Improvisational comedy shows are tricky at best. Even a show that is going really well can suddenly turn on a dime and bomb. It takes a lot of skill to not only perform improv comedy, but to keep it entertaining as a cohesive show for an hour.
This show felt like a warm hug, in the comfort of Uncle Brian’s lounge room. It’s not your typical comedy show.
It turns out that the popularity of the show is well deserved, with host Steele Saunders using the Green Guide Letters to great effect to question the rotating panel of guests.
I do love a good stand up showcase. If it goes well, you find new comics to look out for. If it goes bad, you get to watch someone flounder and die on stage (don’t act like you don’t love it!), but not for so long that it gets weird, just long enough to see the panic before their time is up… wow, this review got dark fast.
It might be Smith’s clean cut appearance, her sweet smile, her polite manners or her soft ukulele strumming that lure you into the impression you’re in the company of a gentle and demure creature. You’re not. You will break from her gaze before she does. This chick has more edge than a cliff face.
After watching Rich Hall discuss how ridiculous trying to describe senses of humour as ‘dry’ is, I’m trying desperately to avoid describing him like that, because it really is my instinctive reaction to his style.
One of the more dangerously hit and miss types of comedy, to perform and to watch, is improvisational. It’s very easy for over-eager performers to put on a lackluster or, let’s be honest, plain old crap show. For every ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’ that comes together, there’s one that falls apart.
Sketch comedy overlords Idiots of Ants return for their second Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a golden hour of non-stop action packed sketch hilarity.
Based on the TV show of a (similar) name, Late Night Letters and Numbers is the late night comedy game show of choice for word nerds and math geeks who don’t want the laughs to end after a night out at the Festival.
The gig itself is kind of meta journey through the comedy show experience itself, diverting out into deliberately controversial topics in an unprecedentedly cool way – with a whole lot of action thrown in.
Tegan’s show throws you into the world of her two heroes – Brendan Fevola and Harry Potter. Their hidden similarities magically appear when their virtues are comically extolled through personal anecdotes.
Tim Ferguson’s show was full of reminiscences, and though it was not as filthy as his earlier work and perhaps not even quite as funny, he still has the ability to entertain a crowd.
The Moulin Beige is all about crossing the line. Couched in cabaret tradition of the Moulin Rouge this regular Variety evening delivers a mix of cabaret, comedy, burlesque and vaudeville, housed in the opulent venue of the Burlesque Bar in the heart of Fitzroy.
Jimeoin is a world famous comedian with 20 odd years of live gigs under his belt- and in his new show, ‘What?!’, it kinda shows – in unexpected ways.
Jack invites you in as he wrestles with the question – what is narcissism – how many times is too many times to have your name in the title of your show?
What the masses said