Review – Josh Earl is a Librarian

If you doubted that a library was a good source of comic material Josh Earl is here to prove it is – one catalogue at a time. Josh provides a guided tour through the Dewey Decimal system in Melbourne’s salubrious State Library. His audience is full of librarians; clearly a previously untapped target market at the Comedy Festival.

Earl, with a certain air of the hipster man-child about him, provides a perfect contrast to stereotypes of librarians. He recounts the creative ways he tried to bridge the gap to the kids in his school library. His efforts are very funny.

As reading is the gateway to all things, the Dewey Decimal system enables Josh to steer the show to wherever he pleases. His stories tell of a succession of life events, from growing up in Bernie in Tasmania, to his numbered days with Australian Penthouse. He has his finger on the pulse of Gen Y’s predominantly suburban upbringing. This show delivers high quality tales of the Everyman; most of us can relate to his experiences on some level. Josh distils a quiet rage fuelled by frustration of suburban living into song form and the results are hilarious.

The show is built on a solid concept. His frenetic songs contain wonderful ideas and great lyrics, but the four chord structure and the yelling starts to wear a little thin after an hour, even if that is supposed to be part of the joke.

That aside, this is a unique comedy experience delivered by the second most famous librarian after Melvil Dewey. Enjoy it and return it before the due date.