Review – Ali McGregor’s Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night

Step right up, step right up, for the lovely Ali McGregor’s Late-Night Variety-Nite Night, with a number of Jazz-fused versions of songs from the 80’s and 90’s, and that’s just from the host! Along with Ali, is her assistant/butler Saxon MacAlistair, who gets the spotlight when introducing the show as well as performing her own little number half way through. It’s a mix of comedy acts and vaudevillian style performances, such as cabaret and burlesque, all thrown into a blender and set to liquefy, before being poured into a cup which takes 90 minutes to consume and a couple of hours after to digest.

Each night has a number of different acts from local and international artists that all call Melbourne their home for the four (or so) weeks of the year, which is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I was fortunate enough to witness such comedic acts as Matt Okine and Dave Callan, showing snippets from their individual shows Broken Diamond House (Okine) and The Psychology of Laughter (Callan). Seeing the two together, Callan’s refreshingly outrageous blatancy made up for Okine’s somewhat conventional predictability.

A nicely rounded show that has you on the edge of your seat with excitement and leaves you feeling thoroughly entertained and satisfied. Highly recommended!