AKMAL
Akmal Saleh rarely does private gigs. You’ll see him on TV shows and he tours frequently, playing sold out shows and festivals, but he tends not to do corporate gigs because “they always go horribly wrong”. Despite that, he did one a few years ago. It was for an association of Arab professionals, so he did some jokes about the Egyptian regime at the time. What he goes on to describe is the epitome of a nightmare gig for any stand up comedian. He says he was heckled, booed, had people tapping on glasses to drown him out, and then had half the room leave in protest and the other half stayed around “poking me and abusing me”. The following morning, he says he received an anonymous call at 6am advising him not to return to Egypt, the country he and his family emigrated from when he was 11 years old, because “there’s a file out in your name – what you said last night was reported.” He has plenty of stories like these about the Egyptian regime, which was toppled last year in a civil revolution, and it’s a serious conversation we have for almost an hour. The Akmal familiar from television screens – irreverent, cheeky, childishly silly, which has endeared him to legions of fans – is absent. Instead, this is the Akmal who was so moved by the revolution that he’s just spent six weeks and $80,000 of his own money making a documentary about it - with no broadcaster or film distributor yet in place. “A friend said to me it may be the most expensive home movie in history,” but that doesn’t matter to Saleh, who simply wanted to document the courage he saw in Egyptians that he says was beyond him. Religion is in his craw, and through talking passionately on that topic he reveals a deep humanity and social conscience, often using words like love, compassion, respect, equality, injustice. He’s on the phone from Canberra, where he has been doing some unadvertised trial shows in preparation for his Melbourne International Comedy Festival season of his self titled show. Will we see such things being discussed in the show? Or will that be in the subtext? “It’s buried in the subtext,” he quips. “You’ll have to spend three days digging to find this in the subtext!” Saleh has been doing stand-up for more than 20 years now, first performing under the stage name of Peter Saleh. Since then, he’s reverted to his real name and appeared in movies, TV and radio and on book shelves, as author of a memoir about his journey from Egypt and his life on the Australian comedy circuit. In that time, religion has always been a theme in his work, he says, as
JASON BYRNE PEOPLE’S PUPPETEER
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wellll as more controversial topics such as race and terrorism. This new show will be no different in that it will touch on such areas, impossible for him not to as he was raised in a “very, very religious family”, but he doesn’t want it getting too personal at the same time. “A lot of it will be just jokes,” he says. BY JOANNE BROOKFIELD
Akmal performs at Athenaeum Theatre from Wednesday March 28 until Sunday April 1, then Tuesday April 10 until Sunday April 22 (except Mondays) at 9.45pm (8.45pm Sundays). Tickets $35 Friday, Saturdays and Sundays; $33 Wednesdays and Thursdays, $30 Tightarse Tuesdays.
Completely selling out his season in Melbourne in 2011, Jason’s show promises to be anarchy-packed and of acrobatic proportions as the definitive clown of comedy pushes his riotous show to the edge. Jason’s inspired, original brand of high-energy intelligent lunacy ensures that there is simply no other comedian like him. Jason Byrne was the biggest selling comedian at the worldrenown Edinburgh Comedy Festival. His unique, vivacious comedy styling has attracted a Chortle Award for the Best Headliner in 2007, and a Perrier Award Nomination in 1998 and 2001. Jason has hosted three series of The Jason Byrne Show which took out the Sony Gold Award for Best Comedy in 2011. Watching Jason Byrne do stand-up is absolutely riveting. Jason’s shows are solid comedy gold from start to finish. Jason Byrne’s return to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is absolutely guaranteed to be an unmissable event. Make sure you get tickets to People’s Puppeteer before it sells out.
Jason Byrne performs People’s Puppeteer at the Athenaeum Theatre from Thursday March 28 until Sunday April 22 (except Mondays) at 8.30pm (7.30pm Sundays). Tickets are $38/$32, $32 Tightarse Tuesdays, previews and groups of eight or more from Ticketek online, 132 849 and at the door.
DES BISHOP LIKES TO BANG
Des Bishop likes to bang and he’s not afraid to show it. Combining his love of hip hop, strong jokes, audience participation and a newfound passion for drumming, the Dublin-bred Queens native comes to Australia to have fun with wordplay in his brand new stand-up show. Des Bishop has had three acclaimed television series in Ireland- The Des Bishop Work Experience, Joy in the Hood and most recently, the award winning six episode comedy documentary series In the Name of the Fada. Des now returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for a banging Bishop extravaganza. With deeply insightful observations and a wild imagination, Des Bishop is truly a must see. Des’s energy is electric, he is a virtuoso at captivating audiences. His stand-up is internationally acclaimed and consistently achieves rave reviews. Des Bishop is back in Melbourne, and he Likes To Bang. Make sure you watch.
Des Bishop performs Likes To Bang at The Hi-Fi from Thursday March 29 until Sunday April 22 (except Mondays) at 8.15pm (7.15pm Sundays). Tickets are $32/$28 Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, $30/$28 Wednesdays and Thursdays, groups of eight of more, and $25 Tightarse Tuesdays and previews, from Ticketmaster online, 1300 660 013 and at the door.
FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE
From a foodie’s perspective, the idea of a restaurant providing service and food similar to that of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers sounds harebrained and absurd. So that, my friends, is why the Faulty dining experience is riding under the umbrella of the Comedy Festival and not the Food and Wine Fest. The award winning Faulty Towers The Dining Experience show proves that you don’t need top quality food to get a five star review. “The food, although completely edible, is a prop,” says Alison Pollard-Mansergh, artistic director of the show and co-founder of Interactive Theatre International. But never fear, gluten free, vegan, and nut allergenic people of Melbourne, Allison assures they can tweak their 3-course meal for special dietary needy people of your ilk. “Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is not about the food,” she says. “It is about re-creating the dining room of the infamous Fawlty Towers Hotel, and immersing audience members in the experience of interacting with the three main characters – Basil, Sybil and Manuel. Guests are treated to the meal as part of the show, to enable them to be fully immersed.” No, that isn’t a typo. For copyright purposes, the show is puntastically dubbed ‘Faulty’ Towers to avoid upsetting their worshipped BBC television inspiration. Ok, so the organisers are saying the food isn’t made to be great. But there must be some reason why the two-hour show has been a sold-out smash in every Edinburgh Fringe Festival show for the past four years. If only the patrons in the TV series knew what they were getting into when they checked in to Fawlty’s hotel. And while the Faulty Towers crew’s aim to provide the worst service possible might seem like an easy feat that even your little cousin could pull off, staying true to the show is for the diehard fans is a different story. Breathing
true life into a TV series from a different time – the 1970s – is anything but kid’s stuff. “It is our aim to have people feel as though they are actually on the set of the TV series restaurant,” says Allison. “We have studied the two series fully, and whilst we don’t recreate exact scenes, we introduce themes that are familiar to fans throughout…Favourite phrases and nods to story lines are all woven throughout the two-hour Experience.” Another obstacle, which the real TV characters never seemed to face seeing as their restaurant was never really packed, is entertaining a full room of eaters with just three cast members. But these are trained professionals and actor Andy Foreman, who plays Manuel, has been on board with the production since it started up 15 years ago. Each show night proves to be a different performance because every guest is absorbed into the mayhem and changes the rout of the loose re-enactment. When asked if the infamous John Cleese had come along to the show, Allison said, “He has certainly heard of our show!” “The invitation is always open for him to attend … A recent review in London stated ‘Cleese would be delighted’ - I’d like to think that would be the case!” BY KATIE WEISS
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is on at the Aegean Restaurant from Wednesday March 28 to Sunday April 22 (except Mondays). Shows are on Tuesday-Friday from 7pm and Saturday-Sunday 1pm or 7pm. Dinner and show tickets range from $69 to $95 from 1300 308 193 and intractivetheatre.com.au.
Why should we see your show?
“It’s like a rock ‘n’ roll Europop explosion in your pants.” - Die Roten Punkte, Eurosmash!
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BEAT’S COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE 2012 BROUGHT TO YOU BY OLD MOUT CIDER