Lano & Woodley, David O’Doherty and Fiona O’Loughlin open MICF with Comedy Allstars Supershow
OPENING night at The Palais provided an excellent sampler of the comedy festivities to come, with no shortage of exciting internationals alongside some old local faithfuls.
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Coming a week after the always delightful aperitif of the Oxfam Gala, the Allstars Supershow usually provides a more substantial starter to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, emphasis on the international.
With all the overseas talent now in town, it’s an ideal opportunity to sample some of the less familiar acts and get a real flavour of what this year’s line-up has to offer alongside the homegrown reliables.
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We can’t say we’ve looked it up, but we’re guessing Ari Eldjarn is the first Icelandic comic to grace our shores and on this evidence the former flight attendant is likely to provide one of the better laugh-per-capita ratios of the festival.
As per usual, the Poms are coming in strong. Mark Watson has fallen hard for Melbourne and we’ll likely return the favour if he keeps overthinking I’m Too Sexy, Fin Taylor has come gunning for the left with a promisingly provocative offering while Fern Brady’s transition from stripping to stand-up was clearly a wise career choice based on her own testimony.
The ‘New Order’ UK showcase bodes well, with Darren Harriott riffing smartly on his drug dealer relatives and race-based emojis while Ivo Graham (who wasn’t listed on the original line-up and appeared to be a late replacement for the absent Jason Byrne) seized the day with his James Acaster-esque nerdy charm.
Among the Americans, Sean Patton showed the most promise with his musings on a death-related ‘would you rather’ query and a truly spectacular condom application routine, while Zainab Johnson and Kate Willett ensured that ‘Headliners’ maintains its perennial spot on the self-respecting comedy nerd’s must-see list.
Of the more familiar visitors, Ireland’s finest David O’Doherty and his continuing quest to fix everything is as adorable as ever, introverted extrovert Rose Matafeo’s path to superstardom apparently continues apace, Larry Dean’s storytelling skills suggest an outstanding hour might be within the grasp of his magical hands while James Veitch is still doing his Powerpoint thing, a little dry for our taste but seemed to go down well.
In local news, Dilruk Jayasinha put on a masterclass of how to nail a brief appearance with an exquisitely crafted four minutes, Charlie Pickering brought some enjoyably accessible smarts while Rhys Nicholson is as razor-sharp as ever and still delivering at least three gags for the price of one.
At the tender age of 30, Nick Cody has already established himself as a rock solid blokey bet, if Ivan Aristeguieta isn’t already your favourite Venezuelan-Australian you simply haven’t seen him yet and fly guys Lano & Woodley are back together after 12 years and showcased exactly why their run is already close to selling out.
Nazeem Hussain planted a flag with some uncompromising thoughts on what the Union Jack represents, Harley Breen managed to make merry with a memory of copping the belt from his dad, while Fiona O’Loughlin’s dropped us straight into a coma recovery yarn that could probably have done with a little more context.
Aunty Donna’s hypnotic school-day reminiscences were unfortunately overwhelmed to some extent by their banging backing track, Demi Lardner’s not dissimilar efforts were severely waylaid by some tech issues while her current squeeze and creative partner in crime Tom Walker had better luck with his creative clowning.
Host Anne Edmonds’ always wonderful character work might not have been ideally suited to the expanses of the Palais but a spectacular calisthenics opener and superb supermarket trolley torch song certainly were. No sarong in sight tonight, but Helen Bidou’s Festival debut on Friday looms large.
Let’s get cracking.
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