Who’s firing at halfway mark of the Melbourne comedy festival
We’ve just passed the halfway mark of the 33rd Melbourne comedy festival. Mikey Cahill takes us through the bangers and clangers so far — who has excelled or repelled?
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We’ve just passed the halfway mark of the 33rd Melbourne International Comedy Festival, gobbled down our orange slices and now we’re kicking with the wind.
What have been the bangers and clangers so far in the 2019 edition?
Who has excelled and whose gags have repelled?
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LOLs consultant Mikey Cahill grabs the metaphor, takes a bounce down the wing and lines up the acts to decide who has booted goals, points and which aspects of the comedy festival have been simply out of bounds.
GOALS
Double Denim has been sah-mashing it.
Michelle Brasier is like a deranged Catherine Tate character who has bussed in from Gisborne, while her offsider Laura Frew (also starring in Fringe Wives Club) holds the room with tales of Andrew G and James Mathison.
Brasier played a Missy Higgins-style character in Tom Ballard’s riotous KWANDA show too.
Nath Valvo has racked up stacks of Supercoach points (go with me here), packing them in at his I’m Happy For You show.
He also flew across the stage on a broom during Defying Gravity for Lip Sync Battle and has done spots/podcasts wherever needed.
It feels like Nath’s year to go over the top by being less over the top.
He’s controlling those loose limbs with more focus and looks in charge of his craft.
Phil Wang (UK) already had one of the best show titles: Philly Philly Wang Wang.
He backed it up with a stunning, gruff hour of laughs where he toyed with the crowd like a sly cat with a mouse, and rejected the current trend that all stand-ups must come bearing gifts of wokeness. He’s braining it.
Giantess is Cassie Workman’s first full-length show since she transitioned and it packs a wallop.
Workman takes us through the harrowing experience and directs us towards the light at the end of the tunnel.
Our man on the ground, Patrick Horan, awarded it only his second ever five-star review.
Daniel Kitson — the intellectual, highbrow/lowbrow UK artist — is in the top five comedians of all time.
He’s been taking over Beckett Theatre at the Coopers Malthouse for two hours nearly every night.
Kitson unfurls a show, Keep, all about what we hold on to, physically and emotionally and what we must set free (cue: rose petals falling on ironed white tablecloth as Debussy plays).
The Aspie Hour finished its short run but not before making a sizeable impression on audiences and critics alike.
Let us drink! Balding Older Brother and its clandestine neighbour Cabinet Bar have been the hubs for pre and post comedy shows.
Balding Older Brother is the project of former Triple J hosts Kyran Wheatley and Alex Dyson.
Tom Gleeson was propping up the bar last week, drinking HARD.
Also seen out and about: Hannah “The Great” Gadsby. She caught Nikki Britton and Anne Edmonds and “deeply loved both shows” according to a source.
Wheatley’s fiance, Rhys Nicholson, kicked a bag last Saturday night at the aforementioned Lip Sync Battle.
He did Shallow, “dedicated to all the comedians who think the world is too PC for comedy”.
Nicholson held up cardboard faces of Jerry Seinfeld and Barry Humphries then upped the ante with a giant Louis CK head miming the words.
The crowd went berserk when Nicholson snapped their faces, trashing their brands.
The Light The Way Home initiative has helped vulnerable comics get home safe at night through a group Uber account. Shout out to Sheba, the all female ride-share service that is growing every day.
Tommy Little added another show, Hamer Hall no less, even if our comrades over at Fairfax disagreed and marked him a very low score.
For the newcomers, Blake Freeman, Margot Tanjutco, Melanie Bracewell, Fran Batten, Lizzy Hoo, Pax Assadi are all showing mighty promise.
POINTS
Daniel Sloss fits into this category. His show has a pertinent message (which we can’t reveal #keepthesecrets) and leaves audiences reeling/discussing what just happened.
It’s just that he hits the post too often with smug, snarky lines and booze-addled talk.
The Sloss-got-sloshed riffs got tiresome about 15 minutes in (we get it, you like to drink, we all do) and no amount of cuddling up to local fave Nick Cody makes him endearing. It’s hard to warm to a comedian who gives off such a cold, entitled vibe.
All the comics who have tried to shoehorn a woke message into their shows.
Guys, it shows.
We know you mean well, just don’t rush it through for a minor score.
Foil, Arms and Hog (Ireland). As a descendant of two Irish families it pains me to see this trio fly the green, white and orange flag Down Under. Very light on the LOLs.
In terms of so-so reviews from our team, Rose Callaghan and Sami Shah copped fewer than three stars.
POLICE CALLED TO HUGHESY’S SHOW
OUT OF BOUNDS
Ciaran Lyons. When an audience member flatly says, “Don’t ask me any questions, I don’t want to be involved in the show,” and you keep asking her what she does, um, maybe read the room my dude and respect a lady’s wishes.
Thankfully, the crowd made the Fad Gallery show into a genuine spectacle.
One guy had “smoked 12 bongs” before coming (“12 is my cap”) and another married couple in the crowd started bickering after the wife poked the bear and asked outright if her husband had received a happy ending on a trip to South-East Asia before they were together.
Another woman in the crowd told Lyons he should have broken up with his ex before she dumped him.
It made the 55 minutes bearable. Just.
The young comedian acknowledged a few times: “This is becoming the Roast of Ciaran Lyons.”
Scrolling Instagram while “watching” a show.
Ian Royall’s review of Joel Creasey pointed out the very bad and very “basic” behaviour of one attendee who barely looked up from her phone as she let her fingers do the walking while the Crown Prince did the talking.
See also: the wise guys making wisecracks in the back row at Phil Wang’s show.
It’s super distracting and shows disregard for your fellow humans.
You can shut the eff up and switch your phone off for an hour, surely.
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