MICF 2014 – Page 18 – Squirrel Comedy

5 Good Reasons to see The Robot That Kept Killing Me & Other Stories That Will Make Your Mind Shit It’s Pants

5. Ain’t nothin’ else like it in the entire festival. This show is like a Voltron made of sketch-comedy, one-liners, musical comedy, character-driven comedy, and nerdy references like “Voltron”.

4. This year the Comedy Festival has a whole #NoDadJokes policy going on. Meanwhile, my show has a rock-opera about the freakin’ King of the Dads. Ya wanna pay to see some censored art, or ya wanna hang over here with us? The rebels. The Banksies. The cool kids who are singing rock songs about Dads.

3. I’m not too proud to mention how Squirrel Comedy really seemed to like our show last year (https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=3991). Or rather, I’m just proud enough to mention that, ‘cause I though the review was lovely and it went to my head. T’was even listed it in one of their Top 5 shows for the entire festival. So, gentle reader, unless you have a working time machine, the smart money is on our new show! Hell, even with a working machine, the smart money is on our new show because messing with the space-time continuum can only end in tears.

2. This production has got some pretty grand storytelling (and not about real life bullshit, but about robots and gods and stuff)! I’m pretty good at story structure. Example; these “5 Good Reasons” lists normally go from 1 – 5; but this one is 5 -1, because I’m a master of suspenseful countdowns. Now, if that’s the kind of mind-blowing innovativeness I can do with a short list, imagine what I can do live with a band and an audience…

1. In all honesty, I don’t think I’ll be on this earth for very much longer… but it would fill my heart with joy if everyone were to come and see this show before I became an astronaut. Oh, also, it would be nice to pay the band.

The Robot That Kept Killing Me & Other Stories That Will Make Your Mind Shit Its Pants is on at Northcote Town Hall
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/the-robot-that-kept-killing-me-other-stories-that-will-make-your-mind-shit-its-pants-fabian-lapham-the-actual-musicians

Aardvark Mark: After Dark

By Colin Flaherty

Jono Cowan, Oliver Morris & Tom Bainbridge. Three young guys who have joined forces to present a sketch show with a twist; sketches without borders. This blurring of the boundaries between one scene and the next was interesting and saved us from staring at an empty stage, but didn’t really serve the show in a comedic sense.

The vast majority of the sketches lacked a punchline. Before anyone brings up the “Monty Python didn’t do punchlines” argument, I will counter with the fact that these guys certainly don’t have the writing chops to get away with that kind of subversion. Any laughs came from them dicking about and mugging rather than any clearly structured jokes. Their modus operandi was to drive variations of an idea into the ground but this often had diminishing returns when the sketches overstayed their welcome.

In the handful of sketches that did have clear punchlines, they followed with some waffling banter, usually as a means of linking to the next sketch. This led to quiet spots where the belly laughs would have normally been; good if you’re a performer concerned with setting up the next scene but bad if you’re an audience member familiar with the standard structure of a sketch show and wants to get into a rhythm of mirth.

Their material included a fair bit of pop culture and to fully appreciate most of it required that you watched the same TV shows as they did. Their over the top caricatures covered for some of this shortfall but if you weren’t familiar with the show they were referencing, you were often lost.

A highlight was a big dance sequence that was both joyful and utterly silly. It would have been the perfect conclusion to the show but they followed it with a musical number that did nothing more than show off their musical talents and get a sing-along happening.

Some banter between the three critiquing their own performances, scripting and roles in the show were the some of the more interesting parts of the show. The scenes justifying the shows’ title were a clever idea but, despite a fun journey over the course of the show, lacked a strong payoff.

All three sold the shit out of the material with enthusiastic performances and lots of colour and movement. It’s a shame that the script didn’t live up to their sizzle.

After Dark is on at The Last Jar until April 4
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/aardvark-mark-after-dark

Jeff Green : All Guns Blazing!

By Sofia Monkiewicz

International comedians telling stories about their experiences with Melbourne can sometimes get a little tedious (cue jokes about the weather, the public transport system, Australian drivers and our roads, and Frankston and basically any outer suburb). Jeff Green mentions all of these classics in his new show All Guns Blazing but he manages to keep his insights fresh, entertaining, and not tiresome in the slightest.

Green became an Australian permanent resident several years ago and his Melbourne International Comedy Festival show focuses mainly on his adjustment to living in Melbourne with his wife and two children. While he does briefly poke fun at Frankston and complain rigorously about our famous bipolar weather, he also entertains with original tales of his experiences with Australian public toilets and with one of our greatest national treasures: Bunnings. It may be his classy suit and tie get-up, his English accent or perhaps just his personable nature, but Green is consistently and unwaveringly charming. From the detailed re-enactment of a performance he once did where a firework was lit while clenched tightly in his backside to a side-splitting description of his talented ability to perform poorly in the bedroom, even at his very crudest he still remains a gentleman.

It is easy to see that Green is a stand-up comedy veteran. He is incredibly comfortable on stage and does not hide behind his microphone. He speaks with his audience as though he is conversing with friends, telling us of his adventures and venting about his life. All Guns Blazing is essentially a series of humorous rants blended with charismatic sarcasm plus a hint of grumpy-old-man. Green’s commentary on things like yoga, food intolerance and automatic doors are akin to that of every 50-year-old man who has kids and a yearning nostalgia for the good old days. He definitely appealed mostly to the older members of the audience but was also enjoyed by the younger crowd, possibly because he reminded them of their dads (this was certainly the case for me!). He also performs a rap about his cat which was funny largely because of its lame-factor and because, well, it was about his cat.

Throughout the show there were several opportune moments for Green to converse with and react to the crowd a little but he stuck strictly to his prepared material. His hour-long monologue is excellent, however it would have been even better if he had acknowledged the few times where audience members did something somewhat amusing.

Jeff Green encompasses all factors necessary to create a successful Festival show, including but not limited to: a strong stage presence, many amusing insights about the world we live in, and consistent, well-timed punchlines. He has been part of the comedy scene for a long time, and this is made very clear by his seamless performance. Charming, sarcastic and clever, All Guns Blazing is a ticket to guaranteed laughter.

All Guns Blazing! is at Melb Town Hall & Forum Theatre until April 14

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/all-guns-blazing-jeff-green

Max & Ivan : The Reunion

By Alanta Colley

Max and Ivan are the class of 2004, thrust mercilessly into the same room again after ten years of regrets, grudges and lost memories at their reunion. This critically acclaimed pair from the UK wowed audiences at last year’s MICF, walking away with a Barry nomination as well as a Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination in 2013.

The audience furiously held on for dear life as we simultaneously encountered the class of 2004 in 2004 and 2014. The story spirals ever closer to the precarious edge of chaos as multiple characters become ever more entangled, undergo flash backs, confrontations, doubts, glories, and seek retribution. A cast of at least twenty exquisite characters are played by Max and Ivan, leaping erratically from one character to the next and back again. The encounters become ever more crazy and hilarious ’til two characters played by the same man enact a marriage proposal.

We meet the archetypes present in every school year; Brian – who is essentially allergic to life. We meet Jessica, his long-held and never confessed love. We meet the bully, the geography teacher, the canteen lady, and Jonathan Jones; the student who no one remembers, despite having leapt from the science block. Twice.

The duo combine the best of sketch, slapstick, songs and story telling at high speed and high volume. The writing is brilliant, packed full of twists, turns, and escaped zoo animals. The performance bounced off the back of the theatre. While sweat poured forth from the performers they never displayed the exhaustion they must have been feeling. It was exhausting just watching them. Some fantastically executed audience participation was also a highlight of the night.

Fun, furiously paced and fundamentally silly, there’s few who wouldn’t love this performance. Already playing to packed rooms so get a ticket before there’s none left.

The Reunion is on at the Melb Town Hall – Powder Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/the-reunion-max-ivan

Rama Nicholas : After Ever After

By Alanta Colley

Disney would have you believe that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end. But stories don’t really ever end, do they?

Rama Nicholas takes us on a twisted, treacherous and cheeky journey into the lives of Grimm’s characters after the wedding bells have fallen silent, after the romance has faded and after the baddies have done their time in the clink.

Nicholas reclaims the macabre and gruesome tone that so many of Grimm’s fairy tales have been stripped of under a sanitised Disney treatment. Under Nicholas’ mischievous re-imagining we learn of the darker side of some of the sweeter heroines. We hear what the seven dwarves got up to after Snow White’s wedding day. We learn of tortured love affairs Disney never would have condoned. We learn of vengeance, of martial arts training, of addictions and many more vices unmentioned until now. All of this takes place in the appropriately-named city of Grimland.

Nicholas single-handedly delivers a packed cast of no less than fifteen well known fairy tale folk. The performance is a sophisticated feat of agility as she skilfully enacts a scene with up to eight characters all by herself. That she can leap from one character to the next in a split second without leaving the audience behind is a testament to Nicholas’ theatrical abilities. Each character is superbly developed; with rich accents and diverse physicalities and relatable motivations, enabling Nicholas to safely carry us into the realm of willing suspension of disbelief using a minimum of props or effects.

The performance is dotted with musical ditties; each number quite captivating. Nicholas displays being as musically talented as she is as a writer and performer. She’s also not afraid to take her characters to saucy encounters!

Nicholas is a divine physical story teller. Lose yourself in this rich, ridiculous and raucous piece of theatre. A delightful hour of enchanting and twisted tales to behold.

After Ever After is on at the Portland Hotel – Locker Room until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/after-ever-after-rama-nicholas

The Tim Vine Chat Show

By Jayden Edwards

Star of the UK’s The Sketch Show and international Pun-slinger, Tim Vine is back at the comedy festival with another round of rapid fire one liners, clever musical stings and visual gags.

In Tim’s new show, he bundles his usual pun mastery with some conversational audience participation, inviting punters to fill out a questionnaire before the show then inviting those with the best stories to come up on stage. Hence the title The Tim Vine Chat Show.

The first half of the show is Tim at his best. “There’s no satire here, folks” Tim proclaims as he powers through his material. Tim fires off pun after pun scattered with some musical and visual stuff. Although we did miss out on his jump rope gag. “Think i’ll skip that one” he explained. His delivery is childlike and beautifully daggy, suiting his sometimes borderline daggy dad jokes, but the laughter always outweighs the groans. His suit and half untucked shirt only bolsters his style. There’s so much content here, and so much quality, you can’t lose really.

In the back end of the show the chat element comes into play and, unusually for a Vine show, the pace slows. For our performance Tim invites onto stage a Physiotherapist who told of an unfortunate encounter with a Sand Fly whilst overseas, a former children’s entertainer, a Radio DJ with a story of an awkward interview with a language barrier (“A bit like this one” he cheekily sugguested) and a incredibly secretive Transport Operations Manager.

It’s always a risk to entrust a large chunk of your show to the quality of the stories of your audience and i’m sure with the right audience there’s potential for some killer content here, but on this particular night i’m not sure it worked. Tim struggled a little bit to get material out of some of his guests, especially Jeanine the Transport Operations Manager, who just didn’t want to play the game. Tim fell back on some loosely related material to get himself out of a bind on a few occasions. Maybe some games or “segments” thrown in with the interviews would be more suited to his style?

There’s no question Tim Vine is a brilliant, witty scripted comic but his interviewing and improv just wasn’t as strong. It’s a shame as it hampers an otherwise hilarious show. But such is the nature of improv; comedy gold could be hiding amongst your fellow crowd members. Tim’s worth the punt.

The Tim Vine Chat Show is on at the Melb Town Hall – Lower Town Hall until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/the-tim-vine-chat-show