Comedy Festival 2018: John Kearns brings his unconventional oddball style to Don’t Worry, They’re Here ★★★½

FORMER Barry Award nominee John Kearns beds down new show for Edinburgh Fringe.

JOHN Kearns has a glint in his eye. It rarely leaves.

He tells us he wants to get the measure of us. “It’s not like I’m hiding jokes up here,” he says, marvelling at his very individual craft, canines jutting wildly.

The white-shirted, false-tooth wearing UK oddball comic tells us about how a previous show got off to a very rocky start when some twat uttered: “Say something!” in the first minute of the show. Note to hecklers: re-evaluate your life decisions (and start washing your hands after doing number ones).

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Tonight the crowd is on board, picking up what he’s putting down. Kearns talks of his experience supporting Russell Kane, a tactical flub by the bookers before launching into a story based around a cafe he must keep afloat, splicing in race results and some incredible reveals about the validity of his bet on Many Clouds. There’s a touch of pathos before the horse kicker, especially after we side with Kearns and his dislike for rival mare Thistlecrook.

John Kearns in Don't Worry They're Here.

He fails to keep things galloping for the full 60 minutes, which is a damn shame, a tight 50 would have been sufficient as is the case for 95 percent of Comedy Festival shows. Kearns is getting this show ready for Edinburgh Fringe and we can’t help feel this offering should have matured in Camden Town lounge rooms before arriving in postcode 3000. His gear on racing kettles, a regressive pedestrian and the problematic moment of a 49-year-old stranger and a boy having a chat are highlights. “In this day and age someone will report it,” he says, exasperated.

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Kearns is undoubtedly a master at the tension and release omnipresent in divine comedy — he needs to massage the best segments of Don’t Worry, They’re Here (including a nearly-there masseuse story) into a show with form.

John Kearns, Don’t Worry, They’re Here

Melbourne Town Hall, Until April 22.

comedyfestival.com.au