Comedian Kemah Bob milks easy belly laughs from holiday hell

Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate
Factory Theatre, April 25. Until April 27.
★★★1/2
Reviewed by DANIEL HERBORN

When Texas-born, London-based comic Kemah Bob’s therapist suggested she take daily “mental health walks” to help manage her bipolar disorder, it seemed like a good idea.

But when one of those walks turned into a casual spending spree at a fashionable boutique, it seemed like maybe she needed to up the ante on her wellness regime.

Kemah Bob finds comedy in a trip to Thailand gone wrong.

Energised by the thought of beach time, massage and yoga, she books a flight to Thailand and is soon happily exploring her new surroundings, waving off warnings about wandering around a night market alone.

Before long, she believes herself an instant expert in all things Thailand. Then, a man who describes his job as helping independent African miners sell their gold in Asia swoops in, determined to whisk her away from the tourist trail. Apparently, he can’t pay for anything, though, as he has misplaced his key card.

With Miss Fortunate, Bob tells a winding tale with upbeat warmth and easy charm. It’s an unusual story and one rich in dramatic irony.

We grimace at every red flag she ignores and see through every tall tale she laps up as her plans for a chilled-out vacation are upended in a whirlwind of weed shops and extravagant spending.

It paints an engaging, wryly funny portrait of living with bipolar disorder and the frustrating unpredictability of the condition; Bob explains that manic episodes can be triggered by achieving goals, not achieving goals, life experiences (good or bad) and even the changing of the weather and the passage of time.

While sometimes more gently engrossing than hilarious, Bob’s relaxed charisma keeps you on board. There are even a couple of jaunty songs, including the closing number, where she takes a sanguine look back at the holiday from hell, happy enough to have survived to tell the tale.

Nish Kumar: Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe
Factory Theatre, April 22
Until April 24
Reviewed by DANIEL HERBORN
★★★★

Midway through his Sydney Comedy Festival show, British comic Nish Kumar outlines the topics he’s about to cover: anxiety, death and rage. No wonder someone recently told him he should try more relatable material, like riffing on the contents of his fridge.

Nish Kumar riffs on anxiety, death and Elon Musk. Credit: Matt Stronge

He’d already rattled through a litany of injustice and nonsense, from billionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson – who injects himself with his teenage son’s blood in a bid to live forever – to his deep frustration at being told he should be “pleased about the representation” of having a fellow British Indian, conservative Rishi Sunak, in power.

The 39-year-old Kumar seems so energised by white-hot rage that he barely pauses for breath. The breakneck style makes for an urgent and wide-ranging excoriation of powerful individuals demonising minorities for their own gain.

Crucially, though, Kumar doesn’t settle for making right-on points but draws consistent belly laughs with his furious monologues, aided by vividly grotesque descriptions of his foes – from Elon Musk to his transphobic comedy peers – and his knack for unexpected but spot-on analogies.

In the second half of the hour, he turns his focus inwards, giving a potentially one-note show some much-needed light and shade.

“I’m like this all the time,” he says of his exasperated state, reflecting on how exhausting being constantly outraged is and how it both drives and results from his anxiety.

A streak of humility runs through Kumar’s work, elevating it above a political rant, albeit one with well-chosen targets. The self-deprecation shines through in the hilarious and farcical closing account of his confronting Boris Johnson.

He even gives writing a joke about his fridge his best shot. This being a Nish Kumar show, it goes somewhere angrier and more political than you’d expect, but it’s all the funnier for that.

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