Comedy Festival 2018: Gun laws, Lego and Trump in Rich Hall’s firing line ★★★½

A TRUE Festival stalwart, the 2013 Barry winner is back with his loveably grumpy take on politics, relationships and life’s stupid annoyances.

INEVITABLY, Trump.

Rich Hall, long-time visitor to the Comedy Festival, has always arrived in town with a fistful of up-to-the-minute dispatches from his homeland. And in the Age of Donald, what else is a liberal US comedian to do but fire away with both barrels?

Truth is though, Hall is almost embarrassed to make fun of Trump. Like, it’s too easy. Fish in a barrel, and all that.

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So while there are a few inspired gags off the back of the President’s apparent inability to spell three letter words, Hall most usefully uses Trump as a mere segue into a lengthy bit on the diabolical US healthcare system, where treading on a piece of Lego costs Hall a visit to hospital and an exorbitant bill.

Trump (either directly or indirectly) might be good for as close to a guaranteed laugh as a comic could hope for, but when it comes to mining material from audience banter, nothing can be taken for granted.

The 2013 Barry winner Rich Hall is back.

Hall, however, makes the difficult look effortless, questioning front-row punters at random and harvesting their innocuous replies for a number of clever, semi-improvised songs.

“The funniest things tonight have been completely accidental,” says the comedian after another unexpected interaction with the audience. But that’s just Hall being modest. Whether it’s local politics, the absurdity of US gun laws, finger on the pulse observations on cricket’s ball-tampering brouhaha, life in long-term marriage, audience banter or inevitably, Trump, Hall’s latest show is consistently funny, both by accident and design.

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It doesn’t admittedly reach the heights of some other Hall shows I’ve seen over the years; it’s hard to bring the shock of the new to Melbourne after literally decades of performances. Nevertheless, it remains a pleasure seeing such an experienced comic go to work.

So if you’re yet to catch up with Rich Hall after all these years, what are you waiting for?

Rich Hall.

Melbourne Town Hall, corner Swanston and Collins streets until April 8.

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