Wil Andersonâs been around comedy for a while. Almost 20 years in fact. Heâs won countless awards, constantly sells out runs and heâs been beamed into millions of homes on the telly every week. âMy shoes are older than youâ he tells one of his younger fans just after taking to the stage. With so much experience and success, one wonders if he really needs this review to be written. I mean, if positive reviews get bums in seats, this may just help contribute to another sell out run, creating far too many bums for seats.
Never the less, he gave me reviewer tickets, so iâd best review it.
After a rockstar welcome and some quick audience banter, Wil starts the show with a brilliantly told tale of his first ever New York gig, a lifelong ambition. âI love telling this storyâ he proclaims, and leaves no doubt, telling it with truckloads of his trademark enthusiasm and confidence. He notes how he loves to show off at dinner parties with the story, adding a lot of âsugarâ, and iâm sure we got more than a few spoonful as well; itâs just makes Wilâs comedy so much sweeter. The story has a great twist that i wonât give away, but itâs a genius stroke, and a testament to Wilâs finely tuned comic timing and the effort he puts into his structuring. With this tale, he has the audience transfixed and eating out of his hands.
His first yarn sets up themes of chance taking, life experience and growing older. Theyâre loose themes that leave room to move, and they tie up the show nicely towards the end with some help from some Eminem lyrics. He goes on to talk about moving to America, including a great rant about their racist âOutbackâ restaurants, some embarrassing issues with his âdodgy hipsâ and another great yarn about a gig in Alaska. Thereâs a little bit of political stuff too, which in the past is where Wil thrives with his hilarious point driven, angry rants, but in Wiluminati it takes a bit of a back seat, his storytelling the beneficiary.
Iâm not sure if itâs the countless hours of experience on stage, or just his life experience and âadventure seekingâ that makes Wilâs storytelling so fixating. I suspect itâs a combination of the two. Whatever it is, itâs only getting better with age. Entertaining tales and big punchlines with a point, you canât ask for anything else really. Wil As good as Aussie stand-up gets.
Wiluminati is on at The Comedy Theatre until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/wiluminati-wil-anderson