Olivia McLeod – Squirrel Comedy

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/

We Forgive You, Patina Pataznik

By Colin Flaherty

After getting humiliated by the high school It Girl, Liv and Jake (Olivia McLeod and Jake Glanc) find a way to stop the most catastrophic event in their lives. What follows is a high energy romp through the year 2013 through the eyes of this pair of drama queens and their fragile teenage egos.

They play things very big and broad often verging on pantomime territory, an apt method reflecting the heightened emotions of teenagers. The plot twists and turns like a snake with ADHD keeping everyone on their toes. This duo flit about the stage bringing scenes to life beautifully through mime and the occasional prop.

This is a very self aware fringe festival piece that regularly breaks the fourth wall. We get self critiques, re staging of scenes and many witty lines about the festival performance experience. Even though fellow performers will be laughing more heartily than the normies, everyone will enjoy the absurd hyper-reality.

Music of the period features heavily so if you were a teenager at the time a flood of nostalgia will hit you in the face. This soundtrack also allows our duo to dance up a storm, gyrating, bumping and grinding at every opportunity. It was also a clever transition device between scenes that kept the energy level in the red.

A video backdrop transports us to various locales as well as being a kaleidoscope of colour during dance numbers. A video of Patina Pataznik in her prime is disturbing in all its AI generated glory and a roadtrip takes a chique route – a lovely contrast to the juvenile shenanigans surrounding it.

It’s a wonderfully silly farce by a pair of pert and perky performers. The script, especially the finale, is a little bit on the flimsy side but you’ll have a great time if you allow yourself to get swept up in the excitement of this perpetually hormonal pair.

We Forgive You, Patina Pataznik is on at Gilded Balloon Patter House until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/we-forgive-you-patina-pataznik

Australians at Edinburgh Fringe 2022

The 75th Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins this week and, after a bit of an enforced break, there will be a strong contingent of Australian acts (as well as Aussie Expats and adopted Aussies) back in Auld Reeky town raring to tread the boards again. Here is a list of those we could find along with any reviews we have previously written.

Our British Correspondent Ron will be seeing a whole slew of shows and reviewing them for us.

To all those performers in Edinburgh, Chookas from The Squirrels and have a wonderful Fringe.

Adam Knox, Luka Muller and Peter Jones – 3’s Comedy
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/3-s-comedy-adam-knox-luka-muller-and-peter-jones