Best comedians you can take your parents to at the 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Your parents hate crass but you want to take them to Comedy Festival. Here’s our recommended shows that won’t make it quite so cringeworthy.
Comedy Festival
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It can be as awkward as those early teenage years when that unexpected sex scene pops up in a movie you’re watching with your parents.
Taking your folks to a stand-up comedian who ends up being far beyond their cringe-ometer could equally leave you slinking into your chair trying not to cast a glance sideways.
Fortunately, there are some shows you can feel comfortable about taking them to if they have a low shock-factor threshold.
SHOWS TO SEE IF YOU AREN’T INTO STAND-UP COMEDY
COMEDIANS WHO HAVE WON BIG INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
COMEDY LEGENDS WITH BRAND NEW SHOWS THIS YEAR
TIM VINE
One of the world’s sharpest “punny” men, Tim Vine embraces the silly in a frantic flurry.
“I decided to sell my Hoover … well it was just collecting dust.” This is the joke that landed the Brit the prize for funniest joke at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe festival. It came 10 years after he landed a Guinness World Record for the most jokes told in an hour — a whopping 499 — smashing the previous record of 362. Vine is back with his infectious madness, and a string of new one-liners and homemade props, racing through pressing topics from pixie football to nibble feeders.
Tim Vine, Sunset Milk Idiot, March 28-April 21, ACMI Below, Fed Square. Book tickets
JEFF GREEN
A stand-up comedy veteran of 30 years — his first in Melbourne was in 1996! — Jeff Green’s endearing new offering is an homage to the 10-pound Poms who migrated from the UK to Australia and reflects on his own experience of abruptly making the move Down Under a decade ago.
MORE: Q&A WITH JEFF GREEN
Letters Home takes on the format of 10 letters, delivered as monologues to Green’s family back home.
“My show is super clean which means you can come along with your favourite granny if you want,” Green says. “She’d enjoy it too because it is about the joy of handwritten letters that she used to write. “Your mum and dads would love it too because it’s about family.”
Jeff Green, Letters Home, March 28-April 21, Swiss Club & Melbourne Town Hall. Book tickets
DAVID O’DOHERTY
Likening his musical prowress to a a hairy Enya, Irish favourite David O’Doherty’s First Confirmation gift of a small plastic keyboard has helped catapult him to numerous accolades, including a nomination for the 2016 Barry Award. A winner of the Edinburgh Award for Best Show in 2008, he’s back with his finest keyboard-backed talking tales in Ultrasound.
David O’Doherty, Ultrasound, March 28-April 21, The Forum Upstairs. Book tickets
SIMON TAYLOR
One of Australia’s most versatile comedians, Simon Taylor brings slick stand-up, singing, magic and “dancing like an idiot”, he says, to the room in Right Now.
Taylor scored a breakout hit with his ABC stand-up special, appeared in the Netflix series, Magic for Humans, and has written for The Tonight Show.
“It’s one you can bring the family to and not worry about offence,” he reassures us of his latest show.
Simon Taylor, Right Now, March 28-April 21, Trades Hall. Book tickets
ABANDOMAN
Following a breakthrough debut run two years ago, Ireland’s finest hip-hop musician-comedian, Rob Broderick (aka Abandoman), is back with his trademark mix of audience interaction and quick-fire improvisation. In Pirate Radio, he will weaves the audience’s likes, loathes and daydreams into his own songs and tales.
Abandoman (aka Rob Broderick), Pirate Radio, March 28-April 21, The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre. Book tickets
FLO & JOAN
Harmonising comedic sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey — aka Flo & Joan — arrive for the first time off the back of two consecutive sell-out runs at Edinburgh Fringe, a UK tour and more than 50 million views online. The sisters whip through tongue-twisters with enviable elocution, taking a dig at the all from Brexiteers to misogynist online trolls and their own nerdiness. They had a viral hit with the 2016 Song, which reeled off a long list of terrible events from that ill-fated year.
Flo & Joan, Alive On Stage, March 28-April 21, Melbourne Town Hall Powder Room. Book tickets
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From a big-name benefit in support of Christchurch terror victims to a chat show with a difference, these are the best offerings at the Melbourne comedy festival this weekend.
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