Comedy Festival 2018: Daniel Burt keeps it fun and surprising in A Trip Down Memory Laneway ★★★½

FEEL the Batmania as Burt walks you through Melbourne’s astonishing history. Fun and surprising: like the City Circle Tram but you can take drinks in.

THIS show will not be touring.

It’s very Melbourne. Very. “So Melbourne that Sydney is trying to steal it,” Burt lets you know in the first minute.

But it’s not the coffee, tram and football tropes you’re used to. Instead, this is a clever and deep look at the forces that shaped and built Marvellous Melbourne: the indigenous people and the convicts and settlers who followed.

Daniel Burt in A Trip Down Memory Lane.

If you know who John Fawkner is, just buy the ticket now.

BEST OF THE EDINBURGH FEST FINISHES ON A HIGH

GILLIAN COSGRIFF: MASTER OF CRACKER-JACK CABARET ON SONG

The setting cements it: in a row of terrace houses hidden behind Parliament and run by the National Trust. With a wooden podium and a table laden with books about John Monash, it’s more like the setting of a genteel parlour drama than the grim subterranean nightclubs many of the festival’s comedians toil away in.

The show really fires when it delves into the gory beginnings of white settlement, with Burt delighting in the hilariously grim start to the modern city.

AUNTY DONNA: POWDER KEG TRIO A CLASS ACT

STEEN RASKOPOULOS: IMPROV KING NEVER MISSES A BEAT

It’s rapid-fire stuff, with Burt throwing hundreds of gags at you.

One of Frankston’s finest comedic exports, Burt has written jokes for David Letterman (yes, really) and for shows such as Hard Quiz and The Yearly.

He’s practised, professional and — especially in this — a warm and charming host.

Daniel Burt, A Trip Down Memory Laneway

Tasma Terrace, 6 Parliament Place, until April 8.

comedyfestival.com.au

Daniel Burt throws hundreds of gags at you in A Trip Down Memory Lane.