
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/sketch-me-like-one-of-your-french-girls
1. Do you have a burning question that you’ve been to afraid to ask your friends? Do you have a burning desire to discuss fisting? Are you experiencing burning sensations when you pee? You can text us live during the show and ask us questions anonymously that we will answer live (If it burns when you pee then the answer will be: See a doctor!)
2. We play original, live music with two part vocal harmonies, electric guitar and electric ukulele
3. The show is inclusive, sex-positive, feminist, and joyously celebrates sex in all it’s consensual forms.
4. It’s funny. Like, really funny. Like a reviewer said “the most hilarious show I’ve seen at Fringe” – Out in Perth. I mean, it’s a comedy festival, so… it probably should be funny… which it is… yeah…
5. ELECTRIC UKULELE
Colin and Alia are Pickup and they perform #pickup at Tasma Terrace March 27 – April 8
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/pickup
1. It’s at the perfectly reasonable time of 7pm. So you can get dinner before or afterwards and once the show is over there’s still plenty of time left in the evening to catch other acts during the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
2. This show refers to Sandra Sully TWICE (one time is obvious – the other is an Easter egg).
3. It’s full of 80’s bangers that’ll fill you with joy and adrenaline.
4. How To Be Sexy is a cathartic ‘fuck you’ to beauty standards set by the patriarchy.
5. The bar in the foyer is also a fantastic cocktail bar so you can have a lil cocktail while you have a lil giggle.
How To Be Sexy byĀ Jordan BarrĀ is on at The Butterfly Club April 6 – 15
1. We’re pretty sure Letās Get Practical! Live is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s most anticipated talk show.
2. Its hosted by Mr Practical himself, the charismatic Elliott Gee. He’s got the hair, the smile, that killer tan. Heās wearing a fresh new suit and heās bursting at the seams with one award, and another two nominations under his belt. Heās back!
3. The show will be performed Live. Yes, it’s completely LIVE. LIVE from the Tower Theatre in one of Melbourneās top venues, the Coopers Malthouse!
4. Itās at the sexy time of 9.30pm. It’s late, but not too late. It’s perfect. You’ll make it to the gym, be able to cook a six course dinner, and still have time to gaze into your lovers eyes. Then jump on a tram or a train and take the scenic route to the Coopers Malthouse, grab a drink, and then itās non-stop entertainment all night long with the biggest names around. What a night!
5. If youāve ever had anxiety. See it.
The Very Good Looking Initiative perform Let’s Get Practical! Live at The Coopers Malthouse
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/let-s-get-practical-live
1. If you like super silly nonsense mixed with a crumbling psyche, and lots of real emotion, this is the show for you!
2. For part of the show, Iām a velociraptor, and velociraptors are cool, so that means Iām cool, OK MUM?! GET OFF MY BACK! JEEZE.
3. Itās directed by the INCREDIBLE Wes Snelling, who normally directs shows like Judith Lucy and Denise Scottās show at The Arts Center, but due to a gypsy curse, has been tricked into directing this one.
4. If you donāt, theyāll win.
5. I did a dodgy deal with a gypsy and now I owe her a LOT of money. I offered her my soul, but she laughed for an uncomfortably long amount of time, before staring at me stony faced and simply saying āmoneyā.
Andy Balloch performs My Comedy Festival Show at The Croft Institute, March 28 – April 9
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/my-comedy-festival-show
