Comedy Festival 2018: Randy finds spiritual awakening in Randy’s Anti-Crisis ★★★

IT’S not hard to see why the purple one draws a cult following, but this faith-based offering is an unholy mess at times.

RANDY is not real. Apologies if this comes as a shock to your belief system, but maybe the lack of non-oral orifices should have provided a clue or two.

The necessary suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience to enjoy Sammy J’s erstwhile comedy partner bodes well for a religion-centric offering but the purple one ultimately fails to offer much in the way of enlightenment in this disjointed hour.

Randy in Randy's Anti-Crisis.

The conceit of the show is that Randy has given up comedy and been converted to the Church of ‘Beryl’, the titular being of which allegedly chose Homo sapiens to be the dominant human race 70,000 years ago, giving us intelligence but demanding we lift our game considerably or she’d return right about now to unleash great vengeance and furious anger.

RANDY’S READY FOR A BIG APPLE BREAK

WHAT DOES SAMMY J REALLY THINK OF RANDY’S SHOW?

ARI ELDJARN: ICELAND’S FREQUENT FLYER A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

After the mildly unnerving opening of a corporeal Randy cutting some rug onstage, a strong George Michael’s Faith-based start is squandered by a bizarrely lo-fi and interminable depiction of the birth of the universe which adds nothing to the narrative and cripples the show’s momentum.

We never quite get back on track as socio-political viewpoints are clumsily crowbarred into proceedings. To be clear, the show is not an anti-religion screed, but we’re not left in any doubt about what the thoughts of the man behind the desk are in relation to a number of causes. Worthy as they may be, it’s a real shame they’re not integrated more smoothly.

Randy is Sammy J’s former comedy partner. Picture: Jim Lee Photo

So much of the joy of watching Randy in action is to simply marvel at the truly remarkable technical feat and just how much humanity can be displayed by a felt dome with a couple of eyes glued on. By way of example, his determined efforts to simply turn a page with non-opposable thumbs provide the highlight of the night.

SPENCER JONES: BUMBLING ENGLISHMAN HOLDS SPIELBERG AMBITIONS

BOB FRANKLIN: WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE

We’re also blessed with some unusually interesting and game audience members on this particular night. Randy’s improv skills and crowd game are always strong and his insistence on pushing the conversation past where other comics might have stopped questioning pays off handsomely here.

An overly involved climax complete with song performance seems a little out of kilter with what went before with the banality of the conclusion something of a missed opportunity, not unlike our inability to enlighten ourselves before Beryl returns to destroy us all. It’s been fun, but can’t shake the feeling it could have been better.

Randy, Randy’s Anti-Crisis

Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Collins and Swanston sts, until Apr 14.

comedyfestival.com.au