Comedy Festival 2018: Akmal lays it all bare in Transparent ★★★½
AKMAL’s show, Transparent, is loud and furious, with a thin, loose structure that should make it ideal comedy fare for the masses.
Comedy Festival
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WARNING: celebrated Aussie stand-up Akmal Saleh says he’s running a scam! Where else can a guy who grew up in Punchbowl, go on stage, dump excrement on audiences, only for them to give him money!
Akmal’s hour-long comedy show, Transparent, is about the bald, nuggety, black-clad, 53-year old comedian riffing and improvising LOUDLY about everything and nothing; where audiences, who don’t mind a bit of good-natured rib-poking, become material fodder; and where the atmosphere and performer are so relaxed, you can get up whenever you like to get a drink.
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For all that, Akmal whinges and rambles a lot: he didn’t do well at school; he’s feeling old for his age; most things don’t interest him; it’s hard for him to keep up with technology; he’s irritable and doesn’t know why; he’s a coward, and a magnet for crazies.
He also confesses to hypocrisy because of his ill-fated involvement in the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!.
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At one point, Akmal references a time when Roman gladiators were the currency of “reality” mass entertainment. Can you imagine a toga-clad Akmal performing warm-up gigs in the Colosseum before the lions are let loose on the Christians?
While I laughed hard at his gags about MasterChef, a nearby group of women found a joke about circumcision absolutely hysterical.
Akmal’s show is all sound and fury, and having a few chuckles, while the show’s thin, loose (dare I call it transparent?) structure makes it ideal comedy fare the masses should love — while also loving their beers!
Akmal, Transparent
Athenaeum Theatre 2; 188 Collins St, Melbourne, until April 22.
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