Tag: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Tony Martin – The Yeti

By Lisa Clark 

It’s a simple concept, a comedic author performs a chapter of his first autobiographical book on stage in a small room. Except this is Comedy legend Tony Martin of The Late Show and Get This. Shows worshiped by their cult fans who still maintain tribute websites such as ChampagneComedy.com, a Get This Tumbr and Capril. He’s also the author of some beautifully written, evocative and laugh out loud funny books of autobiographical stories. Tony doesn’t perform often and when he does his fans, including many in the comedy industry, flock because they know he’s going to serve up a diligently crafted, solid show chockers full of laughs, and he did.

The last time Tony Martin performed in Melbourne was only a month ago at the pop-up boutique of comedy nights in Melbourne called The Shelf. He treated us to a hilarious slide night, making funny commentary about photos he took while following Ross Noble around the UK filming his new, upcoming TV show Freewheeling. Tony worked as a writer for the show and it’s a testament to his talent that Ross flew him over. The Yeti was quite a different performance. While his night at The Shelf was fairly relaxed and slightly improvised, allowing for silly comments by The Shelf team, who were also on stage, this was very formal with no banter, no explanation and no introduction.

The cold opening is very dramatic and works beautifully for this monologue, which not unlike Tony himself is trim, sleek and well groomed. It forces the audience to focus from the start and the laughs are quick and constant. He has memorised the entire chapter word for word and gives us the text from the book and nothing more. Apart from something special at the end, the big bonus for a live audience is Tony bringing all the characters to life on stage and of course his rendition of the ridiculous silly voice of his eccentric Swiss/German/New Zealand landlord Gunter. A character that made the chapter so memorable in Lollyscramble because you have to read large chunks of it out loud to work out what the hell he is saying. He’s written Gunter’s speech out phonetically on the page and this show is worth coming to just to hear Tony doing Gunter’s mindboggling thick accented outbursts.

It is the 50th anniversary of Dr Who in 2013 and this would have to be one of the subtlest tributes. The title of Tony’s show is referring to a very obscure Dr. Who monster from the black & white Patrick Troughton era in the 1960s where most episodes have been destroyed. I’ve only recently seen a friend’s recorded copy of ‘Web of Fear’ with Yeti’s for the first time and they are big, lumbering fluffy and cute looking robots, but I’m sure terrifying to a young child. Tony reveals their significance during his show which is actually made up of an accumulation of smaller tales about a shared house he lived in, in Auckland and the fascinating people who lived there.

It’s a joy to watch a performer who has complete confidence in his meticulously constructed prose. He’s also an excellent comedic character actor with years of experience in sketch comedy on TV and on radio. I was in tears of laughter throughout the show and could not recommend it more highly. This is one of those ‘Not to be Missed’ comedy events in Melbourne. Shows have sold fast and extra performances have been added. See it if you can.

Tony Martin is performing at The Butterfly Club. The season is sold out but extra performances have been added.
BUTTERFLY CLUB (TUESDAY 24 SEPT) AND FRINGE HUB – MAIN THEATRE, LITHUANIAN CLUB (THURSDAY 26 + SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER)

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/tony-martin-the-yeti/

5 Good Reasons to see 10:45pm World Record Show.

THE 5 STUPIDEST WORLD RECORDS WE’LL ATTEMPT:

1. DARING STUNTS:
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall and Pat Burtscher will compete to see who can snorkel in a fish tank the longest, whilst completing puzzle challenges.

2. SEX APPEAL:
Greg Larsen will try and set the record for the ‘fastest time to get an erection and play Baker Street on saxophone.’

3. YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY:
We’re going to break records with the audience:
– Most people eating a single Le Snak biscuit.
– Most people pretending to fate at once.
– Most people saying ‘Beat Cancer’ in Chinese (all real records).

4. TRUE LOVE:
We’re going to lock comedian and local lover Jonathan Schuster in a sound proof booth with a stranger for an hour and get to them to complete a series of scientific experiments to see if we can break the record for ‘Fastest time for Jonathan Schuster to fall in love.’

5. REAL RISKS:
Hosts Adam Knox and Dave Warneke will compete to break ‘The world’s most terrifying message left on their own mother’s voice mail…’

(We’re also going to try a bunch of real records including the LONGEST EVER VARIETY SHOW on Saturday October 5th from 10am at Tuxedo Cat).

The most chaotic and unpredictable comedy show of the Fringe is on at Tuxedo Cat on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:45pm from September 20 – October 5.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/10-45pm-world-record-show/

5 Good Reasons to see Wizard Sandwiches – The Last Lunch

5 Good Reasons to see Wizard Sandwiches brand new show The Last Lunch

1) We’ll return all the conclusions we tore out of the books you love to read.

2) We’ll be revealing the secret ingredient (it’s eggplant) of our special Moroccan dip.

3) It’s on a tram line and starts at 10.30pm – plenty of time to do other uninteresting things before hand.

4) It is endorsed by the guy from Silver K Gallery:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=35u7qM4CVMs&feature

5) It’s a silly show with all new sketches and never before seen materiLOL

With their varying degrees of facial hair, these five diversely talented comedians are definitely the ones to watch.

Wizard Sandwiches  The Last Lunch is on at  Meeting Room, at the North Melbourne Town Hall from 20 – 27 September.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/wizard-sandwiches-the-last-lunch/

 

 

5 Good reasons to see The Improv Conspiracy present A Night In Chicago

The Improv Conspiracy is the only improvised comedy group in Melbourne focused on “Chicago-style” improvisation, which is big in the States and has only recently found its way to Australia.

This Fringe season The Improv Conspiracy presents A Night In Chicago, which mixes honest storytelling with improvised sketch comedy.

Here are 5 Good reasons you should spend A Night in Chicago sometime during the next few weeks:

1. Nobody else in Melbourne is doing improv shows like this. Based on personal questions from the audience (e.g. “What was it like to lose your virginity?” or “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?”), the night’s storyteller will tell awkward stories from their life, inspiring the cast of improvisers to create comedic sketches on the spot. The storyteller’s deepest, darkest secrets get spun into comedy gold. Pleasure for you, pain for them!

2. We know what it’s like to spend a night in Chicago. Quite a few of us have actually trained extensively at improv schools in Chicago, and spent many nights there in the process. We’re talking about places like the iO Theatre, which is where Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Amy Poehler and heaps of other funny people got their start.

3. Every show is completely different. Each show will have a different cast and storyteller. This ensures that every night you will be treated to new story and sketches, from a unique blend of talent. Skip the rest of the Fringe and see our show 12 times!

4. People like us! YAWP said “Trying to pick a favourite performer or scene from the night is impossible… professional, accomplished comics with excellent acting skills.”, while Inpress got very confused by one of our impossible staircase scenes and said “Watching these guys improvise is like watching an Escher drawing.”

5. If you like the show, we’ll teach you how to do it! The Improv Conspiracy has trained all of the performers in the show, and we’re constantly running new workshops to get people involved. We perform year-round, so you could potentially be up on stage within a few months. Comedy Festival, anyone?

The Improv Conspiracy present A Night In Chicago plays at The Croft Institute, Wednesday to Saturday  Sept 18 – Oct 5.

Website: http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/the-improv-conspiracy/

Details about the group can be found at http://www.improvconspiracy.com

5 Good Reasons to see Twice Shy by Joel Checkley and Shannon Woodford

5 Good Reasons to see Twice Shy goes something like this.

1. Twice Shy thinks that love is fantastic, and sometimes hilarious. It’s easy to forget this, so we made a comedy show to remind you.

2. We promise to make you smile at least twice. Bad pun intended.

3. Shannon expertly portrays a mentally challenged goldfish, a little too well perhaps.

4. We are both pretty nice, and would probably let you buy us a beer after the show.

5. Because Melbourne Fringe Festival is awesome, so by default…

You might want to see Joel Checkley and Shannon Woodford being Twice Shy at Loop Bar (only 6 performances)
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/twice-shy/#

5 Good Reasons to see Dylan Cole in Safety First

Here are my 5 Good Reasons to see Safety First

1. It makes fun of the mediocre training instructors, seminars & courses seen frequently in everybody’s working life.

2. There is a tea break in the middle of the show – with Arnott’s Assorted Creams – that’s right, creams, not the cheap stuff.

3. You might learn something that could save your life.

4. Try and pick up all the subtle film references – 10 points & chocolate if you can name them all

5. You get a kick-arse certificate at the end, which is sure to impress any potential employee/suitor.

 

Sounds like a great show to take your office colleagues to, and you get a bickie!

Dylan Cole will be performing Safety First at The Tuxedo Cat – The Puffer Fish B at 7pm.

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/safety-first/