Review – Claire Sullivan vs The World
Admission: $10-$16
Venue: The Duke of Wellington Hotel
The Melbourne Comedy Festival is upon us and every venue with a broom closet has suddenly become an established live entertainment venue. Comedy acts both big and small are suddenly in hot demand, commanding packed houses/broom-closets of fair-weather comedy buffs with a few episodes of Black Books and half a bottle of shiraz under their belts. The pressure is immense and audiences, many of whom are unfamiliar with the live comedy scene, expect a lot. Expect a lot of what? They don’t really know.
Claire Sullivan, a 21 year old comic, was a victim of broom-closet-comedy-tourist syndrome. Her routine spoke more to the year-round comedy clubs than the fair-weather fans, heavy on industry jargon and structure. Unfortunately for Claire, it showed. The response from the dozen-odd in the crowd was lukewarm and, perhaps lacking an enthusiastic audience’s energy to feed off, she found it difficult to gain momentum and many of the centre-pieces in her routine fell flat.
Points though, for enthusiasm. Considering her age and the developed nature of her show, Claire has a bright future and a flair for the off-beat, bizarre, and downright outrageous. Like many young comics, especially for those awash in the bizarre crush of Melbourne Comedy Festival, Claire strategy for reading her audience is still developing. Having the energy and material that she does though, once this is in place she will surely develop into an imposing force on the Melbourne comedy scene.
Legitimately engaging, energetic and likeable, Claire has all the tools. Once she masters the broom closets there’s no telling how she’ll develop. Watch this space.