2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Guide

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL

UT

O SOLD

JASON BYRNE 20 YEARS A CLOWN

“Jason Byrne is so good it hurts” – METRO, UK

“Jaw achingly funny” – SUNDAY HERALD SUN

Thur 26 March - Sun 19 April

THE FORUM 8.15pm (7.15pm Sun)

WINNER

NOMINEE

BEST NEWCOMER

BARRY AWARD

NOMINEE

WINNER

MICF

BEST LIVE COMEDY HELPMANN AWARD

MICF

ADELAIDE COMEDY PEOPLEÕ S CHOICE “The nation’s finest stand-up” – THE AGE

Tue 31 March – Sun 19 April Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio 7:15pm (6:15pm Sundays)

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AS SEEN ON

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SOLD OUT13

2012, 20 AND 2014

2013 & 2014

WINNER

TV3 PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD NEW ZEALAND COMEDY FESTIVAL

- Whats On In Adelaide

QUEEN B OF COMEDY – WhatsOnStage

THU 26 MARCH - SUN 19 APRIL GREEK CENTRE

ONE WORD FOR IT, BOOTYLICIOUS

8:15PM (7:15PM SUNDAYS) CNR LONSDALE & RUSSELL STS

– Chortle

- Adelaide Advertiser

THU 26 MAR - SUN 19 APRIL

A STAR IN HER OWN RIGHT

SWISS CLUB

ANYONE WHO BREATHES SHOULD GO SEE IT

9:30PM (8:30PM SUNDAYS)

– Three Weeks

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T EY AL OU DN TIV LD SY ES SO H & DY F RT E PE COM 14

WIL SYLVINCE

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Syllables, Fat & Celibacy

“ONE OF THE FRESHER, MOST VIBRANT VOICES AROUND. A JOY TO WATCH” - NOW Toronto

- Adelaide Advertiser

“COMEDY STAR ON THE RISE” - TIME OUT NEW YORK

“WE LOVE HIM” - WAYANS BROTHERS

“FLAWLESS DELIVERY” - SBS NEWS

CANADIAN COMEDY AWARD WINNER 2014

THU 26 MAR – SUN 19 APR 8:30pm (7:30pm Sun) GREEK CENTRE Cnr Lonsdale & Russell Sts wilsylvince.com • facebook.com/wsylvince • twitter/ instagram: @wilsylvince

THU 26 MARCH – SUN 19 APRIL GREEK CENTRE 8:30PM (7:30PM SUNDAYS) CNR OF LONSDALE & RUSSELL STS

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THE ATHENAEUM THEATRE 31 MARCH - 5 APRIL 6.45PM (5.45PM SUN)

FRI 27 MAR - VILLAGE GREEN HOTEL SAT 28 MAR - COMMERICIAL HOTEL THUR 2 APR - HALLAM HOTEL SAT 4 APR - MANNINGHAM HOTEL FRI 10 APR - CHELSEA HEIGHTS HOTEL SAT 11 APR - GATEWAY HOTEL FRI 17 APR - YORK ON LILYDALE SAT 18 APR- SANDBELT HOTEL PAGE 10

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“No one wanted the show to stop… he seemed to own the stage” Sydney Morning Herald

THE ATHENAEUM THEATRE 24 - 29 MARCH & 7 - 19 APRIL 6.45PM (5.45PM SUN)

FORUM THEATRE 31 MARCH - 19 APRIL 9.45PM (8.45PM SUN)

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

CONTENTS PAGE 14: Paul Foot, Arj Barker, Ronny Chieng, Fiona O’Loughlin, Max & Ivan, Doug Anthony All Stars PAGE 16: Puddles, Wil Sylvince, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, Jason Byrne, Pablo Francisco, Mike Wilmot

THE 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL

PAGE 18: Tom Ballard, Urzila Carlson, Celia Pacquola, Ross Noble, Best of the Edinburgh Fest, Heath Franklin’s Chopper PAGE 20: DeAnne Smith, Chris Taylor & Andrew Hansen, Judith Lucy, Dave Hughes, Headliners, Khaled Khalafalla PAGE 22: Greg Fleet, Greta Lee Jackson, Cal Wilson, The Umbilical Brothers, Tripod & The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Matt Okine PAGE 24: Alan Brough & Casey Bennetto, Aunty Donna, Adam Hills, Lawrence Mooney, Luisa Omielan, David Williams PAGE 26: Russell Peters, The Improv Conspiracy, The 29th Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards Benefit, Daniel Kitson, David Quirk, Jonestown PAGE 28: Damien Power, Dr Professor Neal Portenza, Hannah Gadsby, Jimeoin, Billy Hayes, Harley Breen PAGE 30: Sammy J & Randy, Marney McQueen, Denise Scott, Justin Hamilton, Neel Kolhatkar, Nick Cody PAGE 32: Rhys Nicholson, Steen Raskopoulos, Claire Hooper, Tom Gleeson, Tym Jeffrey, Rose Matafeo & Guy Montgomery PAGE 34: Comedians of Gabriel Iglesias’ Stand-Up Revolution, Effie, Alex Edleman, Anthony Morgan, Graptus Henderson, Huw Joseph PAGE 36: The Naked Magicians, Joseph Moore, Craig Hill, Dave Thornton, Nat Harris & Megan McCrea, Pajama Men PAGE 38: Jekyl x James, Dracula’s, Kitty Flanagan, The Kransky Sisters, Rebecca du Unamuno, One Man Breaking Bad PAGE 40: EastEnd Cabaret, Harley Breen & Heath Franklin, Noel Fielding, Luke McGregor, Mark Watson, Simon Taylor PAGE 42: Tien Tran, Sarah Kendall, Sam Simmons & Dr Brown, Akmal, Sara Pascoe, Tommy Little, Wil Anderson, Meshel Laurie, Tahir, James Acaster PAGE 44: Jacques Barrett, James Smith, Joel Ozborn, Ari Shaffir, Alex Williamson, Greg Behrendt, Bryony Kimmings & Tim Grayburn, Josie Long, Anthony Jeannot PAGE 46: ONGALS, Neil Hamburger, Tony Law, Innes Lloyd, Corey White, Colin Lane & David Collins, Milton Jones, Tim Batt, Bev Killick, Mark Trenwith PAGE 48: Jen Kirkman, John Kearns, Michael Che, Nazeem Hussain PAGE 49: Michael Workman, Rich Hall, Russell Kane, Gen Fricker PAGE 50: Ruby Wax, Jim Jefferies, Papa CJ, Nina Conti, Gary Portenza, Superwog, Joshua Ladgrove, The Improv Conspiracy, Stephen K Amos, The Bear Pack PAGE 51: Jeff Green, Alice Fraser, Em Rusciano, Joel Creasey PAGE 52: Frenchy, Katherine Ryan, Ray Badran, Sam Simmons, Rose Callaghan, Ash Burgess, Sam Campbell, Dave Callan, Casey Talbot, Darren Freak

BY ALEX EDELMAN

Hello Melbourne people. This is a guide to Melbourne International Comedy Festival. My name is Alex Edelman, and I’m a 25-year-old comedian from New York. And I’ve never been to Melbourne.

I really should start with that admission, right? I’ve never been to Australia, honestly. My travel outside the US, though constant since I graduated college, has been pretty much restricted to Europe, and I’ve only been south of the equator one time, for a family vacation to Peru. I remember lots of hiking and being horrified that they eat guinea pig.

I don’t even know that much about your city. When I met him in Edinburgh, I asked Matt Okine, one of your country’s finest and funniest young comedians, about Melbourne, and he told me that there’s a really nice library and that it’s where John Farnham’s from. I’m a big Farnham fan, but that’s useless information.

So, I can’t tell you pretty much anything about Melbourne.

Sorry. But that’s fine. You live in Melbourne, so you probably know all the local spots. In fact, I’m counting on you to take me to house parties and the fun, wonky coffee shops and your ridiculously ornate train station. I can, however, tell you about Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival.

I can tell you about Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival because I am a comedian, and the thing about your city’s International Comedy Festival is that it has an International Comedy Reputation, and that reputation is sterling. In comedy circles, performers and industry folk and in-the-know fans speak about MICF the same way art eggheads speak about the Tate Modern or MoMA (I can only really do Northern Hemisphere references. I know. I’m so sorry), which is to say that it’s established itself as a lovinglycurated and artist-friendly institution that presents cuttingedge stuff in a brilliant environment.

For decades, Melbourne has been regarded as Australia’s cultural hub, with its offerings of fantastic live music, art exhibitions, food events, fashion, sports – and, of course, world-class comedy. For at least one of those decades, Gravity Espresso has been around to witness Melbourne’s cultural wonders, and to help caffeinate its performers, audiences and innocent bystanders.

At Gravity, we’re really just a bunch of coffee geeks – technically sound, socially questionable…but the main thing is: we know our coffee inside-out, and love it to bits. We supply wholesale coffee, tea, drinking chocolate and big love to heaps of your favourite venues in and around Melbourne – but fear not, you can also buy our amazing blends at many local stores, or through our website. We recommend our most popular blends: Zenith, a medium roast with caramel notes, full body, and a smooth, clean finish; or 6 Degrees Darker, rich and

CREDITS

PAGE 56: Live And Let Spy, Paco Erhard, Rob Lloyd VS. The Monsters, Boris & Sergey’s Vaudevillian Adventure

SUB-EDITOR: Soph Goulopoulos

PAGE 57: Aaron Gocs & Angus Gordon, Famous Sharron, Brett Blake, Damian Cowell

ADVERTISING: Patrick Carr, Soph Goulopoulos, Cara Williams

PAGE 58: Heckle!, Nadine Clark, The Sound of Nazis, New Order UK

CONTRIBUTORS: Augustus Welby, Christine Lan, Dan Watt, Jack Franklin, Liza Dezfouli, Nick Mason, Nick Taras, Sam Wilson

PAGE 60: The Improv Conspiracy, Wayan Keenan & Vincent Tshaka, Ben Knight, Dave Bloustien, Emma J Hawkins, Snort, Puppetry Of The Penis, Pauline Sherlock, Darien Brown, FRINGE, Wonderland Carnivale

PRODU CTION MANAGER: Michael Cusack

PAGE 66: Comedy Compass: 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Hubs

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It’s not 100 per cent like those museums though. You’re encouraged to laugh at the art and even take him home with you or buy him drinks, if you like New Yorkers or whatever and you’re also a John Farnham fan. I really like Farnham.

It’s worth mentioning, by the way, that the “International” in the festival’s name isn’t ornamental. The word doesn’t just refer to MICF’s comedy street cred in other countries, but also the comedians attending. The United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, and North America are all amply and ably represented at the festival - and the folks I know that are headed down your way have been excitedly polishing up their shows in preparation. In addition to my show (ahem: Alex Edelman: Millennial - winner of the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer) there are so many great offerings from abroad on at the Festival. We’re all excited to see the Australian comedy friends we know well, and make new ones.

I hope you’re psyched to see us too. You have a bit longer than three weeks, but I’m told, like all great things, it goes by quickly. Get your friends and come down.

And if anyone knows John Farnham, bring him, as well.

GRAVITY ESPRESSO

EDITOR: Tyson Wray

PAGE 64: Focus On Food: After Some Chow With Your Comedy?

BY ISABELLE ODERBERG

A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT

PAGE 54: Avenue Q, The Comedy Confessional, Adventures In Hair, Fat Pizza vs Housos, Matty Grey, Sabrina D’angelo, Emily Taylor, Justin Kennedy, Sameena Zehra

PAGE 62: Special Events - Upfront, Red Hot Shorts, RAW Comedy National Grand Final, Rod Quantock & Fiona Scott, Deadly Funny National Final and Showcase, The Jameson Festival Club, The Comedy Zone, Comedy Zone Asia, The Great Debate, triple j’s Good Az Friday, Sick Humour, Jeez Louise Address

VALE STELLA YOUNG

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Michael Cusack, Robert Smith Published by Furst Media 3 Newton Street, Richmond, 3121 (03) 9428 3600 info@beat.com.au © 2015 Furst Media Pty Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder.

complex with a creamy mouth-feel and malty aftertaste. We also offer an excellent Organic coffee blend, if you’re that way inclined, and our delicious Project T loose-leaf teas are certified by the Ethical Tea Partnership.

We hope you enjoy the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year – hit us up for espresso if you want to stay awake for the latenight shows.

More: gravityespresso.com.au

The first time I met Stella Young was at a gathering of women, convened by the then-US ambassador, around four years ago. Designed as a bit of a talk-athon, there were women from media, sports, business and the charity and not-for-profit spaces, many of them outspoken activists like Stella. We all talked, debated, shouted (a little bit) and decided it was without a doubt within our power to make the world a better place, potentially by the end of that day (there had been wine).

But few of us really can say that we will leave an imprint on the world as tangible as Stella.

Stella excelled in almost everything she turned her hand to and comedy was no different.

Her debut show at last year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Tales From The Crip (directed by Nelly Thomas), won her the coveted Best Newcomer award, plus a Golden Gibbo nomination for good measure, with positive media reviews and many of her nights sold out.

Stella’s brilliant humour lay in her ability to laugh at herself and drag us along for the ride, without pity or apology. We weren’t laughing at Stella, we were laughing with her and oh my sweet cheebus, how we laughed.

Stella’s comedy was backed up by razor sharp intellect and a desire to point out the absurdities that she often confronted in her life, which far out-numbered your average Joe. Stella was taken from the intellectual, journalistic and comedy communities far too soon, at the tender age of 32 in December last year. During previous comedy festivals, I’d bump into Stella various venues, as well as the bars and restaurants we all rushed to between performances. I was looking forward to seeing how she upped her comedy game this year - a notoriously difficult task for the Best Newcomer winner, but as we all know, Stella relished a challenge more than most.

It’s going to be very strange getting through this year’s MICF without her.

We miss you, Stella.

GIVEAWAYS

Did you know that this year is the biggest incarnation of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival ever? Seriously. There are well over 550 shows. Bajebus. If you’re anything like me, there are so many goddamn shows that you want to see and so very little coin left in your savings account. Luckily for you then, dear reader, are we giving away so many tickets to some of the best shows. So, have a squiz through these names, see if anything tickles your fancy (hint: many will), and then head to our website to win tickets to see these upstanding stand-ups: Aaron Gocs & Angus Gordon, Adventures In Hair, Akmal, Alan Brough & Casey Bennetto Alex Williamson, Alice Fraser, Anthony Jeannot, Ari Shaffir, Ash Burgess, Avenue Q, Bev Killick, Billy Hayes, Brett Blake, Cal Wilson, Casey Talbot, Chris Taylor & Andrew Hansen, Claire Hooper, Comedians of Gabriel Iglesias’ Stand-Up Revolution, Corey White, Craig Hill, Damien Cowell, Damien Power, Daren Freak, Dave Bloustien, David Eastgate, David Quirk, David Williams, Deadly Funny National Final and Showcase, Dr Professor Neal Portenza, Famous Sharron, Fat Pizza vs Housos, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, Ross Noble, Frenchy, FRINGE, Heckle, Innes Lloyd, James Smith, Jaqcues Barrett, Jeez Louise Address, Jeff Green, Jekyl x James, Jimoein, Joel Creasey, Joel Ozborn, Jonestown, Justin

Hamilton, Kitty Flanagan, Lawrence Mooney, Live and Let Spy, Mark Trenwith, Michael Workman, Nadine Sparks, Nick Cody, One Man Breaking Bad, Pablo Franciso, Paco Erhard, Pauline Sherlock, Puddles, RAW Comedy National Grand Final, Ray Badran, Rebecca du Unamuno, Red Hot Shorts, Rhys Nicholson, Rob Lloyd, Rod Quantock & Fiona Scott, Sam Campbell, Sam Simmons & Dr Brown, Sarah Kendall, Sick Humour, Snort, Steen Raskopoulos, Tahir, The Comedy Confessional, The Jameson Festival Club, The Kransky Sisters, The Sound of Nazis, The Umbilical Brothers, Tien Tran, Tim Batt, Tom Ballard and Wayan Keenan & Vincent Tshaka.

Whatcha’ waiting for?

Clickety clack over to beat.com.au and get entering.

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

Daniel Kitson

Polyphony A New Play (Sort of)

Northcote Town Hall March 25th - April 19th

www.danielkitson.com

www.comedyfestival.com.au

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ARJ BARKER

DOUG ANTHONY ALL STARS

GET IN MY HEAD Beat spoke to one of Australian comedy’s favourite blokes, Californian Arj Barker, who claims he’s better known and more popular here than in the States. “It used to worry me a lot. But now I tell the truth - I’m not going to pretend!” When Beat chats to him he’s in Adelaide polishing up Get In My Head, the show he’s bringing to MICF. “The show feels pretty solid. It’s a wonderful chance to work on it.” Barker has been a successful comic for a long time. Does he sit back in every situation and think about how to extract jokes from what’s going on? “It’s not the first thing on my mind. I don’t think of that ‘til later. I look at it with that perspective later.” Does he get fed up with people approaching him wanting to chat? “Nearly everyone here is friendly and positive. Thank God I’m not well-known in a controversial way. Not like someone who’s on reality TV or something where they might not be liked. Not everybody out there likes me, but the people who come up to me are fans. No one forced me to go on TV or do what I do. If I want to be anonymous I can go back to California! I just try to do a great show. I’m not a massive self-promoter. I do the minimal amount of promotion necessary to put on a show.

“I don’t really like comparing cultures – in the States there are a lot of jokes about race. A lot of race-based comedy. I do compare Australia and the States a little bit, but it’s fair to say I generally don’t do that. I’m not interested in things that alienate one group or another. Mine’s sort of a universal comedy. I don’t laugh at fat people. Some people eat too much. I might drink too much; you might watch too much Internet. We all have our vices. I’m happy for me to be the butt of the joke, I’m happy to be the one who makes a dick of himself.

“I don’t self-consciously set out to make myself fresh. That would be very contrived and the result would be inauthentic. I just stay open to new ideas. There’s no one certain way to get inspired. Sometimes if I can’t write a joke I’ll go through my old notebooks; but I can only come up with the shit I come up with.”

There’s a real ‘70s vibe to his publicity shots for Get In My Head.

“I needed a poster,” Barker explains. “It’s sort of a homage to old ‘70s album covers. The title of the show is like the name of one of those bizarre ‘70s albums. It’s not any reference to the content of the show.”

Does he miss the being on TV with Flight of the Conchords? “I do cos

FIONA O’LOUGHLIN

they’re good friends. Acting isn’t a huge part of what I do so I don’t miss that as much. I miss the guys. I’d miss stand-up more if I had to stop. I’ve been doing stand-up for 25 years. I was barely out of high school when I started. Comedy’s a positive thing. Laughter is mean to be really healthy.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

i

VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays and April 12, 13 & 14) TIM E S : 7.30pm (9.30pm March 28 & April 11, 7.30pm April 4 & 18, 6.30pm March 29 & April 5 and 6pm April 19) TICK E T S : $36 - $48

RONNY CHIENG

i

VEN U E : Arts Centre Melbourne - Fairfax Studio, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : March 31 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TIC K E T S : $28 - $35

MAX & IVAN

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

i

V E N U E : Yarraville Club, 135 Stephen St, Yarraville DAT E S : March 27 & 28, April 10 & 11 T I M E : 8.30pm T I C K E T S : $45

If you haven’t heard about Ronny Chieng in the past year you’ve been hiding under a chair. Now Chieng returns to the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a brand new show and quintessentially Chieng-like title, You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About. No, you really don’t. In his latest show Chieng tackles the broad topic of idiocy and our inability to say “I don’t know”. In just four years the Malaysian-born Chinese comedian has jettisoned from his first ever gig in a small room at Melbourne University, to shows at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Town Hall, London’s SOHO Theatre and Montreal’s Just for Laughs TV Gala. He’s sold-out solo shows in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as toured Asia, and most recently India, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. Catch one of our most ambitious rising stars in 2015, while you still can.

i

V E N U E : The Forum – Upstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9pm (Sundays 8pm) T I C K E T S : $22 - $34.40

PAUL FOOT

THE END

HOVERCRAFT SYMPHONY IN GAMMON # MAJOR

On stage, UK sketch team Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez morph into a whole host of different personalities. Rather than a succession of disconnected gags, their shows are rooted in a central narrative and character development. After grabbing mounds of praise for last year’s MICF offering The Reunion, Max & Ivan return this year with The End. Writing, directing and starring in a new work of multifaceted theatre every 12 months is no walk in the park, but the duo were determined to come back to Melbourne with something fresh.

“We’ve always used big milestones in the calendar to force us to stay active,” Olesker says. “Because our shows are self-contained, very theatrical narrative stories with lots of different characters, we have to sit down with the terrifying horror of a blank page and go, ‘Alright, what’s the story that we’re going to tell?’ The Reunion was a real joy to perform, but we try not to linger too long on the same thing.”

The End takes place in fictional UK town Sudley-On-Sea – a dreary old place for which Max & Ivan had no shortage of inspiration. “It’s a fictional town that’s an amalgamation of all of the places we remember from growing up,” says Olesker. “It is a loving tribute, but to places which can be quite frequently slightly bleak, run down and dilapidated. Weirdly when we’ve performed it, we’ve had lots of people come up to us and go, ‘It’s clearly based on my home town.’”

Life in Sudley-On-Sea is typically slow-paced and uneventful. That is, until reports arrive about the earth’s impending demise. It’s a startling news bulletin no doubt, but given that Sudley’s a fairly lifeless place already, is this really such a tragedy?

“You see the town as it is prior to the event, and you see the pace of life for what it is, and then it all kicks off,” Olesker explains. “I suppose the question is whether that’s a bad thing, or whether Sudley was already somewhat of a calamity beforehand.”

Max & Ivan tend to work with a grotesque palette, which allows them to squeeze humour out of every available crevice. However, this shouldn’t discount the effort applied to building characters the audience can feel sympathy towards. “[The End] is a tale of a group of people in very challenging circumstances,” Olesker says. “There’s an entire town that hopefully you grow to care about. Those people being placed under pressure is the crux of the story.

“We wanted to ensure that it was a very human and a very personal apocalypse,” he adds, “and not some sort of zany sci-fi tale of aliens

PAGE 14

what feathers we ruffle. I think it’s the most excited I’ve been about any creative endeavour.

“The theme is death,” he continues. “We were young men the first time around, we didn’t care about death. But now we’re all ancient, death is a good topic because it’s what our original audience is starting to worry about. People are starting to realise that clock on the wall is actually ticking and it means something. Everything is gearing towards this theme of death, darkness, oblivion. And of course, sex and war, we always throw in.”

These days, Ferguson spends a lot of time handing out advice to aspiring comedy writers. In 2010, he released the comedy-writing compendium The Cheeky Monkey and he also hosts courses on this same topic. He gives us a quick run down of how DAAS go about sparking hilarity.

“Laughter occurs when people are surprised by something that’s figured,” he says. “Even if you’re laughing because you’re baffled, you’ve reached a point at the end of the story or at the end of the description where you’re baffled and of course you should’ve seen that coming. For us, it’s always been about finding that point of surprise.”

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT

THE ONE WHERE SHE LEFT HER HUSBAND AND MOVED TO MELBOURNE!

Australian comedy legend Fiona O’Loughlin returns with her allnew must-see show. A latecomer to the stand-up comedy scene, O’Loughlin won the MICF’s Best Newcomer Award in 2001. Five years later she took home the coveted MICF Piece of Wood, a peer-voted award for the funniest show. She was subsequently nominated two years in row for the prestigious MICF Barry Award for Best Show during 2007 and 2008. O’Loughlin’s resonance with her audience has seen her become one of this country’s most in-demand and award-winning comedians. In her new show, Fiona spills the beans on everything from performing for Julia Gillard to outing members of her own family!

The Doug Anthony All Stars are back…again! To be more exact, they’re still here. Last year, DAAS lynchpins Tim Ferguson and Paul McDermott reunited after 20 years of separation. During their initial decade together, guitarist Richard Fidler rounded out the musical comedy troupe. However, Fidler’s unavailability meant the 2014 reunion tour was conducted with Paul Livingston (AKA Flacco) taking his place. Livingston’s now a fully-fledged band member, and DAAS’s return to the stage was so successful that they’re back for another run of shows this month.

“Unfortunately [Paul McDermott and I] tend to think the same about our purpose in the universe,” Ferguson says. “You know what it’s like; you haven’t seen somebody for a long time and they’re a close friend, when you get back together, there’s no getting-to-know-you phase. We just hit the ground running – or in my case, hit the ground wheeling – so we didn’t have to get our bearings creatively.”

DAAS started out the mid-‘80s, three Canberra-based eccentrics who’d become a celebrated staple of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by the decade’s end. In the early-‘90s, their UK breakthrough was echoed in Australia: they appeared regularly on ABC comedy show The Big Gig before developing their own series DAAS Kapital. In all contexts, a bold embrace of taboo subject matter has been their trademark.

“It’s always been about having a different perspective on things that people, whether they’re conservative or liberal, have assumed are fixed,” Ferguson says. “There are songs we did like, I want to be a Mexican Hitler, which on the surface are just incredibly stupid songs juxtaposing Mexican imagery with Hitler and Nazis, and hopefully tearing Nazis down in the process. But of course there’s a deeper point to it and a deeper purpose then just making comfortable comedy audiences have a giggle.”

Upon rebooting, Ferguson and McDermott decided to leave their existing repertoire of comedy originals alone. Instead, with Livingstone’s help, they’ve composed a whole batch of new material.

“It’s grown on the last tour into something entirely new and very surprising for us,” Ferguson says. “The first time around, DAAS were running around, trying to get noticed, tyring to provoke a reaction from people. We didn’t really mind what it was and we gave the impression we didn’t care. Now that we’re old men, we actually genuinely do not care what anybody says about us, we don’t care

coming or anything like that.”

An interesting facet of Max & Ivan’s shows is that all characters, be they male or female, are performed by the two titular constituents.

Additionally, there’s no fooling around with make-up or props. This generates a haphazard edge, which breeds plenty of unpredictable humour.

“We’ve always been fascinated by how willing an audience is to go along with what is essentially two men sweating at them on a stage which is more or less empty,” Olesker says. “We set ourselves the task of conjuring up entire worlds and communities and situations and stories, using very little. It’s nice to try to create a real emotional pull and to suck people into a story and it’s also nice to flip it around and highlight the rough around the edges nature of the fact that we are clearly just two men using their voices and bodies and the magic of theatre.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

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VEN U E : Victoria Hotel - Banquet Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $26.50 - $33.50

British comedian Paul Foot is one of comedy’s most unique and wonderfully unusual voices. It’s apparent that he’s always had a vast, incredible imagination. “When I was a little child, I used to invent space rockets all the time and I was always living in a sort of fantasy world,” he recalls. “Often, people would ask my mother: ‘is your son all right?’

“I would be in one little corner of the room pretending to be in some sort of strange, fantasy world. And my mother would say, ‘Oh, he’s fine – he just invents his own things’, so I’ve always invented silly things like that. And now I have a whole life of coming up with silly ideas all the time, which is a nice job to do, really.”

Foot realised that he wasn’t interested in a normal life. “I did my first ever gig when I was 19 at university – I only did it because I thought I’ll just do one and see what it’s like,” he relates. “I had never planned to do any other show. I thought it was going to be a one-off thing and I was probably going to be an accountant or something. But as soon as I did that first show, it was like a road to Damascus moment. So I knew I wasn’t going to have a normal life then. As for the actual comedy – like any artist – I never planned to be unusual or different; I did the comedy that seemed obvious to me and the sort of thing I wanted to do. It was a gradually dawning realisation from quite early on, actually, that I was not like a normal comedian.”

Foot’s new comedy festival show, Hovercraft Symphony in Gammon # Major, will be one of his most unusual shows to date. “It’s certainly pushing the envelope a little bit more than the previous shows,” he informs. “I’m excited about it. There’s a piece about a woman struggling to live with snakes. There’s a vegetable-based tragedy involving the death of a beautiful cauliflower. And there’s a lot of other strange and ridiculous things in the show. My new show is very different to any previous show, really, and it’s pretty weird.”

Foot has a cult following named The Guild of Connoisseurs, who give him nice gifts and pictures of himself, but that’s certainly not all that he’s given. “It’s always lovely to meet the Connoisseurs,” he enthuses. “Some people, who have met each other through being Connoisseurs, actually get married and then some people even make baby Connoisseurs for me – well, they’re not actually for me; it’s for themselves, really, or for the world, but it’s always nice when

they make baby Connoisseurs.”

He’s influenced comedians such as Russell Brand with his inimitable language, delivery and style, but Foot’s also impressed

by Brand: “Russell Brand is a brilliant comedian, a lovely friend, and a hilarious and absolutely ridiculous man.”

Like the best of them, Foot aims to provide audiences with a unique perspective into art and life: “People laugh in their real life all the time at all sorts of things – no one laughs more than when a member of their family trips over a chair and all the soup goes all over the floor, so why do people go to see comedy? Because comedians make them think about things in a different way. They change, in some ways, people’s view, so a comedy show must be funny, but it must also, in some ways, make people think differently and be calibrating their brains.”

BY CHRISTINE LAN

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PAGE 15

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

PUDDLES

WIL SYLVINCE

PITY PARTY

SYLLABLES, FAT, & CELIBACY

Put simply, Puddles’ Pity Party consists of musical performances delivered by a mournfully sad clown. The inclusion of such an act at a comedy festival raises the question ‘who is the joke on?’ Is it on Puddles the clown, who’s inconsolably glum while everyone else is laughing and having a good time? Or is the joke on the audience, who think they’re in for a barrel of laughs, but will instead taste the bitter depressing truth? Well, Puddles (who also goes by the name Michael Geier) makes it clear he has no ill intentions.

“It is not my aim to unnerve anyone,” he says. “But feelings are encouraged. Laugh if you feel like laughing. Cry if you feel like crying.

Whatever it is, express it don’t repress it. Society too often expects us to keep a stiff upper lip. That’s nuts. It’s OK to cry. Even us big guys have got to let it out.”

A resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Geier’s been taking the stage in clown garb for several years now. However, it’s only recently that the sevenfoot clown gained significant momentum. This is largely thanks to a cover of Lorde’s Royals, which has travelled around the world since surfacing on YouTube in late 2013. Accordingly, the Pity Party set list includes versions of many other treasured songs, drawn from all over the popular music map – think The Beatles, ABBA, Sia and Bond themes.

“My music director, Father Tim Delaney, arranged all of the songs,” says Geier, “and it’s me and my band playing on all of the tracks.”

In the lead up to this Australian tour, videos of Waltzing Matilda and Slim Dusty’s Pub With No Beer showed up on Puddles’ YouTube page. This leads one to speculate that his song selections are purely based on a mixture of popularity and thematic resonance. Though, that’s not quite true.

“I’m drawn to songs that pick the lock, whether it’s joy or sorrow,” Geier says. “Emotive anthems are my jam. The music goes round and round and it comes out here [points to tears]. Once in a while, I’ll cover a tune at someone else’s request and I might not see the merit in it until I’ve sung it a few times. It’d be difficult to sing a song night after night without having some respect for the material. If I’m not feeling it, I’ll drop it from the set list.”

So, let’s go back to that opening inquiry concerning the source of humour. Could Puddles’ operatic and emotionally soaked reinterpretations of pop songs be a ploy to indicate that pop singers are more or less just clowning around? Once again, the white-

FAULTY TOWERS

faced crooner denies any pointed attack. “I can’t speak for the glamorous pop stars and showbiz peeps, but I know that they are all someone’s son or daughter, and I imagine that they have feelings just like the rest of us.”

Ah-ha, so his essential aim isn’t to poke fun, nor does he endeavour to subject himself to ridicule. It’s a much broader, openminded outcome the towering clown has in mind.

“It’s a pity party,” he says. “We may wallow a while in our darker core, but through fellowship we help each other find the light. It’s like magic – magic that is within each of us, underneath our fear and cynicism and stoicism. Live performance is cathartic. The Pity Party is like therapy for me. It’s a shared experience with the audience. I’d probably go mad without it.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

i

VEN U E : The Hi-Fi - 125 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 12 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 4.30pm) TICK E T S : $25 - $39.90

JASON BYRNE

detail, as long as the detail is going to get people to laugh, that’s fine with me. I don’t mind being too personal. I can be perfectly honest with my life on stage.”

Having conquered his personal demons and flipped them into an hour worth of stand-up, Sylvince returns with a great deal more confidence than what he had 12 months ago. Still, he doesn’t pretend to have cracked a secret code.

“Comedy is always a new challenge,” he says. “Even if you’re doing the same club every night, every crowd is different. So I’m still nervous. There’s a lot of new jokes, I’ve got to make sure they work, so there’s no rest period where I’m like ‘OK I’m good now.’ It’s a whole new challenge. I did like 20 minutes last time, now I’m doing an entire hour. 20 minutes was easy, but now it’s a hour.”

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

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V E N U E : Greek Centre - Aphrodite’s Room, 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $30

20 YEARS A CLOWN

THE DINING EXPERIENCE Basil, Sybil and Manuel return, ready to serve yet more mayhem. In true Faulty fashion, the fun starts as you wait to be seated. It then hurtles along for two hours of rip-roaringly hilarious theatre filled with all the best gags and a three-course meal. And because it’s two-thirds improvised, no two shows are ever the same, so expect the unexpected! Touring the world’s arts centres, theatres and restaurants pretty much all year round and with a permanent home, too, in London’s West End, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is an Australian success story.

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VEN U E : The Aegean Restaurant, 19 Brunswick St, Fitzroy DAT E S : April 7 - 19 (except Monday) TIM E S : 7pm (extra show at 1pm Saturdays & Sundays) TIC K E T S : $79 - $99

MIKE WILMOT

Irish megastar Jason Byrne has been thrilling crowds with his inimitable, frenetic lunacy for 20 years. 20 Years a Clown also marks Byrne’s 10th year in Australia, almost long enough that we can call him our own. His brand of verbose, organised chaos and near legendary stock-in-trade audience participation has seen him coined “the outright king of live comedy” – it’s no surprise he is the biggest selling comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Byrne is a highly sought after TV regular in Australia, appearing on the prestigious Melbourne International Comedy Festival televised galas and The Great Debate every year, as well as Network Ten’s The Project and NZ’s top-rating 7Days on TV3. Byrne’s 10 and 20-year celebration show this year will be unmissable. So don’t.

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V E N U E : The Forum – Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) T I C K E T S : $30 - $45

PABLO FRANCISCO

When Mike Wilmot takes the stage at MICF, there’ll be no ingratiating compliments for the audience, nor will he limit his use of profanity, descriptions of sexual activity or details of prodigious drinking.

Likewise, Wilmot’s shows won’t encompass the twists and turns of a finely sculpted narrative, nor build toward a mawkish resolution.

Really, the chief focus of Wilmot’s stand-up is pretty straightforward.

“My act has always been me – what I’m going through, even that day,” he says. “I’m a comic 24/7, so it’s usually brain to mouth. I’ve never been polished, ever. I go out and I surf the audience for an hour.

There’s a lot of old stuff and new stuff. It’s like water; whatever’s the easiest way it flows, it flows that way.”

Having been a recognised comic for more than two decades, Wilmot’s application to collecting material has become rather obsessive. “I felt guilty about that for years, “ he says. “And then about 15 years in I said ‘Fuck it, I’m proud of being a freak and I’m going to bring my notepad out at funerals. I don’t care.’ It’s the way I do things and it doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Given his typical embrace of edgy, more expressive stand-up, it’s no surprise Wilmot feels at odds with the mainstream comedy environment. “I always thought comedy was a very underground cool thing and sort of got off on that,” he says. “When everybody’s household is watching some fucking stand-up show, with three stand-ups and a celebrity host, or like it is in Britain now where it’s all game shows – I find that when comedy gets too popular, in some cases the audience has become fans of television shows, not fans of live stand-up people. In many cases I’m scared of those people.”

In line with this aversion, Wilmot’s preferred performance scenario isn’t a giant theatre packed with thousands of ticket holding punters.

Oddly enough, he’s in his element in far from glamorous surrounds.

“I have just as much, if not more, fun at open mics where the audience hasn’t paid to get in and I’m not paid to go on,” he says.

“To me that’s the natural comedy. I owe them nothing. I think what comedy should be is a benevolent disorder.”

With this in mind, keep an eye out for Wilmot on the local open mic circuit while he’s in town for MICF. Nevertheless, he’s not a belligerent man, so in spite of his noted preference for haphazard circumstances, Wilmot feels no repulsion towards comedy festivals.

“Doing festivals isn’t like doing nightclubs,” he says. “You can slow down and take the audience on a bit of a stroll in an hour long comedy festival show, and you’re surrounded by positive vibes. There

PAGE 16

Wil Sylvince’s trip to last year’s MICF was his first attempt at performing comedy in Australia. The ironic and self-deprecating Haitian-American had no trouble winning over plenty of Melbourne punters, which encouraged him to put together the show Syllables, Fat, & Celibacy specifically for this year’s festival. Prior to last year’s debut, however, Sylvince wasn’t feeling overly confident.

“I was super nervous,” he says. “I was not sure if some of the references would get mixed up. Comedy is really about knowing stuff. If you don’t know stuff, then you’re not going to get the joke.

So my concern was how much explanation I had to do so I could get into the joke. But then that worked out, because sometimes the explanations turned out to be funny – another bit itself.”

Sylvince’s comedy dips into various aspects of personal life – making frequent reference to his Haitian heritage and relationships with family members. Syllables, Fat, & Celibacy is a curious title, and once again the show’s content is derived from lived experiences.

“I basically talk about my entire life change with my health…basically I’ve been self-helping myself,” he says. “This is a real example but it’s going to sound dumb: I used to walk pigeon toed and I forced my feet to walk outward everyday for three months until I started walking straight. I changed my diet, I stopped having sex with girls that I don’t care about. So that’s basically it, but of course I’m going to talk about other stuff.”

It’s easy to picture a discussion of overweight woes and rejigged sex preferences turning into soppy motivational speaking. Sylvince admits that he finds comedy in darker places, but he doesn’t dwell on the sentimental details.

“Most of my humour comes from serious situations,” he says. “I’m not trying to make everything funny. My thoughts, or the way I process stuff, just happens to be funny, if that makes sense. I just take it and that’s how I process it in my head. For example, in Brazil, I think Brazilians, they bleach their arseholes. So in Brazil I assume if you call someone an arsehole, it’s a compliment. You know, their arseholes are squeaky clean. So that’s how I process it. People are like, ‘Oh anal bleaching,’ but I think it’s a good thing – you can go down to Brazil and call someone an arsehole and they’ll say thank you. But that’s probably a bad example of how I interpret things.

“If something happens to me, if I can turn around and make it funny, it’s going to end up in my standup,” he adds. “So even if I go into

HERE WE GO AGAIN (BACK IN THE OUTBACK)

are a lot of wonderful comedians in [Australia] and they’re in it for the right reasons.”

Wilmot’s not just bootlicking here. He first performed at MICF in 2003, taking out the coveted Barry Award that same year, so he’s very familiar with how it all goes down. We haven’t seen him since 2012, but he’ll return for a full season of shows this year, which appears to genuinely excite him.

“I’m addicted to festivals,” he says. “You meet all the new comedians and you meet all the old bastards like you. If they’re at festivals, 90 per cent chance they’re not bitter old cunts. They’re still positive, they’re still happy and still moving forward. That’s what everybody needs in life – to find as many people as you can that are like that.”

BY AUGUS T U S W E L B Y

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VEN U E : Victoria Hotel - Banquet Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) TICK E T S : $27 - $35

You’d need a crack team of psychologists to conclusively understand Pablo Francisco’s mental state. In conversation, it’s hard to tell where Francisco ends and where the innumerable personalities living inside his head begin. For the past couple of decades, the US stand-up has bewildered audiences the world-over with his spot on impersonations of celebrity icons, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ozzy Osborne and Chris Rock.

“I know everyone does an Arnold Schwarzenegger,” he says. “But they don’t do it like I do. When I do it it’s a different one, he’s getting older. It’s like, ‘I’ll be back,’ no ‘Ow, my back.’ Sylvester Stallone – he sounds like he’s having an orgasm. It’s goofy stuff that shouldn’t hurt anybody.”

The nonsensical rapidity with which Francisco introduces these voices into his standup could lead to the presumption that he’s all style, no content. Yet, despite how frequently he slips into mimicry, it’s not a total gag. Rather, a closer look reveals there’s a critique of the contemporary pop-culture obsession lying beneath the mishmash of voices.

“We all see something that we go, ‘Oh my God’,” Francisco says. “I love it when people put out their ideas. That’s fantastic, but don’t do it to the point where you have a TV show about everything. When I see those things I go, ‘Wow, we can watch people play poker and just sit in that room?’ I recognise it, you recognise it. And it’s stupid, but it’s interesting, just like my act.”

Francisco’s reflective reasoning doesn’t last long. He seems more comfortable offering a demonstrative explanation, courtesy of The Voiceover Dude: “I’ll make fun of Mark Wahlberg. He’s in every movie for crying out loud. ‘Mark Wahlberg’s back again. He’s in Sydney. “Hey Sydney, what’s going on?” Then he’s in Melbourne: “I’m in Melbourne now.” That’s right, he’s in every fucking city, every movie, every TV show, every commercial.’ I’m surprised that he doesn’t make a big statue of himself. It’s hilarious, but everyone loves him, so why not make fun of him?”

Francisco’s MICF appearance is limited to just one show, joined onstage by Steve Kramer. Having been absent from our shores for a few years, Francisco’s eager to bring himself and his internal and external crew of friends back down.

“Australian crowds are like family, but a cool family,” he says. “Here in the United States it’s family, but over there it’s like the cool family – the family that lets you stay out late and the family that lets you drink a beer at their house. It’s a good family. So we’re really, really excited to come down. We’re going to mix it up a little bit, make it a little different. Steve Kramer’s part of the show. He does the animation for our one-hour special. We’re just looking forward to getting down there and trying out our new stuff.”

Francisco’s prominent use of impressions has no doubt led casual observers to regard this as his lone comedic tool. While it seems inevitable the likes of Stallone and Wahlberg will appear in the act at some point, Francisco’s shows are also packed with more in depth material. Nevertheless, he’s not peeved about being recognised purely for the impressions.

“I’ll be known as the comic who does the movie previews voice?

That’s OK with me,” he says. “I don’t mind at all as long as I can use the voice to make fun of other people or to actually make fun of myself. But I’ll never cross the line and bully anybody, because there’s no reason to do that.”

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

i

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PAGE 17

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

TOM BALLARD

URZILA CARLSON

TAXIS & RAINBOWS & HATRED

POISE CONTROL

Tom Ballard tells me he recently painted his fingernails. He was hosting an SBS special on the 37th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, so he was more than excited. “It was amazing fun,” Ballard enthuses. “It was a pretty crazy night. We were trying to cover as much as we could. You can really get distracted by everything that’s happening around – you forget that you’re making a TV show.

Magda [Szubanski]’s amazing and a hero of mine. We were bringing all the crazy glamour and crazy floats and everything, but also trying to tell the stories behind the floats and the messages that we wanted to get out there. I painted my fingernails for it.”

Amazingly, Ballard has already built a reputable comedy career by the age of 25 with extensive work in radio, TV and stand-up. Ballard’s new comedy festival show, Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred, looks set to be his most compelling. “It’s about this taxi driver I had in Newcastle who was a little bit homophobic and sort of recognised me from somewhere and it got very weird,” says Ballard. “I was thinking about what it’s like to be a young gay man in Australia in 2015 and those little moments of homophobia that I come across every now and again. I’m generally very lucky to be who I am and where I am in this place in time, but there’s still those little moments that get into your skin. And the show’s very embarrassing because I talk about my ugly body and it’s a really personal show.

“I think the universal message of the show is everyone has that moment when you’re stopped and questioned about who you are and whether or not you stand up and claim that or not is kind of up to you,” he conveys. “Whether you’re gay or straight, we all have those moments where the fundamental principles we have or the basic nature of who we are is questioned or challenged, and you got to have the courage to try and stand by yourself. When it comes to my sexuality, I’ve been really lucky to have loving and supportive friends and family, and I just know that being gay isn’t a big deal at all, and I will take anyone to task who say there’s something wrong with it because it’s a load of bullshit and I like calling out bullshit and arguing against it.”

As jovial as Ballard is, he’ll be the first to speak up against prejudice and inequality. “I’m a bit of a comedy nerd and obsessive, but I think a lot of my philosophies in life, and I’ve had my mind changed by comedy,” he affirms. “Seeing people from different backgrounds talk really honestly, funnily and engagingly about their life experiences

CELIA PACQUOLA

taught me a lot about the world and that’s the thing I really love about comedy.

“I think because I’m not particularly camp or feminine, sometimes heterosexual people will be able to relate to the dude on stage and I just happen to be gay and telling them about that and my life. Hopefully that can help people understand a bit better where queer people are coming from and how we’re not too scary. I’m about being funny first. It’s a comedy festival, not a preachy festival, but if at the same time I can talk about my human experience and people get something out of that then I think that’s awesome.”

BY CHRI STINE LAN

i

VEN U E S : Swiss Club, 89 Flinders Lane, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall - Cloak Room Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (March 30 only) DAT E S: March 26 - April 19 (except April 6 & 13) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $22 - $29.90

ROSS NOBLE

for saying it.”

As mentioned, Carlson’s stand-up career started just seven years ago, but she’s risen to be one of New Zealand’s foremost comedy exports. For two years running, she’s walked away from the NZ Comedy Festival with the People’s Choice award, and she’s also a regular on NZ television. Yet, in spite of her rapidly growing profile, she’s not hell-bent on being the best of the best.

“I am competitive, but not with this kind of thing, because comedy is so difficult,” she says. “It’s too diverse. It’s down to people’s personal taste. It’s like saying, ‘which colour will win the best colour in the world?’ Who can judge that shit? My favourite colour’s brown. That’s never going to win.

“I want to put on the best show I can,” she adds. “But I think it’s too difficult to get into competitive mode. If we had like a golf day for all the comedians in the middle of it, yeah then I’d go ape shit and try to win that.”

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

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V E N U E : Greek Centre - The Parthenon, 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $30

TANGENTLEMAN

LET ME KNOW HOW IT ALL WORKS OUT Celia returns to the comedy festival with an encore performance of her hit 2014 show. A multi award-winning comic, Celia has made a name for herself both here and overseas appearing at the world’s three major comedy festivals: the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe and the prestigious invite-only Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. Now in 2015, Celia returns to Melbourne with her most revealing stand-up show to date. Why not go to it? She could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

From the moment life begins, societal forces combine to teach us how to behave in accordance with convention. Ultimately, these forces aim to shape each individual into a good honest citizen.

But herein lies a core contradiction, as social conventions tend to inhibit the expression of our most immediate, honest impulses. In her new standup show Poise Control, New Zealand-based South African expat Urzila Carlson voices her frustration at society’s selfcensorship.

“We’ve become so politically correct that nobody actually says what they think or what they feel,” she says. “When you look at kids, they just say whatever. If it pops into their head, it comes out of their mouth. So this show’s about saying what’s on your mind and not taking things too seriously that other people say. If we just aren’t as politically correct, I think we’re all better off.”

Since unexpectedly entering the stand-up arena seven years ago, Carlson’s material has largely been inspired by events from her own life. So, while Poise Control takes aim at the futility of hyperpolitical correctness, she’s not looking for an avenue to launch harsh criticisms at the lives of others.

“I don’t pick on my audience,” she says. “They say public speaking is a thing that scares most people, but I think [the audience] are always petrified when you walk out, because they’re so scared to be picked on. So if I start off with me, it’s a safe topic. I know I won’t be offended by something that I say, and it’s not confronting for them at all. The audience look at me and go, ‘OK, it happened to her. It’s not us, we’re safe’.”

For the construction of Poise Control, Carlson referred back on years of experiences and observations. However, the show was instigated by one event in particular, which underlines why political correctness can’t be combatted until we cease to be so gosh darn sensitive.

“A couple of years ago I had somebody in a hospital refuse to work with my partner and I because we were lesbians,” she says. “Then afterwards the hospital said that I should press charges against this woman. And I said no, because she was honest. When you look at it, I’d rather she be honest than force herself to work with us. Especially in a medical situation, you want somebody that wants to do their job because they’re passionate about it and not have to clench their teeth and force themselves through this horrible situation. Yeah I think she’s an arsehole for saying it, but I also think she’s brave

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VEN U E : Victoria Hotel - Banquet Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 28 – April 18 (Saturdays & Sundays only) TIM E S : 5.30pm (Sundays 4.30pm) TIC K E T S: $30 - $34

BEST OF THE EDINBURGH FEST

Following 14 sell-out tours, the king of improvisational comedy is back with another mind-blowing Australian tour. Ross Noble will be showcasing his talent in his brand new show, Tangentleman. With an on-stage presence like no other, his exuberance, spontaneity and cerebral style have established him as one of the world’s bestloved comedians. The master surrealist uses an infinite imagination and plenty of tomfoolery, which is sure to have audiences in fits of laughter. This is your chance to see one of the world’s most critically acclaimed stand-ups in a hysterical night with Tangentleman.

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V E N U E : Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda DAT E S : April 14 - 18 T I M E : 8pm T I C K E T S : $42.90 - $46.90

HEATH FRANKLIN’S CHOPPER REPEAT OFFENDER

Beat caught up with Canadian John Hastings, who’s performing in MICF for the first time this year. He’s one of three comics performing in the Best of the Edinburgh Fest show with Jimmy McGhie and Chris Martin. How did the show come about? “We’ve been selected by Mary Tobin, to perform together,” he answers. “It’s a curated show.

The show flows nicely. It’s a joy touring with Chris and Jimmy.”

Is there anything Hastings wouldn’t joke about? “I get that question a lot. I haven’t found a funny angle, if I did – but I don’t want to hear dead granny jokes if my granny has just died. If I can get a funny line in.”

What does Hastings think makes him funny? “I tell true to life silly stories. About my relationship, I was born three months premature, stuff like that. I’m long-winded, it might take me three minutes to tell a story, I paint a picture in that laconic Canadian way. It’s a combination of my funny face and my massive head; it’s a wonder my neck hasn’t collapsed. Comedy’s subjective. I talk about me a lot. It’s the niceness of my style. If you make a wrong choice with an audience, you can pinpoint it; you can feel the energy in a room.”

Who does he like to see? “I’m a huge fan of Sam Simmons, Hannah Gadsby, Mickey D, Carl Donnelly, Deanne Smith, Adam Hills. I’m diving deep into Australian comedy now, since I’m here.” Does he find himself thinking about the joke potential of any situation? “I don’t go into a situation thinking that at the end of this I want a joke out of it. I have a cool and interesting life. This year I went from Canada to London to Norway and Australia. Funny, weird things are going to happen.”

Has he Spocked a fiver? (Since Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek’s original Mr Spock, died, Canadian fans have been drawing his image on their five dollar bills) “No. There are economic ramifications to it! They’re not legal tender. The Canadian PM thinks we have nothing better to do and has told the country to stop doing it.” What would happen if Leonard Cohen died? “The whole country would occupy the Chelsea Hotel. It would be four years before we’re done singing all his songs.”

(But Leonard Cohen won’t die cos he’s God and God doesn’t die).

Hastings tells Beat that comedy is so much part of the Canadian

PAGE 18

culture that there are comedy competitions in high schools. We didn’t know that – way cool. He acknowledges the start it gave him. “It gets the creative juices out; it took me on the path I’m on today.” What does his family think about his choice of career? ”My mum’s a professor and my dad’s a media specialist so I come from a whoop de doo white collar background. And they’re pleased as punch. They say, ‘Do whatever you want’.” What did Hastings do before stand-up? “I was a struggling actor, barista, waiter, bar tender.” Believe it or not, Hastings decided to perform stand-up to earn money. “I’m one of the very few comedians who started with that in mind. I quickly learned that’s not the way to approach something involving creativity.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : Forum Theatre - Upstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TICK E T S : $26 - $34.40

Nine years ago, comedian Heath Franklin stopped doing stand-up under his own name and re-emerged as Chopper Read. Based on the infamous Melbourne criminal of the same name, Franklin utilises the Chopper character to issue profanity-heavy criticisms of contemporary issues. Inevitably, the more time Franklin’s spent performing from behind the fake moustache, the more that details from his personal life have seeped into the act.

Eventually, Franklin reached the point where his views had become too forceful, and at last year’s MICF he returned to the stage under his own name. However, this either/ or approach – Chopper or Franklin – wasn’t quite satisfactory. “I was really enjoying the fact that there was all these ideas I had that couldn’t work for Chopper,” he says. “But then I kept writing ideas that could only work for Chopper. It’s become apparent that I’ve got to do both.”

Thus, Chopper comes back to MICF this year for a one-night-only performance of the show Repeat Offender. In Franklin’s portrayal, Chopper holds nothing back when spurning that which riles him. Yet, the caricatured homage also comes across as an all-round good bloke, who you regularly find yourself agreeing with.

“At the end of the day, it’s all just a bunch of words that come out of my head, and it shouldn’t be taken too seriously,” Franklin says. “I’m not advocating violence or anything like that. I’m just saying ‘Things are pretty messed up.’ We may as well have a bit of a giggle about it or it’s a total waste of time.”

Before bringing Chopper back to the stage, Franklin took some time to review what his initial intentions were for the character. “I remembered that way back when I was doing the Ronnie Johns sketches, Chopper was a pretty brutal rant-y dude, and then every now and then he’d do something really, really silly. So I’ve managed to breathe a bit more of that into Chopper, which takes it back to where it started. (S)Hitlist, the last show, was more or less an hour of high-powered winging. But this year there’s a bit more light and shade and silliness and then some hard aggression. It’s a slightly more balanced show.”

While Franklin’s personal experiences and beliefs have influenced the Chopper show over the years, he’s also reaped benefit from the

character’s way of thinking. “Harden the Fuck Up was the first show I did and that was interesting because every time I was winging about being on the road or in a hotel or something, I had no choice but look myself in the mirror and say ‘Harden the fuck up’. Repeat Offender is about losing your shit and being irrational and all that stuff. So in some ways it’s a message to myself to just sit back, chill out and take things easy instead of getting stressed out.”

Because Repeat Offender is coming to MICF for just one night, there’s a strong chance the audience will include many longtime fans. With this in mind, Franklin promises to highlight plenty of the character’s most memorable moments.

“When you do shows, and you live and breathe them and you do them 200 times a year, you forget that most people only see the show once,” he says. “Some people don’t even see it every year, so there are still people out there who really want me to say ‘Harden the fuck up,’ during a show. So it’s been a little bit about that – getting back and being like, ‘If I was a punter that turned up once a year, what would I want to hear’?”

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

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PAGE 19

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

DEANNE SMITH

HEADLINERS

GET INTO IT DeAnne Smith is as personable and charming as she is daring and surprising. A frequent visitor to our shores, the Canadian-American comedian cites Gopals and Lentil As Anything as two of her favourite go-to spots, but her Australian comedy festival tours are significant to her for several reasons. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a comedian in Australia,” she reflects. “I feel very attuned to Australian audiences because I developed a lot there.

“When I first started, people would say that I seemed really comfortable on stage,” Smith recalls. “I would joke around and say, ‘Oh, I seem comfortable on stage because I’m equally uncomfortable everywhere, so it doesn’t really matter – put me anywhere and I have the same anxiety and the same issues’. It’s great to feel like I started off that way, but more and more I’m becoming comfortable on stage and doing comedy has made me more comfortable in the world in general. It really fulfils me on every level.”

As a kid, she watched comedy on TV with her dad: “Back then, I really liked Roseanne Barr and Paula Poundstone, and Ellen DeGeneres, of course. I didn’t know that that’s what I would do, but I remember being curious about how anyone ever arrived at that point. My absolute favourite is Maria Bamford.”

Smith started stand-up comedy a decade ago. “I did my very first open mic and then I just never stopped,” she enthuses. “I would say that it’s definitely the one thing that has really challenged me as a person, so it feels like the right thing. It also brings up all these selfgrowth things for me, like the first time you have a really bad show you need to decide what you’re going to do with that and how you’re going to overcome that and keep going. I learn a lot about myself as I’m doing it, even just in terms of things like fear of commitment. I’ve learned to make plans 18 months in advance because that’s what you have to do with comedy sometimes when booking shows and festivals. And that never felt comfortable to me with anything, but with comedy, I can do it.”

Smith won the Best Female Stand-Up Award at the 2014 Canadian Comedy Awards. Her new show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Get Into It, will be her most personal to date. “I always like doing personal comedy,” says Smith. “I like digging into real issues that I have and making them fun. And so the idea behind Get Into It was to challenge myself to be just as hilarious, but even more personal and digging into more real stuff about life and what

JUDITH LUCY

I find funny.”

Smith is glad that stand-up comedians are increasingly using comedy to address important social issues such as racism, feminism and equality. “I think it’s probably one of the most effective ways of getting a message across because people are entertained and they’re laughing – they’re likely to have their ears open and want to have their ears open to hear what you have to say,” Smith ponders.

“There are always feminist undercurrents or overtones in my work because that’s just how it is. In the past, I’ve definitely taken some swipes at racism. I can definitely say that there will some of that this year and stuff about gay marriage, which is kind of a different topic here than it is in Canada where it’s been legal for ten years.”

Smith believes there’s greater diversity in comedy nowadays: “I feel like there’s more visible and more vocal voices that are not the typical, older, straight, white male voice. I feel like I’ve seen that change in the last ten years.”

BY CHRI STINE LAN

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VEN U E : Greek Centre - Mykonos 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) TICK E T S : $20 - $30

DAVE HUGHES

anything: “I’m always pleased when an elderly person enjoys my show – maybe I’d talked about paedophilia and bestiality and maybe some issues of religion and things that could’ve been viewed as insensitive by a sensitive person – to find that an elderly person does not have a problem with anything at all and is simply delighted, that can be a nice surprise. Nobody’s comedy is for everybody; my comedy isn’t for everybody.

“I was in Alaska once and performing for a fairly conservative and sort of cowboy-ish audience and I remember I was talking a lot about gay marriage and other liberal issues. I remember a man came up to me after and said, ‘I don’t agree with anything you said, but that was really funny and thank you for coming here’. So that’s the kind of thing that makes me not worry or question.”

BY CHRISTINE LAN

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $26.50 - $35

PUMPED

ASK NO QUESTIONS OF THE MOTH Judith Lucy is back on stage with her first new solo show since 2012 and the good news is that her last year really sucked. A truly awful year for Judith always leads to a great show for her fans and 2014 was magnificently terrible. Think death and early menopause and you’ll be in the ballpark. It is 20 years since Judith premiered her groundbreaking solo show King Of The Road at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which saw her literally tap dancing through the story of her adoption and the ill-advised overseas odyssey that followed.

Since then her shows have been unmissable treats, always hilarious, honest and occasionally shocking. Judith doesn’t write a show unless she has something to say and she is more than ready for this one. It is virtually impossible to imagine the Australian comedy scene without Judith Lucy and luckily this year you won’t have to.

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VEN U E S : Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse & Hamer Hall (April 10 only), 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) & April 10 TIM E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) TIC K E T S : $35 - $49.90

HAPPY During most of his classes at school, Khaled Khalafalla was constructing jokes in his head. “In maths, I would daydream about what jokes I would say at recess,” he recalls. “And at recess and lunchtime, I would go out and say all the things I rehearsed in my head and see if I get a laugh, and then go back and try again. I would do that every day.”

Khalafalla listened obsessively to Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy in his youth, but soon realised that he didn’t want to merely recite the lines of his favourite comics. Besides Rock and Murphy, it was comedians like Louis C.K., Hannibal Buress and Patrice O’Neal who influenced not only his comedy, but his rhythm on stage.

“When the opportunity came to do stand-up, I heard about RAW Comedy,” he says. “The first time I did it, I didn’t even get past the first round. And then two years later, I got through to the grand final. I think it was a good lesson that you’re not naturally funny if you think you are – it’s still a different language that you have to learn. At every point, I keep going, ‘Am I a comedian?’ I do a good set and I go, ‘Yeah, I’m a comedian,’ and then I might do a bad set and I go, ‘Am I a comedian? I don’t even know’. I have to keep learning to figure out whether I’m a comedian or not. I think that’s going to be a question on my head until I’m 40 years in the game.

Khalafalla was born in Saudi Arabia to Egyptian parents and lived there for about seven years. “I was young, so I didn’t have the mental capacity to even understand the politics or the gender roles or finance or jobs or education,” he considers. “I just remember the sun, the beach and my house. I grew up in Egyptian households speaking Egyptian Arabic and I would go outside and meet people who are speaking the Saudi Arabian dialect, which is still Arabic, but I didn’t understand it at all. So I was basically a foreigner in a country I was born in.”

His family then moved to New Zealand before moving to Australia.

“A lot of my formative adolescent years, building who I was and my character, happened in New Zealand,” says Khalafalla. “I lived in Townsville for a year, went down to Bendigo and then to Melbourne. I went from Shari’ah capital of the world to rural farming towns in New Zealand to rural areas in North Queensland and then to Melbourne.”

Khalafalla is one of the country’s most exciting new comics, and runs a great comedy room in Springvale called Shisha Comedy.

Hughesy’s back and he’s fully pumped up! At the end of 2013 he threw in the towel on The Project and his breakfast radio show, returning full-time to his first love – stand-up. Dave then spent 2014 on the road, performing more than 200 full length shows across Australia and around the world with shows in Montreal, London and Edinburgh, bringing his family along for much of the tour. After a big year on the road Dave is sharper than ever, loving each and every stand up gig from the sold out concert halls to the tiny clubs – as long as there’s a mic and an audience, he’s happy. Simply put, Hughesy is one of Australia’s best stand-up comedians at the height of his powers. Don’t miss his new live show at this year’s comedy festival.

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V E N U E : The Comedy Theatre, Cnr Exhibition & Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 24 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7.30pm (Sundays 6.30pm) T I C K E T S : $30 - $45

CHRIS TAYLOR & ANDREW HANSEN

KHALED KHALAFALLA

PAGE 20

Myq Kaplan is one of the stars in the sublime American lineup for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Headliners show, which also features Cristela Alonzo (the first Latina to write, produce and star in her own sitcom), Hari Kondabolu (former writer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell) and Wyatt Cenac (former writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). A Last Comic Standing finalist.

Kaplan’s new show is sure to engage, surprise and amuse. “A lot of the stuff I’m working on right now is about not wanting children,” says Kaplan. “If you want them or have them, I’m fine for you to keep them, but a lot of the jokes are about how I’ve come to this and what it means for me to not have and not want to have children. But it’s a show that anyone who has any number or any amount of desire for or against children to enjoy.”

Kaplan grew up in New Jersey and says that his parents – while of Jewish heritage – are not particularly religious. His mum did want him to have a spiritual upbringing, though, so that he wouldn’t run away and join some cult. He eventually came to the decision that he was an atheist. “Whoever’s teaching what you believe in, they pretty much say, ‘Be nice to each other and be nice to the world’,” he considers. “So whether you’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do for no reason or because somebody said so – that’s my general belief system: make the world as nice as possible. You can make your own rules and find people who like your rules and play with them, and people who don’t like your rules don’t play with them.”

Music was Kaplan’s primary pursuit before he discovered he could talk more as a comedian. With a master’s degree in linguistics, Kaplan has always had a way with words. “Comedy clubs allowed me on their stage,” he says. “I played my funny songs there and talked a little bit in between them, and talking was what grew into me not doing anything but talking. I didn’t grow up watching a lot of comedy, but since I came to it, my first favourite was probably Mitch Hedberg. I love an assortment of people who are all different like Maria Bamford, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Andy Kindler, Paul F. Tompkins and Reggie Watts. My goal as a comedian is to say things that I think are funny and are important to me; the goal is always to be funny, and if it can be, it’s always about something that I think is important, that I care about or is meaningful to me or present in my life right now.”

Kaplan has had so many different reactions to his comedy over the years that it’s difficult for him to be particularly surprised by

IN CONVERSATION WITH LIONEL CORN

Although he’s addressed some racial and social issues in his comedy, it’s not his aim. “I just care about being funny,” he affirms.

“I do something and people go: ‘Oh, I like the way he’s breaking down stereotypes and really breaking down that social barrier and bridging the majority and the fringes’ – that’s not my aim, even remotely. The only person I can represent is myself. The moment I start going, ‘I’m trying to have a message’ then I become a political comic, and then it all goes downhill from there.”

The Melbourne comedian’s Muslim faith informs him only on a subconscious level when it comes to his comedy. “I’m not thinking about how to establish myself as a Muslim comic,” he says. “My religion and race have very little to do with what I’m saying in my next show. My next show is going to be about feminism and gay marriage. I’ve deliberately picked topics that are quite broad and that people will have opinions about for the majority of my lifetime and my career.”

BY CHRISTINE LAN

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VEN U E : Little Sista - The Upstairs Lounge, 240 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 7 – April 19 (except Monday) TIM E : 8.30pm TICK E T S : $15 - $25

Few comedians challenge authority figures and institutions to the point of being listed on security lists, but Andrew Hansen, Chris Taylor and the Chaser team are among those few. In 2007, the Chaser team were listed as a threat to then US Vice President Dick Cheney.

“It’s funny that we went through a period where they regarded comedians as some kind of security risk,” says Hansen, as we chat over a morning coffee. “Everything we’ve ever done is completely harmless, but I think as a result of a lot of media beat-ups, we were seen as dangerous in some way. So if we turned up to an event, everybody would panic as if disaster was going to ensue.”

After working on numerous TV shows, radio programs and publications with The Chaser, Hansen and Taylor are making their Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut with In Conversation with Lionel Corn. Their comedy festival show will be a send-up of Q&A events at film festival sessions/nerd conventions, which typically involve the cast of Star Wars or Doctor Who or a big name director, actor or chief writer being interviewed on stage and then asked ridiculous questions by the audience. Hansen describes Lionel Corn as “a hybrid of every celebrity that’s ever done these kind of interviews. He’s part Stephen Fry and he’s part Paul McCartney and he’s part George R. R. Martin. He enables us to make fun of a lot of different areas of the entertainment industry.”

The Chaser’s War On Everything pushed boundaries, earned awards, gained a cult following, and led to international broadcasts and a few arrests. Did they achieve what they set out to do with that show? “I was reasonably happy with it,” Hansen ponders. “I think it was patchy like most comedy shows because we were trying out a lot of new stuff. It was a quirky, experimental and dark show, which normally wouldn’t have gotten the kind of ratings that it got, and I think it ended up being a problem for the show because a whole lot of people were watching it who it really wasn’t for and who didn’t really know what to make of it and ended up getting offended a lot of the time. It should’ve just been a niche show.

“I’m not interested in appealing to a broad audience,” says Hansen.

“I personally don’t like most shows that have mass appeal as a viewer, so the shows that I want to make are generally pretty quirky and strange because that’s just what turns my dial up. The kind of comedy that I’m really into, personally, is more wacky stuff – characters and silly stories. I’m much more excited by Curb Your Enthusiasm or Monty Python or The Goodies than I am by The Daily Show or John Oliver’s show. I don’t dislike those shows, but they’re not what I’m hungry to watch.”

Hansen believes it’s important to have the freedom to use comedy and satire to critique political and social issues. “We should be able to make jokes about authority figures and institutions,” he affirms. “Freedom has been such a grey area – who knows what we’re allowed to say, but I do wish people got less offended about jokes. I think it’s a sad day which we’ve reached where comedy writers, like myself, are actually nervous about saying anything at all. But at the same time, I don’t think you should deliberately set out to offend religious people just because you want to – I think that’s a bad thing. Even if you’re not religious yourself or even if you think that religion is silly or whatever, so what? Some people hold all those notions very dear.”

BY CHRISTINE LAN

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PAGE 21

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

GREG FLEET

GRETA LEE JACKSON

AD LIB-ORATION

MURDERNERD

2015 might be the year Greg Fleet is run off his feet. “Things are going along swimmingly. I’ve got a book (Junkyard) coming out, the play (This is Not A Love Song) and the new show. It’s all sort of happening at once, it’s great.”

This festival, Fleet presents a new hour of improvised standup comedy, Ad Lib-Oration, partly inspired by his experiences with Setlist. “I’ve been doing [Setlist] in Adelaide, I’ve done it in Melbourne quite a bit and overseas. It’s where comics get up on stage and they get topics of what they have to talk about flashed up on a screen. You have no time to prepare, you just have to go into it,” Fleet explains. “I love it. Having said that, the last time I did it, I died...which is the first time that’s happened, but I knew it was inevitable. It had to come. I had actually gotten away with it far too many times.”

An acclaimed veteran of the Australian comedy scene, Fleet is largely unphased by failure. In fact, it’s an integral part of the fun. “You don’t go out of your way to fail, but you have to embrace the possibility that you will. When it crashes, you’ve almost got to embrace it. You can’t pretend it hasn’t happened,” he explains. “There’s a perverse excitement for the audience, too. They obviously feel comfortable in your hands and that you’re going to do well, but they also know that at any moment, it can be derailed. There’s a car-crash kind of enjoyment in that.”

It’s a funny way to get your kicks, but Fleet prefers to keep things fresh, his new show a deliberate departure from traditional stand-up.

“I’ve done that so many times. I actually thought that I was becoming stale with it. I think audiences would probably agree that I was getting locked into this thing,” he suggests. “This time around, I’m really excited by the play, by Ad Lib-Oration, by the book. Hopefully that means they’ll be successful. The advice I always give young comics, is that if you’re having a really good time, the audience will be having a really good time. If you’re stressing out - or, God forbid, bored - the audience will be feeling the same.”

Lately, Fleet has enjoyed putting his own spin on the phrase ‘clean comedy’. “I’m really embracing being able to think really fast and being really funny, the more together I am. I’m quite happy to get completely smashed after the gig, but the more together I am when I’m doing the show, the better it is. I worked that out through trial-

Since when is murder funny? It isn’t, but comic Greta Lee Jackson has made a comedy show, Murdernerd, out of people’s excuses for committing murder. “I’ve always been obsessed with true crime,’ she notes. “It’s so outside my world, so beyond what I know as normal.

There’s a perverse schadenfreude about it, I guess. I haven’t had to kill anybody.” Good to know. “People’s reasons for committing murder are fascinating. People think they can get away with it. I love doing stand-up, and I have this obsession so I started thinking about how I could bring the two together. My love of comedy and my love of murder! People told me it was impossible but I did a show in Sydney in 2013 and it was a sell-out. I was experimenting with performance art and thought I could make something successful out of this.”

What led Jackson into comedy to begin with? “Some friends signed me up for RAW Comedy in 2011. I had no choice!” But she was a natural and wound up getting into the NSW State Finals. After studying at the Improv School at the University of California, Berkley, and the Groundlings School, Jackson’s now back in Sydney and busy with a web series called Skit Box, a show touting itself as ‘comedy by women for everybody’. She’s also involved with Fresh Blood, an initiative from ABC Entertainment TV and Screen Australia, making the pilot to a show called Wham Bam, Thank You Ma’am.

Jackson has been in the States working as a TV editor and having her photo taken at famous murder sites like OJ Simpson’s house and where Jodi Arias committed her crime. What did she think of the Serial podcast? “I was really happy at how popular it became.

It became everybody’s thing.” While in the US, Jackson appeared as a presenter on Oxygen now, as an expert commentator on a show about killers called Snapped. “That job was a dream come true. It was a bit weird cos they couldn’t refer to me as a comedian on the show so they said I was an ‘investigative journalist’. But I did do a journalism degree!”

Jackson started off following stories of serial killers but reckons she got too weirded out. “They were just too crazy, too nuts, too full on.

With serial killers, seen one, seen ‘em all.” Really? To any charge that she may be trivialising the ghastly, Jackson has this to say: “You have to see the show. I’d never make light of a victim or the circumstances of a victim. I’m ridiculing the criminals, the perpetrators who think they can get away with it. When you hear their defenses in court

and-error. I think one day I forgot to drink and went, ‘Oh my God, I can think about three things at once! This is good’!”

Fleet’s upcoming book, Junkyard, will shed harsh light on his past vices. “There’s a big chapter on meth and there was a couple of heavy heroin things. I was writing a couple of thousand words a day. I would get up early and be done by lunchtime. Usually I would feel great, I’d go ‘I’ve done my work! Awesome! I can watch documentaries, chill out and whatever!’ But occasionally, I’d get up and think, ‘Ugh, what’s wrong? Why do I feel terrible? Am I hungover?’

The penny dropped in due course. “Oh, I know what’s wrong: I’ve just re-lived one of the bleakest, most extreme things I’ve ever done. Occasionally [writing Junkyard] was pretty gruelling but I’m also really proud of what I did. Well, I’m not proud of what I did,” he laughs.

BY NICK MASON

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VEN U E S : Little Sista - The Upstairs Lounge, 240 Lt Collins St, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (on Mondays) DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 TIM E : 10.30pm (Mondays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $20 - $29

you think ‘Are you serious?’ Families of victims often scoff at the behaviour of killers in court. I’m not making light of crime, I’m exposing the ridiculous beliefs behind the motivation. Taking a life is never justified. I’m against the death penalty.”

Was Jackson into Dexter? “No, I wasn’t interested in Dexter or CSI cos it’s fabricated. I’m not interested in violence, I’m not a violent person in any way, it’s the psychology of the murderer that interests me. There’s a very famous case in the States, where woman, Jodi Arias, murdered her ex-boyfriend. On the page, we’re the same woman; we might both be going through a bad break-up, but where I walked away, she chose to kill her ex. I take a look at the dark side of humanity, at what goes wrong.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : Little Sista - The Upstairs Lounge, 240 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E : 9.30pm T I C K E T S : $15 - $25

THE UMBILICAL BROTHERS

CAL WILSON UNDERCURRENTS Cal returns to Melbourne with a brand new hour of straight ahead stand-up, reminding us all why she is one of Australia’s best comedians. Hilarious, fearless and assured, Cal is a world-class stand-up. She is one of the few (adopted) Australians to have appeared three times at the prestigious, invitation-only Montreal Just for Laughs festival. She then stormed the Edinburgh Fringe when she returned last year off the back of her appearances on QI. It was Cal’s first Edinburgh in 10 years and she was greeted by five-star reviews.

This will be one of the funniest hours on this year at the comedy festival. Don’t miss your chance to peek below the surface at one of Australia’s finest comedians

KIDSHOW (NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN)

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VEN U E S : Swiss Club, 89 Flinders Lane, CBD &

Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (April 18 only) DAT E S : March 26 – April 29 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm and April 18 5pm) TIC K E T S : $25 - $32

TRIPOD & THE MELBOURNE

The Umbilical Brothers return to Melbourne for one week only with their internationally acclaimed hit show: KiDSHoW. It contains violence, sexual references, drug-taking and frequent coarse language. Drawing on their experience making an actual children’s TV show with Sesame Street (the award-winning Upside Down Show), the boys have created a show that is absolutely not suitable for children. With the best will in the world, Dane (David) and Shavid (Shane) come onstage to perform a fun show for the kids, with singing, dancing, audience participation and storytelling. Unfortunately the audience is made up of nothing but

adults - and if there’s one thing adults don’t want to see, it’s a kids show.

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V E N U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 31 - April 5 T I M E S : 6.45pm (Sundays 5.45pm) T I C K E T S : $35 - $42

MATT OKINE

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THE OTHER GUY

THIS GAMING LIFE For many months, the Triforce (Tripod) has been sealed away in the sacred realm (community building). Legend speaks of its power (comedy festival show). In case you aren’t fluent in gratuitous Zeldaspeak, though, here’s the sitch: acclaimed music comedy trio Scod, Yon and Gatesy are set to present an exciting new show, This Gaming Life.

A passion for video gaming runs deep within Tripod, from the proud proclamation that they’re each “first generation gamers”, to negotiating as a group which console they will each purchase. All three were taken with gaming from an early age. “I used to go and visit my Nanna at Rye,” Simon Hall, aka Yon, recalls. “There was a mini golf centre nearby. It had mini golf, slot cars and pinball machines.

Then, about a year after going there, Space Invaders appeared.”

Equally, Scott Edgar - aka Scod - reserves a fondness for the game that soon proved iconic. “I remember the feeling of seeing Space Invaders for the first time and going, ‘This is for me. I am in. I am hooked, already’!” he gushes. “I hadn’t even touched the thing yet. I’ll never forget that, seeing the bullet hit the little block and the bit of the block going away and just going, ‘This is a whole new ball game’.”

Growing up, Steven Gates - aka Gatesy - fancied himself a “computer guy”, favouring the Amiga 500. But one day, Nintendo landed a critical hit. “ I remember my girlfriend having a Nintendo, an NES. She sat me down and we played Super Mario Bros 3, which was fucking unbelievable. That blew my mind a bit. It changed me. I started becoming a Nintendo guy, then Super Nintendo. Our first touring rig was a Nintendo 64, four-way couch-gaming sort of stuff... nothing was close.”

Tripod’s new show is their love letter to video gaming. However, much like the Water Temple in The Ocarina of Time, there’s a complexity about it. “It’s about us, really, but video games are the backdrop. It’s about subculture and the relationships within and how being a gamer affects the relationships you have with people who aren’t gamers,” explains Hall.

“With every song we wrote, we were looking at it through the prism of, ‘If I didn’t know about games, would I still like this’?” adds Edgar.

“Not only that, but, ‘What’s this about?’ For me, if it’s not about relationships and people and people’s humanity, in some way, then

PAGE 22

what are you doing?”

Tripod have been collaborating with Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory and, this festival, have the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at their disposal over two evenings at Hamer Hall. On the surface, This Gaming Life seems like the greatest undertaking of their entire career. “What I like about it, is that it’s actually quite a simple idea. It’s ambitious in a lot of ways, in terms of the amount of work that’s gone into it, but it’s not like we’re trying to twist some weird-arse, multi-layered concept-thing into shape,” explains Edgar.

“Ambitious in terms of all the bells and whistles, absolutely. We’ve put so much into it.”

“We’re going to be jumping out of our skins,” Hall declares. “For a start, just hearing our music played by 60 other people is going to be a huge buzz.”

“The scale is the most fucking petrifying element, but the most exciting for me,” reveals Gates. “Having an orchestra be the backdrop of something we’re really passionate about, that’s just mindblowing to me. I’m pinching myself that we’ve finally got that opportunity. We’ve been dreaming about this forever.”

BY NICK MASON

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VEN U E : Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : April 17 & 18 TIM E : 7.30pm TICK E T S : $60 - $65

Have you ever been cheated on? Perhaps you keep this painful experience a secret out of embarrassment or just because it hurts too much to talk about it. Matt Okine doesn’t think this should be the case. In The Other Guy, he’ll be opening up in front of thousands about the infidelity that tore apart his relationship of nine years.

“When that sort of thing happens to you, it makes you feel like you’re not good enough,” he explains. “So that’s why everyone keeps it hidden. There’s so much shame that comes with that situation that it makes you feel like you’re embarrassed. You’re embarrassed by the amount of trust you showed in someone.

“But I refuse to be ashamed of anything that happens in my life anymore. I’m just a person and I’m sure there’s millions going through the same things as me and I don’t see the point of keeping anything private. If more people shared stuff that was deemed ‘private’, then maybe you wouldn’t have young boys killing themselves and feeling inadequate.”

Some of Okine’s acquaintances question whether he is “oversharing”, but he dismisses this idea. Instead, he firmly believes that discussing these issues may assuage the suffering of others.

“People should know that this shit happens, and there’s ways to get over it. And I’m not just talking about relationship issues, I’m talking about status issues – status anxiety, which is not feeling good enough compared to your friends – and not feeling adequate enough about what you look like. I talk about all that sort of shit in the show this year, that if I’d seen a show like this before, I would definitely just realise that I wasn’t alone.

“I went through a terrible stage of status anxiety when I was 23 and I moved to Sydney, and I’m living on my sister’s couch, and I was like, ‘Where I am in this whole world? Do I live up to expectations?’ I was paranoid about how little money I was making. I felt inadequate.

Money, jobs, to how many girls I’ve had sex with – I felt like, ‘Oh my god I haven’t had sex with enough girls, I’m not man enough’. It was so stupid. I was just a regular 23-year-old going through all that sort of stuff, so now I feel like if I was the same 23-year-old watching the show, I’d realise that none of it matters.”

Okine was once a rising star in comedy. No longer. The dude has gone supernova, hosting triple j breakfast radio, supporting Dave Chappelle and selling out shows on a national tour (“It is nice to

stop every now and then and enjoy the fresh smell of sourdough you can now afford,” he quips). Along with Damien Power, Okine possesses a deft ability to make you laugh while challenging your preconceived beliefs about complex, serious issues.

“All my shows have been about something important to me, and that’s why I do a show,” Okine says. “If I didn’t want to do that, I’d do comedy clubs and tell dick jokes and I’d be fine. My first show was about my mum dying, my second show was about dealing with money, my third show was half about getting arrested and ending up in a street fight, and this one’s about my relationship falling down. On paper, they all sound fucking terrible! They all sound like the basis of an episode of The Bold & The Beautiful!

“But the reality is there’s humour in everything, and it’s when you balance those serious moments with the light side that you make a good show. What makes a good show is not the jokes, but what you say in between them. I live by that rule. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be talking about my relationship breaking down and things going to shit, but I’ve also got my killer bread material still.”

B Y N I C K TA R A S

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V E N U E : Victoria Hotel – Banquet Room, 215 Little Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $29.90

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PAGE 23

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ALAN BROUGH & CASEY BENNETTO

AUNTY DONNA

THE NARELLES If you were tuned into Melbourne’s rock’n’roll underground in the late 1980s, you might remember a little band called The Narelles. Then again, you might not. Formed in 1988, the band led by Alan Brough and Casey Bennetto never got the big break they were looking for.

Still, The Narelles stayed together for 16 years, coming up against drug addiction, press attention (or lack thereof) and financial turmoil along the way.

“It was off and on until 2004 when we officially called it a day,” says Brough. “And now we’re back together ten years later. [Casey and I] certainly weren’t getting on the way we had got on and I think that, in a way, the only thing that saved us was taking a total break.”

When The Narelles kicked off, they weren’t exactly virtuosic musos, but they more than made up for this in sheer enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the band had a very exact stylistic agenda from the get-go, which veered away from the era’s prevalent trends.

“We very much went out own way,” Brough says. “There was a lot of people surfing that late-‘80s/early-‘90s Madchester scene – the baggy jeans, the club beats with guitars and bass over them. The Stones Roses, Inspiral Carpets, that sort of thing. But we were a lot rawer, which may’ve been because I couldn’t play my instruments very well. But post-punk and overdriven, distorted rock’n’roll hides a lack of technical proficiency.”

In the lead up to The Narelles run of comeback shows, the group’s 1989 lead single (We’re) The Narelles has been re-released. The song packages together punching, pub-rock verses with choruses that nod towards early ‘80s British Indie pop. Another immediately noteworthy feature of (We’re) The Narelles is the track’s humourous lyrics, commencing with the line “Well I’m 21 and I demand the right to be a social leper on a Saturday night.”

“That was always a thing we concentrated on,” Brough says. “One of the things that we wanted to do to lift us above the miasma of bands that were around was to engage people not just musically but with comedy. There’s a good tradition of that – Spizzenergi, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The Narelles always focused on trying to enrich the musical experience by making it funny. So

we are as close to somebody like Los Trios Ringbarkus as we are to the Twerps.”

This characteristic explains why the band’s chosen to coordinate their return with this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Brough – who plainly denies the project is in any way farcical – outlines the nature of the forthcoming gig series. “Most of it will be our songs, some old, some new,” he says. “It’s going to be loud, it’s going to be fast. We’ll remind people of some of the highlights of our careers. But the majority of the time will be us playing our guitars, playing our basses. It’s very much a rock’n’roll gig.”

So even if The Narelles never crossed your radar in the past, it doesn’t mean you can’t join them to celebrate this triumphant reunion. “One of the reasons that bands get back together is that you put aside all the bad things that happened and remember that the thing that started you going was how much fun it was to be onstage with each other playing music,” Brough says. “It was a bit like getting back together with someone you split up with. You know, you go out a couple of times, you see whether things are still there and you realise that life/music is better with this person around.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

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VEN U E : Trades Hall - New Ballroom Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $25 - $34

Aunty Donna is Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane on stage supported by sound guy Thomas Armstrong, cowriter and director Sam Lingham and film production guy Max Miller.

They have been working together since they met at Ballarat Uni (now Federation Uni).

Their new show doesn’t have a title, which obviously doesn’t tell us anything on the surface. Beat asks Bonanno, one of the founders and performers, about what we might find. “It’s a lot of fun,” he answers. “It’s a brand new show, nothing that is up on YouTube - it’s 100 per cent brand new. We performed in Edinburgh last year and did a ‘best of’ so some of those sketches were three or four years old; it’s exciting to be doing a completely new show.”

Aunty Donna’s reputation as high octane sketch comedy is ballooning fast. They’ve got a strong following on their YouTube channel and participate regularly in the ABC’s i-View Fresh Blood initiative. Performing live and performing for the camera are two different things – how does one affect the other? “You’ve got to approach them differently,” says Bonanno. “We’re trained actors, so we’re at home on stage. The difference is in who we collaborate with.

The theatre stuff is a much more physical thing, we form our stage shows on our feet but with film we sit down to talk about it and think quite hard about how we’re going to do it, we start on stage and adapt it to film; that seems to be the basic difference between them.” So does the material they perform on stage translate well to film? “For example, we did a montage on stage of time passing – a live montage is inherently funny because it’s usually filmic, you see them in film. When you do it on film, it’s just a montage. So we had

ADAM HILLS

LAWRENCE MOONEY

CLOWN HEART

SURELY NOT!

Australian audiences haven’t seen much of Adam in the last couple of years. In 2012, Adam’s nightly talk show for the London Paralympics, The Last Leg, was a runaway hit. So much so that Channel 4 continued the show beyond the games and signed Adam up as one of the channel’s key stars. The Last Leg is still on air with Adam in the chair and season five now showing. This is no overnight success. Adam has been working in the UK since his first Edinburgh season in 1997. He went on to be nominated for the super prestigious Perrier Award three times and toured relentlessly, splitting his time between the UK and Australia. Clown Heart will be a strictly limited season, squeezed in between Adam’s UK TV commitments. So don’t think twice – this show will completely sell out. Hurry and book now or live to regret it.

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : ACMI - Cube, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $22 - $27

As Seen on Dirty Laundry Live and It’s A Date, Lawrence Mooney presents his brand new show. Surely Not! is Lawrence’s reaction to most of the shit he sees. Come and hear him spew vitriol, it’ll be ace.

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VEN U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 31 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9.15pm (Sundays 8.15pm) TIC K E T S : $40 - $44.90

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V E N U E S: Forum Theatre - Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD (March 26 - April 5) & Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (April 14 - 19) DAT E S : March 26 - 28, 31 - April 5, 14 - 19 T I M E S : Forum Theatre: 7pm (Sunday 6pm), Melbourne Town Hall: 9.45pm (Sunday 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $25 - $34

DAVID WILLIAMS

LUISA OMIELAN

COOL GENES MAN

WHAT WOULD BEYONCE DO?!

Most stand-ups love a good a dick joke. As such, they’re always looking for new ways to justify their inclusion. On the surface, David Williams’ new show Cool Genes Man – a tale of him donating sperm to a lesbian couple – seems like an elaborate ploy to carry on about his almighty wang. However, the show’s premise is no mere fantasy.

“I knew this couple since we were teenagers,” Williams says. “They’ve been together forever. I guess lesbian couples don’t really know too many guys, so, because I was their mate, they asked me. Straight away I was like ‘Yeah totally.’ Then afterwards I was like, ‘Oh man, I probably should’ve spoken to my folks about it, considering it’ll be their first grandchild’. But at the time, I just went ahead like a teenager.”

OK, so it actually happened, but is the story of Williams jacking into a cup an adequate foundation for an entire comedy show? Well, while the physical details aren’t left untouched, that’s only the beginning.

“My role in the whole thing is pivotal,” he says. “But it’s also a bit of an exploration of same sex parenting and why I reckon it’s completely functional and excellent. So there’s some fairly brutal comparisons between the supposedly sanctified family unit and a same sex couple that want a child. You have to really want a child if you’re a same sex couple. There’s no accidents.

“I meet dudes at the pubs all the time in the rural areas and outer suburban areas who have these big gangster tatts of ‘Jaden’ or ‘Shareeka’ or something like that. I’m like, ‘Who’s that?’ ‘That’s my daughter. I love her eh. Nah, I love her so much eh. I haven’t seen for like five years, but she’s me heart’n’soul.’ And you feel like going, ‘Really? I reckon you probably want to put in a bit more effort.’ A tattoo doesn’t say love like a good role model and perhaps an education does.”

Although never an utter goofball, in the past, Williams’ stand-up has tended towards physical gags and zany subject matter. Evidently, Cool Genes Man marks a shift in his stand-up approach. “Usually all of my comedy has been about impersonal things, just conceptual things,” he says. “I’ve never really had anything to say either. I’m a fairly privileged, middle class white guy in Australia, reasonably educated, reasonably socially aware. But I’ve never really had a cause, I’ve never done anything extraordinary before. So I guess this is the first big point of difference that I thought would set me apart.

“This is very scary!” confesses Luisa Omielan, still adjusting to her surroundings. “I’m on a three month tour of a country I’ve never been to before to do my first solo show. It’s pretty high up there in terms of adventure.”

Omielan has a huge three months ahead of her in Australia, touring her wildly successful debut show, What Would Beyonce Do?! The story behind the show is a classic case of courage in the face of adversity. Essentially, when life gave Omielan lemons, she made lemonade. “My show started because I was heartbroken over a boy.

I was on the beach and I was like, ‘Thank the Lord he dumped me!’

Dump me again - dump me three times - because I’m in Australia!

Hallelujah!”

There’s many ways to bounce back from a broken heart, but Omielan has set the bar sky high: What Would Beyonce Do?! became one of the most successful debut shows in Edinburgh Fringe history. It’s vindication for Omielan, whose persistence in pursuing her dreams has begun to pay off. “I had no agent, no PR, no industry interest.

Nobody was interested me. I had been gigging for years. This was my life: I wanted to do comedy. I did it throughout college, at university and I had been pursuing it for a long time,” Omielan reveals. “I put (this show) on and my only goal was to make the audience go batshit. I was like, ‘Just make the audience go crazy. Okay, the industry isn’t interested, but I know the audience: when I kill it, they love me. I’ve just got to find a way to make them leave feeling like, wow, that was amazing. So I just started focusing on that.”

There were promising signs early on, What Would Beyonce Do?! demonstrating the hallmarks of a cult-hit. “What was amazing, was the amount of people that identified with it. Then I started getting an audience - quite a hardcore following in the UK - and a majority that don’t normally go to comedy nights.” “(Comedy can be) quite male and can be a bit chauvinistic and can be an ugly environment to be in...whereas, in my audiences, it’s a lot of women that wouldn’t normally go to a stand-up night and they absolutely love it,” explains Omielan. ”They leave and they feel very empowered and very good about themselves and they message me and tell me. I won’t lie, they go crazy. In London, they go absolutely mental. They leave bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, like ‘Whoa that was amazing! I can conquer the world!’ And you’re like, ‘Yeah, you can!

PAGE 24

to sit down and work out how to make it funnier. You think about sketch in different ways, you think about layers of jokes, ideas we didn’t have before.”

Bonanno describes the upcoming show as high-energy and crazy.

“It’s a bit different, it’s sketch but with a difference. We want to challenge the form, bring another exciting layer to it,” he says. “Our style is to fit in the most amount of sketches as we can, make quick transitions, add a little looseness to the show. It’s not improv, it’s scripted; it’s a lot of fun. If you’ve only seen us on YouTube it will really surprise you. It’s really different. We’re engaged with the medium of theatre. It’s in your face, we like to grab people and shake them up a bit.” Not literally, we hope.

Also, the whole subject is just loaded with gags.”

Yes, in terms of abundant humour and thought-provoking substance, this real-life event has been a godsend for Williams. Yet, he didn’t start working on the show immediately after the genes transfer occurred.

“This happened years ago,” he says. “Out of respect for the family I chose not to. It was on the parents’ prodding, saying ‘You should talk about this in your stand-up.’ You know, to alleviate a lot of the embarrassed tension that happened between friends, in this really awkward circumstance, we would joke about it lots. So it was their prodding that made me do this show.”

This prodding has succeeded in bringing Williams to Melbourne for a full season of comedy festival shows. “At festival shows you can explore social issues in greater detail than you can when you’re doing a front bar of a pub that is a free show,” he says. “With that longer format you get to stretch your intellectual legs a bit more.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

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VEN U E S : Trades Hall - The Evatt Room, Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (on Mondays) TIM E S : 8.30pm (7.30pm Sundays) TICK E T S : $17 - $24

You go get ‘em!’”

Omielan’s message of empowerment began to take on a life of its own. Her season at Edinburgh was enough to confirm that she was onto something special. “Seeing the queues, I was like, ‘Is this for me?!’ Now I cry when it’s not sold out!” she laughs. “ Not only has Omielan earned a following, but critical acclaim. Of course, with high praise comes enormous pressure, but Omielan is up to the challenge. “I want this show to be bigger, I want more people to see it,” she declares. “I want this show to be famous around the world. I want everyone to see this show because I think it is an important show and I love how it makes people feel. It is pressure, but I’m confident in the show. It just speaks for itself. I just hope Australia gets on board with it and I hope they enjoy it and I hope I can give them a good time.”

BY NICK MASON

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E S : Swiss Club, 89 Flinders Lane, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall - Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (April 8 only) DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (on Mondays) T I M E S : 9.30pm (8pm Sundays & 9.45pm April 8) T I C K E T S : $20 - $28

Presents

LEHMO

CHRIS N I L K N A R F

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PAGE 25

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

THE IMPROV CONSPIRACY

DAVID QUIRK THRASHER

BEAR ATTACK Unlike other live performance mediums, such as dramatic plays, music recitals or ballet, comedy shows tend to place high value on spontaneity. Nowhere during MICF will this be more evident than with the longform improvisation work of Bear Attack. The Melbournebased four-piece willfully enter the festival without the faintest idea what their 12 shows will include. However, one detail is guaranteed.

“There’s generally at least one bear attack every show,” says Daniel Pavatich. “It’s a funny joke between us, like how good can we make the show before we kill everyone in it and then start again?”

“We don’t know what scene it’s going to happen in,” adds Justin Porter. “We don’t know who’s going to do it. Any of us could do it at any given time in any scene.”

All four Bear Attack members are seasoned performers, who trained at Chicago’s Improv Olympic. Having banded together a few years ago, last year they completed sold-out runs at Austin’s Out of Bounds Comedy Festival and the Melbourne Fringe. You’d think such crowdpleasing success would prompt Bear Attack to reenact previous plot lines during MICF. However, that’s simply not an attractive option.

“We’ve never done a scene that we did in a previous show, nor will we,” Porter says. “It’s just the general rule of improv: you don’t plan anything, you don’t reuse anything.”

“It’d be harder to remember what you did and do it again than it would be to just make up something new,” adds Adam Kangas.

“The thing that makes me laugh is when you don’t know what’s going to happen and there’s like this really high energy, like, ‘Woah I don’t know what I’m doing,’” says Marcus Willis. “If you were repeating it, it’d just be like ‘I know where this is going,’ and it’d get boring.”

In line with this attitude, you can be sure that no material conceived during Bear Attack’s MICF run will be repeated. Coming up with novel plot lines and fresh comedic twists night-after-night sounds like a creatively exhausting exercise. But these guys thrive in this situation.

“There’s always something new,” Porter says. “You have four minds that are dumping new energy and ideas into the show, so you don’t have to worry about running out of material, because you’re just going off of what’s happening.”

“Maybe you had a great day or maybe you had a bad day or maybe your grandfather died that day,” Willis adds. “That has to influence what you bring to the show that night.”

“When I was a beginning improviser, I’d think about ‘What’s funny?

What can I do tonight that’ll get a laugh?’” says Kangas. “Now I don’t spend any time during the day thinking what’s going to happen in the show, because I know I can’t control it.”

Plenty of comedy fans steer clear of improvised performances, for fear of witnessing awkward on-stage behaviour or being bombarded by inane gags. Fear not, however, as Bear Attack won’t be dipping into such crass territory.

“At the end of the day we want to do a 50-minute show that you could write down and do again,” Pavatich says. “It should stand on its own. The improvised element is not what’s funny about it. It’s the characters and scenarios and moments.”

“The last thing you want is for people to walk out asking, ‘what did I watch – a bunch of random stuff?’” says Porter. “You want to tie it together in a way that at the end they’re like, ‘Ah-ha! They made it up on the spot and it was beautiful and it all came together and made sense.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

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VENUE: Victoria Hotel - Acacia Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 – April 18 (Thursdays - Saturdays only) TIME: 11pm TICK E T S : $15 - $18

Those familiar with David Quirk’s stand-up have probably heard about his desperate affection for skateboarding. There’s also a chance you’ve caught wind of his less-glamourous sideline working in retail, albeit at a skateboard shop. At MICF this year, the separate worlds of Quirk’s existence will intertwine in an especially concrete manner. The show Thrasher is not only rooted in reflective selfexamination, but it’s also being staged in the store where Quirk’s been intermittently employed for the past 15 years – Fast Times on Swanston St. “I don’t think I’ve seen a stand-up comic do anything like this before,” he says. “I know that site-specific stuff has happened, but the bosses agreed to 20 nights, so I can’t believe it’s even happening.”

Quirk made his MICF debut seven years ago and Thrasher takes audiences back to that point in time. However, there’s a little more to it than a straightforward stand-up show performed in a novel location.

“The reason why 2008 is mentioned is because that was a particularly significant time,” he says. “Originally I thought it could be set in 2008, just an hour from a day of mine in real time, but then that started to go out the window a little bit. It’s somewhere between theatre and stand-up, with very theatrical interludes that kick in.”

During the course of any self-reflective pursuit, you’ll inevitably come into contact with aspects of self you’d since been left behind. Opting to focus on the events surrounding his MICF debut, Quirk’s found lucid reminders of what his stand-up was like back then.

“That was a show where I came out swinging,” he says. “I did all kinds of really heavy full on material that I think people noticed and I was really happy with it. There was this reputation that said I was a dark comic. I can be, even now, but back then I’d particularly do a lot of full-on stuff.”

Along with the major leap forward in his comedy career, in 2008 Quirk went to China on a professional skateboarding tour. There was also another event of great significance to occur. “The show was named after my mum,” he says. “It was called Kathleen Grace and I didn’t expect my parents to see it, but then one day they came along.

My mother happened to be terminally ill at the time, so it was the only time my mum would see me perform comedy. I look at the show

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

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V E N U E : Fast Times, 121 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 25 - April 18 (except Sundays, April 3 & 6) T I M E S : 8pm (Fridays 9.15pm, Saturdays 7.15pm) T I C K E T S : $25

DANIEL KITSON

THE 29TH BRIAN MCCARTHY MEMORIAL MOOSEHEAD AWARDS BENEFIT

POLYPHONY

The annual Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards Benefit is as old as MICF itself and has been the must-see closing event since 1987. The benefit provides the financial impetus for the Moosehead Awards each year. The awards enable the continued recognition and support of new and innovative work annually, launching shows from acts like Sam Simmons, Sammy J & Randy, Asher Treleaven and Justin Hamilton. The benefit is the major source of funding for the trust. So not only do you get to see a cavalcade of top-notch comedians, but by buying a ticket you are also supporting new and innovative local comedy which ensures we will be laughing for years to come. Now in its 29th year, the Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Award recipients for 2015 are David Quirk – Thrasher and Jonestown – Guinea Pigs. Both shows have been selected for their originality, bravery and humour. Each year, the benefit’s top secret lineup of the hottest local and international festival acts ensures it always sells out.

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E : April 19 TIM E : 8pm TIC K E T S : $54.90 - $59.90

JONESTOWN

I have written a play. It has a pretty epic scope, a relatively grand vision and somewhere in the region of 20 characters. It is, basically, a real humdinger. Unfortunately though, it is a script so ambitious, so demanding, so exquisitely detailed that handing an actor this text and putting them in front of an audience is like handing a toddler a pint of coffee and putting them in front of a zipwire. It won’t end well. So instead, I have pre-recorded each actor, in isolation, onto a separate tape, their fallibility erased with editing and their odious need for attention mitigated by the lack of audience. Leaving a litany of individual voices – each of them perfect, captured on a tape that will, when played back in precise unison, form a glorious theatrical polyphony. The play is perfect. The tapes are perfect. I just need enough people to press play. That’s all.

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V E N U E : Northcote Town Hall - 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : March 25 – April 19 (except Fridays and Saturdays) T I M E S : 6.30pm (Sundays 12pm and 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $25

RUSSELL PETERS

GUINEA PIGS

ALMOST FAMOUS

Nicholas Johnson is one half of Jonestown (the other half is comedian and ventriloquist Sarah Jones), the Moosehead and Golden Gibboawarded duo performing at this year’s MICF. Last year’s Pajama Party was a hit, and Johnson is looking forward to their latest installment.

“Guinea Pigs is a narrative-based sketch comedy show about Sarah and I being locked in a box against our will, and forced to perform a series of cruel and unusual psychological experiments. We call it Saw meets RadioLab.” Although the world of psychological experiments is relatively new to Jonestown, stories heard in podcasts about the old, less-regulated days of scientific research really captured the pair’s imagination.

“I’ve always been interested in that sort of podcast, you know that sort of This American Life: ‘Did you hear about that pop psychology thing they did in the ‘70s?’ Like the Stamford Prison Experiment where they locked students up and pretended they were in prison, and then they all went slowly insane. Where the ordinary, mundane scientific experiment suddenly becomes a weird off-the-rails kind of explosion.”

The most outrageous, and memorable of these experiments was too intense to be completely included in the show. “Harry Harlow did the ‘Wire Mother’ experiments on monkeys, where he asked: ‘I wonder what would happen if we put a monkey in a box with no light and no contact with anyone for months.’ And the monkey would go insane, and he would say, ‘Ah! Interesting.’ But now, rather than do it on a monkey, we do it on a pair of middle class comedians.”

Long-time friends, the pair developed their writing partnership by accident. “We’re both anti-social, so we would enjoy sitting in cafés [working and] not talking to each other, which was a very good writing partnership. We would shoot ideas back and forth across the table at each other, until we realised that we were writing together, and writing sketches and other bits and pieces, and finally we put together our first show, last year, which was Pajama Party...it was a little like we’d made home brew in our basements and then found out that people actually enjoyed drinking it.”

They’ve also come up with an unusual way to market the show, by turning their Twitter account (@jonestowncomedy) into an story reminiscent of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. “It’s an extension of the show. People can go online and play – they can be

Russell Peters is an anomaly in the comedy world. While it might surprise many purists within the practice, his level of global appeal in the contemporary scene is impenetrable. He currently holds the record in Dubai for the fastest-selling concert in the history of the Emirates, his attendance records are yet to be eclipsed in South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and his home country of Canada. In 2012, he became the first comedian to perform at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to a crowd of over 10,000, making it the largest comedy show ever in the history of the New York City borough.

While Peters is no stranger to selling out the biggest venues across the globe several times over, he confesses that returning to the dark and dingy clubs where he first began making his mark is as imperative today as it was when he began over 26 years ago.

“To me, arena shows and stadium shows, they’re like title fights,” he says. “Comedy clubs are where you go to train. You’ve got to do the groundwork, you’ve got to build yourself up. You’ve got to spar and fight with comics that are younger and hungrier than you. Firstly you have to earn your place, but then you need to maintain your position.

It’s really like boxing; you always need to go back to the beginning.

If you try and skip a step in this game then you’re going to end up on your arse.

“You’ve got to give it to those guys, those ones who are out there performing every night and working on their stuff. There’s this thing – you can go around and have people paying to see you and being enamoured by your performances, but it creates this false sense of security. Once you put on those gloves it’s an equal playground.

That’s when you find out just how funny your jokes really are.”

While the vicious proclamation that illegal downloading is killing the music industry rings incessantly, many seem to overlook the problems that the YouTube age is creating for modern-day comedians. In his 2006 DVD, Outsourced, Peters begins by greeting the audience with, “Look at you, you filthy downloaders!” Fiscal implications aside, the recording and distribution of a show, a joke or a punchline can affect a comedian in a live setting far greater than it can a musician.

“That’s why I have my security guys at my shows,” Peters explains.

“They’re not there to protect me, they’re there to protect my artistic

PAGE 26

now and I’m like, ‘Oh my God there was ten minutes on suicide and there was one of the most rough punch lines I’ve ever written.’ I’m trying to tell all these stories in this show and it feels like I have changed as a person.”

While re-connecting with elements of his past has led Quirk to make comparative assessments, he denies that this show was conceived for self-therapeutic purposes. “In that way I’m so naïve,” he says. “I think, ‘Make something interesting and funny and put it out there.’ If it happens to be dark or a bit twisted then that’s fine too.”

Quirk’s going method continues to prove successful, and he’s been named as one of the recipients of this year’s Moosehead Awards.

As it stands, he’s not currently working at Fast Times, but that’s not to say his tenure’s over.

“I’ve tried to quit about four or five times, but I just always come back,” he says. “I check my bank account after six months of going ‘I’m just a comedian now,’ and go, ‘Oh God I’m screwed.’ It’s been this live-saving kind of thing. I’m like a homing pigeon.”

locked in a room with us and try to escape.”

The first choice for followers is whether you are going to follow Johnson or Jones. Who’s getting more hits? “Definitely Sarah, it’s always something to do with her. We find in our shows if any sort of choice is involved people will choose Sarah.” Which he is totally cool with? “Absolutely! We’re both quite anti-social so the idea of not being chosen is pleasant. It’s been really interesting working with someone else, how audiences interact with different performers and how people feel much safer coming up and talking to us after the show, that sort of stuff. It’s interesting.”

The pair are looking at taking the show to all the major festivals, as well as some regional shows. “I think we prefer to take the path less travelled, and we don’t always do the same thing as other people...at the moment Sarah’s doing shows on cruise ships in the South Pacific somewhere. So we always have things going on that are different from what other comedians might do.”

BY SAM WILSON

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VEN U E : Portland Hotel - Gold Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TICK E T S : $20 - $25

product. They make sure that nobody in the audience has a camera out and are trying to record it.

“We live in a time where people just find it really difficult to simply sit down and watch something. People feel the need to record things, and in doing that, you take yourself out of the moment. To make the most out of any show you need to stay in the moment and to stay in that space. It’s not that difficult.”

This month sees Peters return to Australian shores for the first time since his sold-out tour in 2013. “The show is really a snapshot of my life right now,” he says. “I think this show really allows me to get away from that whole usual ethnic style of comedy. There’s a lot of stuff that’s basically about me being a 44-year-old man still struggling to try and fit into this world. I’m still immature but I’m also a father. We live in a technological world but there’s still so much about it that puzzles me, which to be honest is embarrassing for an Indian guy,” he laughs.

“As I perform my show every night I’m still polishing it up. The show is always changing. You may expand on a bit, you might economise something. You might find that something works better if you say it this way or that way. It’s forever a changing process. There’s always challenges and ways to keep myself entertained while I’m up there performing.”

B Y T YS O N W R AY

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V E N U E : Rod Laver Arena, Batman Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, CBD DAT E : March 26 T I M E : 8pm T I C K E T S : $89.90 - $129.90

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PAGE 27

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

BILLY HAYES

DAMIEN POWER

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

I CAN’T BELIEVED I CARED

“I had made three successful trips, I don’t get any credit for my successful runs,” Billy Hayes complains in mock outrage. You would think a convicted drug smuggler would shut the hell up about the drugs he didn’t get caught for, but it becomes clear that Hayes is not the shutting the hell up type. He was arrested in 1970 at Istanbul airport trying to smuggle two kilograms of hashish back to America.

It did not get any better from there. Sentenced to five years in jail, he was weeks from release when he learnt that due to the American government’s war on drugs, pressure had successfully been place on the Turkish government to extend his sentence to life imprisonment.

From there, it still gets worse before it gets better. But man, it gets better. “One of the things I miss that wasn’t in the movie is the escape,” says Hayes. “I actually escaped off an island in a rowboat, in a storm, rowed through the night, I ran through Turkey for three days, I dyed my hair, it was made for a Hollywood movie. They didn’t use it.”

The movie was Midnight Express written by Oliver Stone, he of Platoon, Natural Born Killers and J.F.K fame, and directed by Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning, The Commitments).

Stone won an Oscar and the film was nominated for a bunch more including Best Director. It was all based on the book Hayes wrote.

“When I returned home, in New York there were 100 reporters waiting at the airport as I stepped off the plane,” he explains. “So I have been writing about this taking about this for the last 40 years or so. I’m 68 now, this happened in my 20s, so I can put some perspective on it. It was the worst and best thing that ever happened to me. The worst because it got me locked up in jail. I was not thinking about the consequences of my actions, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Hayes makes a sermon of his mistakes, he talks like priest that is trying to be ‘cool with the kids,’ if that priest was trying to convert people to drugs. “I don’t have problems with smuggling marijuana, personally I think pot should be legal but that’s a whole other issue,” he preaches. “The reality is that it was illegal and I knew it and I still did it because I knew I was ‘invincible’. That’s how stupid I was back when I was young. But everybody has been down in the bottom of a hole somewhere, trying to find their way out and get to the light.

Hopefully I can offer some inspiration. I give it my all. I tell it as truthfully as I can with as much emotion as I can and I’m open to anything you have to ask.”

I’ve seen Damien Power’s dick. It was MICF 2013 and Power had just begun his jaw-dropping conclusion about society and the media.

Moments later, it became a pants-dropping conclusion, and his show was eventually nominated for the Best Newcomer award. You walked out of his show with your views challenged. And this show seems even better.

“I’m really happy with this show,” Power says. “I felt like last year, I stepped away from what I think I do [well] in my comedy. I think I made a lot of choices last year and experimented a lot and it taught me a lot. This year’s show, I’ve focused on sticking with the stuff I enjoy talking about – stuff that interests me. This show’s back to what I did the first show on, which is big concepts and a strong theme.”

Power’s first show blew a lot of us away, but the show was more an amalgamation of bits he’d refined from club gigs than a cohesive show. But Power contends that in his third show, he’s adopted a more cohesive theme.

“This show, there’s a very strong theme from beginning to end,” Power says. “The theme is beliefs. It’s how ideology functions in society. The things we believe, our dreams and our ideas, and how that shapes how we see the world in sex, love, religion, beliefs and war – why we fight in them, why we need them, why humans have them, how they function between each other. Consumerism and how ideas are sold through products, and for the first time I’ve felt like I’ve done a show from beginning to end, everything ties together.”

To get a taste of Damien Power, check out his Tumblr. It’s titled We All Work For A Bank, and I wondered why.

“The actual title is to do with the global banking system and how it controls money,” he explains. “It’s able to print money that now has no value. It’s not attached to gold or silver. The way the central banking systems around the world work is basically they’re able to create money and loan it out to large corporations and military industrial endeavours and mass global infrastructure projects and reap the interest of that. Down the line, we all work for a bank. We’re all paying off banks and loans that they created out of nothing.

“Bitcoin is going to be successful and it will be destroyed, because there’s way too much at stake in control of money in the world. There will be blood spilt before its success.”

Now, this might sound like the ramblings of a stoner, but I assure you

Hayes’ show, Midnight Express, is a his funny, sad and moving tale that focuses on the people, not the jail as the movie did. “Oliver wrote a wonderful screenplay,” he says. “My problem is you don’t see a single good Turk in the whole film and it creates this overall impression that Turkey is a horrible place and these are horrible people. None of which is true. I’d been there three times before I got arrested, I love Istanbul, I get along well with the Turks, I didn’t like the prison, I didn’t like the guards, but that is true of any jail.

It caused Turkey a lot of grief, there tourism dropped 95 per cent when the movie Midnight Express came out. It’s great there, you should go. Don’t get arrested though.”

BY JACK FRANKLIN

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VEN U E : The Kelvin Club, Melbourne Place, CBD DAT E S : March 25 - April 12 (except Mondays) TIM E : 7.45pm TICK E T S : $20 - $30

HANNAH GADSBY

JIMEOIN

DONKEY

IS IT...?!

The donkey has been misrepresented throughout the history of art and Hannah wants to set the story straight. Well, she did until she was given a very unexpected diagnosis that has changed everything.

Including this show. Don’t worry, Hannah is ok, she is just a little… well, different. So now, this show has become about her new bike, Donkey, and how she will never ride the same way again. This is classic Hannah, but not as you know her.

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B Y N I C K TA R A S

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel - Gold Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays and April 5) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $25

Hilarious world-class stand-up from one of live comedy’s internationally acclaimed masters! Jimeoin makes a welcome return to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his unique style of comedy that features a fluid mixture of his signature observations, with hawk eye dissection of more of the absurdities of life and how we live it.

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V ENUE: Melbourne Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T IMES: 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T ICKETS: $28 - $39.90

DR. PROFESSOR NEAL PORTENZA

V E N U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 25 - 29, April 7 - 19 (except Monday) T I M E S : 6.45pm (Sundays 5.45pm) T I C K E T S : $35 - $42

HARLEY BREEN JUST A FULLY NAKED ENCOUNTER

CATCHY SHOW TITLE Dr Professor Neal Portenza (real name Josh Ladgrove) is in the thick of the Adelaide Fringe when I speak to him. His character, a generous creator of laughs behind a multi-title name, is having its fifth outing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The most important thing for Portenza is that the audience is willing to join in on the comedy. “It’s an extremely interactive show, the way it was described here in Adelaide the other day was ‘collective comedy’, which is really interesting. So it’s character-based, some people say it was a little bit ‘clowny’, I’m not sure I agree with that but I think that it’s character-based, interactive comedy that’s supposed to be fun, and funny.”

The abstract nature of Catchy Show Title means it’s difficult to pin down what the show is actually about. “The show is never really about anything, which is not a pretentious thing to say, but, you come, some stuff happens, then you leave hopefully smiling. There’s no plot, there’s no story, there’s no arc, it’s just an hour of very different, interactive, fun.”

Interactive can sometimes be a bit of a scary word for audiences, but Portenza is reassuring about his definition of audience interaction.

“My number one rule is ‘never make people feel like idiots’, that cheap, crass, kind of interaction does feel awful and does cause a lot of anxiety…one of the comments I get from time to time is ‘I really hate audience interaction but this was great I felt really comfortable’.

Really, really early on I try and make the audience feel really, really comfortable.”

Portenza leaves his shows open to the possibilities of the night, but he still turns up with a literal bag of tricks to go with the figurative ones. “I started the Adelaide Fringe with not very much of an idea... but at the end of the festival, and by the time the start of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival comes around, there’s really good structure in place, and so whilst I improvise to get from A to B it’s not like organised improv - it’s certainly not the American style of improv, it’s very specific to that night’s audience, so no two shows are necessarily the same, how I arrive at those points though varies pretty wildly depending on the audience.”

When listing his influences, it’s good to hear they’re mainly Australian.

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he’s developed concepts to a much more sophisticated level than a 600-word article allows. Power is drawn to big concept material.

A lot of comedians can make an audience laugh, but I remember Power’s ideas from his first show today just as well as I do his jokes.

“In my personal life, I read about that stuff every day. I’m no lecturer or anything, but I take an interest in politics, society, cosmology and why we’re here. Especially the bigger picture stuff, not just, ‘Oh, Tony Abbott’.

“It’s big ideas and how we function as people and why we do what we do as people. I thought, ‘How am I going to make my comedy better than it is now?’ so it drew me to making that stuff funny. If I can make these big ideas funny, that’ll be a real point of difference and give audiences something more.

“It has to be funny. It can’t have long, lecture-like bits in it. It’s always about being as funny as possible, but if people can also leave with their perspective changed, or questioning, then I think you get more money for your ticket.”

“I think the main influence is someone like Shaun Micallef and Sam Simmons, but then older things like Graham Kennedy, really was the king of looseness, and that sort of style of just being really with the audience, not just grinding through my material hoping that every audience is going to be the same from night to night, working hard to find what is funny about this specific moment.”

Throwing Lano and Woodley in there as well, Portenza gives big props to American comedian Dr Brown. “Dr Brown has been pretty instrumental in kicking my arse actually.” I ask if that’s personally or on a more metaphysical level. “On a more metaphysical level, letting me have the belief in myself to take the show to places where it couldn’t necessarily get if they were just written sketches.”

MICF is a time to take a bit of a gamble on your comedy, and it’s something that inspires Portenza. “When the audience are up for something a bit different, you can go to some really interesting and special places, and it can be an extremely fun night. It’s for someone who wants to see something a bit different, a bit off the beaten track. It’s a pretty good choice I reckon.”

BY SAM WILSON

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Backstage Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9.30pm (Sundays 8.30pm) TICK E T S : $18 - $23

Just a Fully Naked Encounter is what comic Harley Breen is promising MICF 2015 audiences. Only he’s fibbing, there will be no gratuitous male nudity, damn it, Breen says he’s only exposing himself in the figurative sense. Breen reckons ‘climbing the comedy ladder’ might be a simplistic way of talking about his career. “If it were that easy, if there was a ladder to climb, I’d have climbed it by now!” His comedy is based on everyday life, specifically his own life.

“I don’t branch out much further than my involvement in life and my interactions with humanity,” he says.

What makes him funny? “A combination of nature and nurture,” he answers. “Most career comics have some kind of dysfunction. My life is fairly funny, being the son of a preacher man. Growing up in organised religion, which I have nothing to do with now, meant that I watched my father perform for 20 years.” What flavour Christianity?

“Methodism. I lost interest at an early age but didn’t back out ‘til I was around 22. It’s taken me the last 13 years to shake it off.” Does he have a go at his family in his routines? “No, I show them mercy.

When I tell my story, it’s all my own journey.” Breen reckons there are worse backgrounds for a comic to have. “Christianity is based in narrative, so it makes sense that you might start life as a storyteller.

My stand-up is narrative; I don’t try to put jokes into my stories, I just tell them.”

So what does Breen joke about? “It’s pretty bloody blue! I really hop over the barrel.” Do tell! “You’ll have to come along and see. I got a wonderful review from the Adelaide Fringe that said, ‘Harley doesn’t just cross the line, he ignores it.’ I tell stories about being a single father, about being a positive role model for my little boy who’s four.

And the difficulties of living a debauched life when you’re a parent.

You have to organise your partying. Doing stand-up is not a job that’s conducive to raising a small child,” he adds.

Are there any taboo subjects in comedy? “My job is to make the audience entertained, to make them laugh, not to shock them for the sake of it. You can’t appeal to every person. If you try to do that you’ll be most bland and beige comic.”

In the comedy scene, who is Breen jealous of? ”Everyone with a stable income. People who get to plan their holidays, have them paid

for, people with a super plan and sick pay.” Breen says he got into comedy cos he was shit at everything else. “It’s the last bastion of the idiot.” With his star still rapidly rising, one of Breen’s career highlights thus far was being compared to a young Billy Connolly.

“I am very, very humbled by that remark,” he says. “I adore the guy, as a man and as a performer.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Old Met Shop, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $32

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

PAGE 29

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

SAMMY J & RANDY

MARNEY MCQUEEN

AN EVENING WITH SAMMY J & RANDY

HAIR TO THE THRONE Rosa the Russian Beautician is getting bigger hair and blingier outfits in 2015. “This year she has a much more revamped look,” says her creator, Marney McQueen. “We have two new costumes for Rosa and two new wigs. We’re taking her hair to the next level.”

The beautician to the stars includes the US President among her clientele: he gets the Barack Sack and Crack special. McQueen has taken Rosa (or is it the other way round?) on quite the journey since ‘discovering’ her in her final year of NIDA. “The character came from a third year project,” explains McQueen. “We had to create a performance from observing somebody. A lot of people chose bus drivers, shop keepers, people like that, and I chose my beautician.

She wore leopard print, had huge hair, a big accent – going to her for all these treatments sent me broke! I kept having to find new treatments I needed to get done in order to see her.”

Does the original know about what she spawned? “She’s still operating. I would love to make contact one day. Hope she’s not offended. I hope she takes it as great credit.” That original Rosa could be considered to owe McQueen one after a waxing incident, or rather, a non-incident. “She told me to come in for a free leg wax,” recalls McQueen. “I went along, something for free, and she had these people there and they were students she was training to do Brazilians! It was like, ‘Right, get your gear off.’ This was 12 years ago.

I was out of there!”

Rosa having a stable of celebrity clients makes for not only a good stage character but allows McQueen to keep the show up to date.

“I align her with all current activities, she hears about scandalous incidents, about politics, that sort of thing.” McQueen didn’t gravitate towards comedy when she was training as an actor. “Not at all – in fact at NIDA, I was cast in very few comedic roles; I thought I’d be a serious actress. Rosa got quite a few laughs in our grad performance and I started getting cast in comedic roles. I got cast in Priscilla the Musical which was the ‘straightest role’ I had for two years.”

McQueen’s experiences with Priscilla grew another MICF show, Rump Steak at a Vegan BBQ, about being a single gal surrounded by gays.

“I wanted to get back to Rosa and cabaret style performance,” recalls McQueen. “It’s great to have a performance show that’s yours – between big musicals there’s something you’ve got control over. I’ve got about eight characters I play. It’s magical creating a

DENISE SCOTT

character from observing people. I’ve been touring in comedy cabaret shows, all round Australia, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to London, New York. I have a little man in my life now so I can be home with him, be a mum and a performer. I don’t have to go back to work full-time, I can accept gigs here and there. In this new show I go back to Rosa’s past and explore the incident that made her leave her family and come to Australia. It reveals the story of how she left home intending to be an independent woman, at the age of seven. Her sister did her wrong. Rosa was married once, in Leningrad, to a lovely hairdresser. But that broke down after 12 months.” Rosa has been known to pair up single audience members during a show. “She’s still a single woman and still on the lookout,” McQueen adds. “But she lives for her clients. She refers to herself as ‘the people’s beautician’.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : The Famous Spiegeltent - Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : April 14 - 19 TIM E S : 7pm (Sunday 6pm) TICK E T S : $20 - $40

Beat’s got a soft spot for Sammy J. Pure immaturity doesn’t get much better than a show from the skinny guy and the rude purple puppet.

Their MICF show, An Evening with Sammy J & Randy, promises more stupid tunes and silliness. The comedy duo are just finishing up filming their new TV series, which has been three years in the making, and are looking forward to letting loose on stage in MICF. “We’ve written this whole new show,” says Sammy. “We’re back to our filthy, smutty selves. It’s just us, with the keyboard segment and some silly songs, an hour of songs smut and shenanigans.” Good news. “There’s no narrative. There’s a bit of audience participation where we get in people’s faces, making people uncomfortable.”

The two play around with ideas in the same way you do when you’re stoned – what if Randy commits a crime and is arrested and allowed his one phone call, and rings Sammy and then realises he could keep his one phone call going on and on and on for several days? There’s a song called Whoa Nellie - that one’s about nicking a miniature pony from a kids’ petting zoo. There’s also one special New Year’s Eve song about making New Year’s resolutions that got a bit lost at the Opera House celebrations on actual New Year’s Eve. It will get an airing in this show even though it won’t be New Year’s Eve. We don’t know about crowd surfing, but Sammy J reckons there might be some jumping into the crowd on his part, if not Randy’s.

“The set list has a certain order but the rest is loose-ish,” he says.

“If an incident takes off with audience responses we’ll go with that, make it a priority. In Perth a few weeks ago, a woman walked past the door during the show so we dragged her in and interviewed her on stage. We sang a song about her – it took a good 15 minutes.

Sammy details that he often gets a little jealous of his purple companion. “He gets to sit there the whole show. He rides on my coat tails. He has a delightful existence coasting on my comedy career. He’s got it pretty sweet.” He certainly has. Sammy J & Randy have collected a few awards over the years, including the MICF Barry Award in 2010, The Age Critics’ Award in MICF 2008 and they’ve been nominated for the Best Comedy Release ARIA in 2013.

Is there anything Sammy would like to explore beyond what he’s doing now? “I’d like to own a private jet. I have flown a plane once, I went on a joy flight and it was thrilling and exhilarating and fucking

JUSTIN HAMILTON

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : The Hi-Fi, 125 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $30 - $39.95

SNACKS!

MOTHER BARE Scotty returns with an encore performance of her smash-hit, sell-out, Barry Award-winning show Mother Bare for a strictly limited season of four shows only! From delivery room to empty nest, Scotty is ready to lay it all bare. There is no more venerated and vexed role than the role of mother. Variously deified and vilified, mothers are adored and blamed in as many different ways as there are children (or former children) on the planet. Having a mum and being a mum leaves an indelible mark on all of us and is a bottomless well of stories from the trivial and everyday to the truly life altering. Scotty’s most ambitious show yet brings together all of her stories on motherhood – both as a mother and as a daughter. Hilarious, intimate and rivetingly honest, one of Australia’s funniest storytellers lays it all bare on the most universal of themes.

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Writer, director, stand-up comedian and TV and radio guest, Justin Hamilton is a unique voice within the Australian comedy scene.

Unafraid of taking risks on the stage, this captivating storyteller has earned a reputation for delivering multi-layered shows that stay with you long after the lights have faded. Justin now returns to the comedy festival with Snacks! — a new, intelligent and hilarious story-driven stand up show for 2015. Don’t miss seeing one of the sharpest minds in comedy at play at this year’s festival.

VEN U E : The Comedy Theatre, Cnr Exhibition & Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 29 - April 19 (Sundays only) TIM E : 4.30pm TIC K E T S : $39.90 - $46.90

NEEL KOLHATKAR

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Lunch Room Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 18 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $22 - $30

NICK CODY

TRUTH BE TOLD

BEARD GAME STRONG

Neel Kolhatkar reckons he’s not telling any uncomfortable truths about himself in his show, Truth Be Told. “My comedy is observational,” he says. “My observations of everyday life, of social dynamics, it’s not about any one particular thing. I talk about everything I’m exposed to, what’s relevant to me, the human interactions I experience.”

Kolhatkar found he had a bent for comedy when he was in high school. “I did a lot of acting in high school; I entered Class Clowns and did well with it. It’s been good so far.” Being an Australian with an Indian background gives him something a bit different to explore in his routines. “I delve into the personal characteristics of someone with my background, I talk about my experiences. Contextually I have a different perspective on things. It’s a unique cultural experience, being Australian from an Indian background and I see this in a comic light. I look at the majority culture and talk about sort of being on the outside. I take on characters and do accents, do highenergy impersonations and use those to make points, socially and culturally. A lot of people have said to me that my comedy’s quite accurate, that I’ve got a good eye for things. I exaggerate things and paint them in a satirical light to make a point.” How does his family feel about his choice of career? “They were a bit sceptical at first,” he answers. “But now they’re fine with it.”

Kolhatkar also touches on the sex drive of young men in his routines.

Well, the world of comedy does need more young men talking about getting laid, after all. “I talk about male insecurity,” he explains.

“What is relevant to me, things that make sense to me. Topics get recycled but everyone does them in a unique way. I talk about how men have complexes, how they can define themselves by how much sex they’re getting. Also I joke about how women are more comfortable experimenting with the same sex than men are. 20 per cent of women between 16 and 24 have had a sexual encounter with another woman. Only four per cent of males that age have had a sexual encounter with another man. I joke about that; it’s a big thing.”

Kolhatkar must be doing something right cos at only 20 years of age, he’s done the rounds of the Australian comedy festival shows and has been to Edinburgh and done shows in New York, Los Angeles and London. Truth Be Told is his second solo show for MICF. He’s got some 500,000 people following him across social media, too.

Beard Game Strong is much more than the title Nick Cody’s new show: it’s a lifestyle. “I haven’t been cleanly shaven in four-and-a-bit years,” he declares. “Because I just do stand-up now and I don’t have to go to an actual job, I find no need to be clean-shaven. But my girlfriend saw a photo of me cleanly-shaven the other day and she said, “I don’t know who that little boy is, but I definitely wouldn’t fuck him’.”

And so, the beard has prospered. Just as Cody has cultivated a fine beard over many years, so too has he cultivated an enviable career.

Cody’s comedy odyssey began from a young age, his parents playing their part. “My birthday is at the end of April, so from about 13 [years old] onwards, my parents would give me money a couple of months before, so I could get tickets to see MICF shows.

“I think I gave RAW Comedy a shot at about 18. I did it three years in a row, never got past the first round,” Cody explains. “But now I get to host to a bunch of them, so that’s weird. I was going to say I’ve come ‘full circle’, but that’s not full circle, is it? Full circle means I’d be back in it and not getting through. It’s half a circle.”

Whichever way you slice it, Cody has arrived. The past few years have seen him entertain Aussie troops in Afghanistan, venture into TV and become an acclaimed figure of the Australian comedy scene. So what’s the secret to his success? “I’m lazy. I don’t like looking at a piece of paper, trying to write stuff out all day,” he explains of his process. “There is no way I could be bothered. As soon as I sit down for ten minutes, I go outside or go and play FIFA or something.”

Cody instead favours a trial-by-fire approach that would likely terrify his contemporaries. “My writing process ends up on-stage,” he reveals. “If I can, I’ll try and do two spots a night, if possible, so by the end of the week I’ve done ten spots. I work best when there’s that pressure, when there’s a room of strangers looking at me and I go, ‘Fuck. I’ve got to make this funny.’ I either make it funny or gets zero. Whereas, if I sit at home all day, there’s just no pressure to make anything funny.”

When it comes to being proactive, Cody takes cues from his comedy heroes. “You always hear the same thing: keep getting up there and keeping working, take gigs where you can. I try to stick to that and it seems to be working out pretty well.”

PAGE 30

terrifying! I’ll never do it again. I don’t have the constitution. It’s fine when it was smooth but when it got windy…wind is your enemy.

Most musical comics have written a few songs about flying, cos we spend so much time on planes. I’d like to write a book, a musical, a play. It depends how successful our show is, we’ll see if there’s any interest in us in the wider population, see if any more people want to get on the Stinky and Pinky train.”

Sammy J says that he and Randy (Heath McIvor) are ‘very much stuck together’. “We each do our own thing; he’s in Adelaide at the moment doing his own show, so that’s why it works so well cos we’ve always got other outlets. We’ll keep doing Sammy J & Randy for decades to come.”

Where does he see himself heading beyond stand-up? “Ideally I’d like to keep doing stand-up, build a worldwide fan base and also branch out into TV. I’d like to break into film, TV and acting. I’d like to pursue an acting career in tandem with a comedy career.” And why not; he’s made a good start already.

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : Trades Hall - New Ballroom, Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) TICK E T S : $15 - $25

Cody has also discovered the freedom to lead his audience on a journey. “It’s awesome that that’s an option, because I like that style. I don’t like changing subjects every minute or two, it’s not how I think. I didn’t know you could just talk about anything at all, I didn’t realise you could make something like that funny. It’s not so much storytelling: it’s not just these short little bits. They’re larger chunks.”

Beard Game Strong will see Cody spin a variety of yarns. “I talk about getting up to some mischief with some of my SAS mates. I talk about meeting a guy Mark Donaldson, a Victoria Cross winner and something stupid that I did in front of him. It’s an hour of stand-up, of me killing.”

BY NICK MASON

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : ACMI - Cube, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $29

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

PAGE 31

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

RHYS NICHOLSON

ROSE MATAFEO & GUY MONTGOMERY

FORWARD “[Show business] is essentially a classy way of being egotistical. It’s the most polite way you can be completely self-obsessed and to not have people call you out on it,” muses Rhys Nicholson. “Basically, if you look what I’ve done this year, I’m asking people to pay money to listen to me talk. On paper, that is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

An existential funk has inspired Nicholson’s new show Forward.

“Every now and again, I have this little existential crisis, going ‘What have I done? What am I doing?! Will I die being remembered as the person who made these primal noises come out of people?’ I always wonder where I’m going to be in a week, let alone 50 years. I’ve been saying I’ll be on my death bed thinking about what my last gig is going to be or what my last words are going to be. I’m obsessed with it. So that’s what Forward is about: not being sure what’s going to happen. Don’t get me wrong, it is mostly dick jokes.”

Nicholson is convinced of the tenuousness of his chosen career.

It’s not for the faint of heart, this comedy game: most people dread public speaking, let alone trying to draw a laugh at the same time. So why would anyone do it? According to Nicholson, there’s a very simple explanation. “I think we’re all terrified of not being remembered and just disappearing,” he declares. “I think that’s the reason that most people go into comedy or show business in general: to be remembered.”

While Forward concerns notions of legacy, Nicholson wishes to allay fears that his new hour might be a little on the heavy side. “I’m trying not to make this a wank show. This is not my funeral,” he states.

“I’m also very aware that I’m 25 years old and I don’t want people to come and think that these are my thoughts about life, because I have no thoughts about life.”

Following a successful year of presenting his previous festival show Eurgh, Nicholson has opted to change things up a bit. “This year, I have definitely made a point to make just a stand-up show. It’s got that through-line in it, but I’m trying to do just pretty solid stand-up.

There’s no inflatable llamas, there’s no lip-syncing to songs at the end. But you never know, maybe the ending isn’t good, so I’ll have to change it.”

For all his anxieties, Nicholson’s profile continues to grow and, pleasingly, the right people are taking notice. “I’m in better rooms,

ARE FRIENDS

now: I’m in the Town Hall this year, which is a big step for me. It’s a small room, but it’s nice to feel liked by the festival. It makes me feel like they trust me to not just say the C-word for an hour.”

But it’s been Nicholson’s experiences abroad that have helped reinforced his comedy credentials, each trip another personal accomplishment. “The weird thing about this job - and I talk about it in this show, too - is that no one ever tells you what to do or whether you’re doing it right. I went to Edinburgh, did that for the second time and did better. I did London, I did a show at the Soho Theatre and got good reviews and good houses. Edinburgh and London were definitely the two things that made me feel like I’m doing something right. But you never know. You never know. It could all turn around,” he quips. “I’m one off-colour comment from being cut-off from everyone.”

BY NICK MASON

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Backstage Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $20 - $27

Rose Matafeo and Guy Montgomery are friends. Being such good friends, the two decided to share the risk and the financial burden of putting on a show in MICF so they’ve made themselves a double bill show. The two have been performing together already on an improv show, Snort, which is also in MICF, as well as sharing the stage in FanFiction, the New Zealand stand-up show that caught Wil Anderson’s eye. “Guy is really a surreal comic,” says Matafeo. “He has real charisma on stage. He can do a ten minute rant about cows and you’ll be listening with bated breath.” Matafeo’s comedy, she says, is more self-effacing. “I’m nervous,” she says. “I’m just not a cool person; I’m a real nerd. I’d rather stay in and watch Netflix than go out and talk to people. I’m boring!”

She can’t be that boring, she was the host of FanFiction for quite a while. Matafeo says she does stand-up because she’s a control freak and likes to manage what happens to her writing.

“I got into it by accident and now it’s out of control. Getting the opportunity to perform for more than five people is fun.” She’s definitely downplaying herself now – a career writing for television and becoming involved in writing a feature film are things not to be sniffed at. The two young performers are products of the youth driven comedy boom that New Zealand is currently enjoying. “The comedy scene here is just shifting,” Matafeo continues. “There’s a new wave of comedy on television in New Zealand, they’re putting money in producing comedy shows.”

Montgomery made a conscious decision to get into stand-up since all his friends were catching the grown-up train, and getting proper jobs, and he found himself with too much time on his hands during the day. “I started taking it seriously in around 2012,” he tells.

“I moved to Toronto, worked in a café during the day, and made the decision to do ten gigs a night to fast-forward my career.” It’s certainly paid off by the looks of things. “I’m blowing the trumpet for this generation of young NZ comics,” he says. ‘I’m one of them.”

Montgomery says that not being raised on a diet of North American TV means NZ comedians take from everywhere and juggle a range of influences. “We absorb so much comedy from outside. There’s just

not enough money here for us to have a boatload of local content.”

He reckons a general sense of silliness is what makes him funny.

“It’s easy to get bogged down. I take a reasonably trivial thing and take a step back to look at it.”

Montgomery reckons the old British absurdist school is his comedic ancestry. “It’s surreal stream of consciousness. And I anthropomorphise animals.” Is there anywhere he wouldn’t go on stage? “I’m consciously inoffensive,” he says. “I’m conscious of whether people, individuals or other groups, have had a history of victimisation. If there’s a fall guy, it’ll usually be me. There are things I don’t joke about but that’s just cos I don’t joke about them.

I talk about things that are universally relatable; my impetus is to be as funny as possible.”

Matafeo says theirs is a friendly natural style of performance. “We just talk to the audience as if we’re friends and just try to have a fun time. We love coming to MICF. We love the comedy scene in NZ but MICF is a whole other beast.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel - Portland Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 7 - 19 (except Monday) T I M E S : 6pm (Sundays 6.15pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

CLAIRE HOOPER

TOM GLEESON

SCHOOL CAMP Tom Gleeson doesn’t need a title. Tom Gleeson doesn’t need awards.

Tom Gleeson also doesn’t need an introduction. He is one of the best stand-up comedians in Australia. He sells out shows wherever he goes, is in demand as a guest on TV and radio and created the hit segment I Hate You, Change My Mind while co-hosting Network Ten’s This Week Live. He also happens to be in fine form, ending 2014 with two DVD records, a performance at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, and another Helpmann nomination for Best Comedy Performance, taking his tally to three. A Tom Gleeson show is stand-up at its best.

Don’t miss out.

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Remember school camp? Boring bushwalks, illicit hook ups, tents collapsing in the rain, dehydrated mashed potatoes, Kumbaya, sneaking out at night, getting caught, the obligatory telling of the story about the madman banging a severed head on the roof of the car? Claire remembers it all – no experience more perfectly captures the intensity of growing up than kids under canvas. This wonderfully crafted story comes from one of comedy’s most accomplished storytellers, honest, engaging and hilarious – Claire will put the torch under her chin and re-tell the most terrifying story of all – adolescence.

V ENUE: Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 - April 19 T IMES: 8.20pm (Sundays 7.20pm, Mondays 7pm) T ICKETS: $28 - $37.50

TYM JEFFERY

STEEN RASKOPOULOS

A DIABETES DISCRIMINATION

CHARACTER ASSASSIN

Some weird shit went down last year when diabetic Tym Jeffery was booked to do a season of his MICF show at Northcote Social Club, a fairly relaxed venue, you’d think. He ended up not finishing his run and the reason is still unclear. But Jeffery has been conjecturing and you get to hear the results of this in this year’s offering, A Diabetes Discrimination. It is just possible that someone from Diabetes Australia who came to the show last year was offended. “I wanted to discourage her from coming,” Jeffery says. “The show is a very personal reflection of living with diabetes, it’s my story, and it’s not something that Diabetes Australia would necessarily want to hear.”

No toeing of the party line then? “I’ve tried to get it out to people that my show isn’t something everyone will want to hear about. I don’t want to offend anybody, but I’m telling my stories and I’m being honest about what I’ve been through, like having seizures. I go to some profane dark places. I’ve spent years and years with diabetes and this is the show. Last year’s show came about because I decided, after I’d had diabetes for about six years, that if I got to 20 years I’d talk about it, I’d do a show about it, so this show is the same show as the one I wanted to do last year but with more, stuff about the discrimination, and some other stuff, too.”

Jeffery says he’s not trying to shock or be deliberately edgy or get a reputation for doing anything other than what he does. “I’ve done comedy for about 14 or 15 years. I bring a comedic sensibility to the subject of me having diabetes. A lot of people don’t get it. But I’ve done plenty of shows about other things. I try not to be controversial,” he insists. Is there anything he wouldn’t joke about? “I don’t think so.

There are things I don’t joke about cos they’re not relevant to what I do. I don’t make jokes about ISIS but that’s only because it hasn’t got much to do with me being diabetic for 20 years.”

Veering off on another tack altogether, men in the audience are in for some advice about bringing women to, err, fulsome and spouting orgasms. Jeffery reckons he’s found a fail proof method. “I’m still too ugly to root,” he says. “That’s a constant. But if my face doesn’t put a woman off then I’ve got something that works. I don’t want to attack males too heavily but they’re not always the best in bed. This technique was bestowed on me by a very wise man who probably got it from a lesbian.” He’s not spilling any beans, preferring to remain mysterious. “It’s to do with energy, timing and vibration, which

At the time of our interview, Steen Raskopoulos was in the UK filming Top Coppers – a ‘70s cop comedy – alongside my favourite international comedian from last year, the bizarre John Kearns.

Starring alongside Kearns and The Mighty Boosh’s Rich Fulcher is a huge deal for Steen, but it’s not like anyone is surprised by his success following his 2013 best newcomer nomination at MICF. “John plays an alter ego and is hilarious...Rich Fulcher was a comedy hero of mine growing up. I loved Boosh and particularly his various characters. It was pretty surreal the first couple of days. The man is a maverick, you always have to be on your toes because he’ll change one word slightly and have you breaking character for minutes on end.”

One of Raskopoulos’ recurring characters is a Greek priest who reviews blockbuster movies like The Avengers. An inside source (my grandma) told me that if a Greek priest spills the wine in church, he has to lick it up and burn the carpet. I haven’t bothered to verify this, but I wondered if Raskopoulos had any weird Greek church experiences.

“I’ve only ever been to Greek church for weddings and christenings, and I always found it funny that the priest sang and chanted with the back up,” he laughs. “It was like a fully formed religious boy band. For me, Greek Easter reminds me of the cracking of the red eggs. One year my brother and I made eggs three weeks before and then put them in the freezer. It didn’t work at all; they were cracked by the first round.”

Sketch comedy has its own category at MICF this year, and I told Raskopoulos that I strongly believe he’s a big reason for the genre’s popularity.

“I’m very flattered but I can’t accept that,” he says humbly. “Groups like Aunty Donna, Fancy Boy, Max and Ivan and Susie Youssef have been smashing at the recent festivals and deserve a lot of the praise.

I think sketch has always been appealing and exciting for audiences and performers alike. It’s pretty amazing to see a performer or group of performers change characters with a single prop or none at all.

It showcases their talents not only as performers, but writers also.”

The title of Raskopoulos’ new show, Character Assassin, isn’t as funny as last year’s title, I’m Wearing Two Suits Because I Mean Business, but don’t be fooled – every Raskopoulos show is a fun ride.

PAGE 32

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Regent Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $24 - $34

sounds deep and profound,” is all he’ll say on the matter.

Although the fiasco with Northcote Social Club last year cost him money, Jeffrey isn’t feeling sorry for himself. But he is going to hang up his comedy boots after this year’s MICF. Why is that? “I talk about that in the show,” he replies. It’s not to do with his health which he reckons is as stable as it will ever be. And there’s one thing he can definitively clear up. “I don’t have pancreatic cancer,” he declares. Good to know.

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

i

VEN U E : The Geddes Lounge, Geddes Lane, CBD DAT E S : April 3, 10 & 7 TIM E : 8.30pm TICK E T S : $12.50 - $15

“I’m excited as it’s a brand new slate of characters. There is only one maybe two recurring characters from previous shows, but it’s mostly new stories and new forms of audience participation.

With the previous two shows, I’ve always placed small nuggets for people who attended previous shows. It’s a small gesture/joke for them to say thanks. However, there is more seeding in this show and I’m most excited about the ending. I’d tell you now but, you know.”

The idea of new forms of audience participation is exciting. I was dragged onstage at Raskopoulos’ last show where I played an interviewee at a job interview. After he asked me about my current job, I began to answer only for Raskopoulos to turn on a nearby blender. Had anyone in the audience ever reacted in an unexpected way?

“Definitely,” he explains. “I’ve had two girls fight in front of me in my first show. I was just thinking of insurance costs if one of them hurt the other. I’ve had a guy kick me on the floor and I’ve had a 65-year-old Scottish lady ride me like a horse when all she had to do was apply sunblock to my back.”

B Y N I C K TA R A S

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Regent Room Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (extra show Saturdays 5.45pm and Sundays 4.45pm and 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $24 - $32

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PAGE 33

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

COMEDIANS OF GABRIEL IGLESIAS’

EFFIE A DATE WITH EFFIE

STAND-UP REVOLUTION Beat had a chat to Lance Patrick, one of three US comics coming to Melbourne performing with Gabriel Iglesias’ Stand-Up Revolution world tour. “I came down to Australia with Gabriel twice already,” Patrick says. “Last time we did a big tour, he was getting crowds of 6,000 to 8,000 in Sydney.” Patrick won’t be playing to crowds like that in Melbourne, however. “We’re playing the Comic’s Lounge. You can get away with more edgy material at comedy clubs. You don’t have to play it safe; we can deliver adult-oriented humour.”

Patrick is based in Los Angeles where he’s a writer for Ray Williams Johnson’s online show, Equals Three, and is a permanent cast member of Breaking LA. He also writes and directs Iglesias’ weekly web series Damn TV. Patrick says it’s much easier writing sketch comedy than performing stand-up. “Writing regular sketches is easy for me. You ask the ‘what if’ question and act it out. The characters and the image paint the punchline – you don’t have to write it. With stand-up you don’t always have visuals. You can’t show the things you do in sketch. You don’t have to write the set-up. With stand-up you’re writing in your own voice. I tend to joke about random weird things. I joke about what’s current, about what’s out there. Stand-up is one of the hardest things I’ve attempted! I’d rather be in front of a 50,000 crowd and sing off-key! You want to give the audience more energy than they are giving you. Never blame the audience. It takes two. If I’m nervous, the audience is nervous with me. When you perform, if you’re awkward, the audience is awkward with you. I’ve been doing stand-up for four years now and that’s not long. Some comics have been doing it for 25 - 30 years. That blows my mind. I hope to be there. I’m still trying to find my voice. It takes five to ten years to find out who you are on stage, how you want to joke. I want to get to that point. I don’t put on an act, Most of us are ourselves and that makes us vulnerable.

I love it, it’s an adrenaline rush. If a show goes off the energy of the audience stays with you and you can’t sleep. “ Patrick deals with very few hecklers. His ploy is to pre-empt any

nastiness from the audience. “I don’t get heckled much. I start my set off by picking on myself before anyone else can. ‘What does he have to say to people who still reckon women aren’t funny? “It’s an off-kilter argument. You can’t say one group of people are not funny. Look at Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Nikki Glaser.” What about taboos? “It depends on where you are. You read the intent of the comedian. I never want to get into politics or religion. You immediately split your audience from the get go. I’m not like Jim Jefferies – he goes there. He’s not afraid to talk about religion. The whole audience can be against him. He says things a lot of comedians wouldn’t say, especially if you want to get on TV. John Delaney jokes that he’s so uncomfortable with the ‘n word he won’t even say ‘vinegar’!

“My advice to wannabes – get up on stage when you can. Don’t be afraid of not being funny. Tell your story and let that be enough – just tell the story. It takes however long it takes. I’ve seen great comedians bomb on stage. For months later the same story is just hilarious.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : Comic’s Lounge, 26 Errol St, North Melbourne DAT E : April 19 TIM E : 7pm TICK E T S : $37

All the greatest divas are known by just one name. Madonna, Mariah, Cher, Whitney...Effie.

She has been in the game and performing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival since 1987 when she debuted in Wogs Out Of Work. However, I quickly learn that you should never bring up age with a lady. “In order to maintain a good political position, let’s just keep it vague,” Effie snaps at me as I try and date her career, “Otherwise people will try and work out how old I am. Just say a quarter of a cench and leave it at that.”

Effie has a new show this year that she will be performing out in Yarraville (“Yarraville it started off cheap but got expensive, it’s a bit like me,” she says) and a new family member. “I have a child called Aphie, as in in Aphrodite,” she proudly announces. “So its Effie and Aphie. She ‘s got my follicular DNA. 100 per cent mine no mistaking that, plus it came out…of, well it didn’t come out the natural way but she is mine.” So now Effie is looking for date. “I’ve been online and all I’ve found is trolls lookin’ for molls,” Effie complains. “So I’m offline now. I want discretion, I don’t want some blabbermouth that’s going to go and sell his story about his night with Effie, you know.

It would be bullshit too because its gonna take a long time before they get a whole night. I’m not easy, a lot of things I am but easy is not one of them. I like to spread myself in a way that doesn’t involve my legs. I just emotionally spread myself.” She describes her perfect guy as something of the opposite of herself. “I want someone that is generous by nature, someone who is a little naïve, someone who is attractive, but lets not kid ourselves, all those guys have other options. My mother always said a woman needs to be better looking than the guy. Well my body is very well behaved, it bounced back like an accordion after the baby.”

Her show, A Date With Effie, cuts out the dating middlemen, she now pucks them straight from the audience. “It’s sort of like being in romantic IMAX where you think you’re part of it but ya not,” she says.

“I wouldn’t even say IMAX, I’d just say Effie MAX. Seeing me live is something you’ll never forget.” With all her success, she still hasn’t forgotten her fans. “The stage is my direct link to my sycophants.

You know why I love ‘em? Cos they love me more than they love themselves. That’s how selfless my fans are. My show is half scripted

ALEX EDELMAN

ANTHONY MORGAN

MILLENNIAL

BORN WITH A TAIL

A New York-based comedian who’s lived in Boston, LA and Jerusalem, Alex Edelman is bringing his polished flair and quick wit to even further shores for his Australian debut as part of this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He’s recently enjoyed a smashing debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show Millennial – a term used for persons who reached young adulthood around the year 2000 – which earned him the coveted Best Newcomer gong.

He’s somewhat of a poster boy for Gen Y. Alex Edelman grew up in Boston, leading to speculation that he may in fact be the secret love child of Amy Poehler and Louis C.K. He insists his parents are overeducated and Jewish, but it’s a compliment for any new comedian nevertheless. He’s been working on this show for a long time, so it’ll be good. Even figuring out the simple, one-word title for the show caused him an agonising amount of stress. He’d like you to come

see it. It covers a lot of ground, or at least a little bit of ground, intensely. From family Thanksgivings, to shooting his mouth off in public places, and everything in between, Edelman’s first foray in Australia is guaranteed to leave audiences wanting more.

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VEN U E : Greek Centre - Mykonos, 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) TIC K E T S : $25 - $33

GRAPTUS HENDERSON

B Y JAC K F R A N K L I N

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V E N U E : Yarraville Club, 135 Stephen St, Yarraville DAT E S : April 17 & 18 T I M E S : 8.30pm (7.30pm Saturday) T I C K E T S: $35

Anthony lives in Tassie. He has been building a house for some time now. Last year, he came up for MICF for a month. This year, he really needs to finish the house so he’s coming up for two shows only. The show last year was wall-to-wall with comedy fans, spanning the more than 30 years of Anthony’s career. Anthony solves every problem from the middle out, a quantum comedy that makes perfect sense and no sense all at once. There may well be a dead cat in a box. Two shows, they’re before tea time. See you there.

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 11 & 12 T I M E : 5pm T I C K E T S : $35

HUW JOSEPH

SKULLETON

SONGS THAT WILL NEVER LEAVE MY BEDROOM

Skulleton is the debut stand-up comedy show for young Melbourne comedian Graptus Henderson. The content of show sees Henderson examining the English language, and how we use it as well as exploring his own life experience. “A lot of the jokes are pun-based or wordplays,” explains Henderson. “There are phrases in the English language that we take for granted so during the show I try to reexamine some of them, poking fun at some of things we say and do.

“I can give you the gist of one example from the show. You know the saying ‘that just put a smile on my dial’? Well I point out the fact that whoever came up with it was incredibly lazy because obviously they had the word smile and thought ‘well I have smile and, well, you know a dial is a round shape so I guess that works’,” sets-up Henderson. “So I then say ‘well that put a smirk on my Turk’. See what I have done there? It rhymes and Turkish people have faces,” mocks Henderson.

As American elder statesman of comedy Jerry Seinfeld demonstrated so brilliantly in the ‘90s, observational humour from a comedian’s own life makes for great content. In Skulleton, Henderson grapples with the conflict between logic and Scientology, a conflict that has its origins in Henderson’s own working life. “One of my work mates was a Scientologist and we would get in arguments about when Scientology’s teachings defied logic. So I’ve put all these arguments together into a compact re-telling of all the weird things he ever did or said,” explains Henderson. “I never really found out that much about Scientology directly from him as he was quite cagey about it.

Whenever I pushed him on a topic he would just get really vague and say, ‘The universe works itself out, man,’ to which I would retort, ‘Are you trying to say that it’s your belief that the universe just works itself out man’?” states a wistfully exacerbated Henderson.

However, one of the most hilarious tales Henderson tells throughout the interview is not from his show but, in fact, the origin of his unique first name. “Graptus is the name of a beetle and octopus, I think it’s Latin for ‘language’ but dad was really vague about it when I asked him about what it means.” Does Henderson have any siblings? And if ‘yes’ do they have similarly idiosyncratic names? “My older brother is called John, mum named him and dad name me - I think he was

PAGE 34

and half unscripted every night. So I go out into the mosh pit of love and I find gold. It’s like friggin’ Sovereign Hill without the detector.”

Never one to undersell herself, Effie believes her show is akin to a spiritual awakening. “This is like a meditation for you,” Effie commands. “Just close your eyes and let yourself imagine it.

The happiest you’ve every felt. Then imagine the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Then imagine the chance to be close to that happiness, that beautiful thing. Then imagine laughter that requires a nappy in order to preserve some level of decency.

Then imagine turning around and seeing other people who are that happy too. Imagine if you could attach all those feelings to a perfect being, a gift, some might say if they’re religious, from God. That is the E experience. That is taking an E. An F. An F and an E. Everyone deserves that moment.”

getting back at mum for giving my brother such a typical boys name,” replies a deadpan Henderson. His charmingly matter-offact delivery bodes well for the audiences of Skulleton.

On this topic of foreign words Henderson addresses the second biggest elephant in room after his own name and that is, ‘what is a Skulleton?’ “The final joke at the end of the show is where I reveal the meaning of Skulleton. I named the show Skulleton because that was the joke I was most happy with.”

BY DENVER MAXX

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VEN U E : Loop, 23 Meyers Place, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 18 (Wednesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays) TIM E S : 7.30pm (Saturdays 6.30pm) TICK E T S : $15

Beat’s MICF coverage is prolific within the printed guide – the one you are reading right now – acting as an access point for audiences to choose which comedian will entertain them the best thus creating a win/win for the performer and the consumer. However, Beat’s coverage can benefit performers in other ways too, with local comedian Huw Joseph getting a radio show in London from appearing on our very own online video platform, Beat TV. Joseph moved to London in mid-2014 and along with the radio show, he has been a regular feature in the UK musical comedy circuit, recently one of 40 comedians chosen to be a part of the UK Musical Comedy Awards, where he made the finals. Joseph, who is this year returning to MICF with his new show Songs That Will Never Leave My Bedroom, explains Beat’s role within his radio/comedy career in the UK. “I’m doing a radio show with UK rapper/actor/ comedian Doc Brown, who I met when I was in at Beat filming during last year’s Comedy Festival,” explains a chuffed Joseph from his house in Camden. The radio show is called Sarah, Huw and Doc Too and it airs Tuesday nights on Fubar Radio.

Songs That Will Never Leave My Bedroom subject matter concerns recent life experiences in London as well his life in Melbourne prior to the move. The title of the show actually comes from a bad review that Joseph got early on in his comedy career. “I had this critic a few years ago say that my songs ‘shouldn’t have left my bedroom’ and from there I got the idea that I could take the stage into my bedroom!” describes a triumphant Joseph. “So what I am doing is turning the stage into my bedroom. A lot of the songs are personal stories that have happened in my bedroom or things that I would do in my bedroom that might be a bit weird or bit embarrassing – things that you wouldn’t feel comfortable to say out in public but it’s never going to leave my room so I can share it.”

One of the songs in the show is not so much a tale from the bedroom but a re-telling of events from when Joseph was a participant on hit UK television series called Celebrity Dinner Date (of which an Australian version is launching later this year). “Basically, a girl goes on three blind dates to three different guys houses. They cook for her and then at the end she decides who she wants to go on a big posh

date with,” sets up Joseph. “So she was a ‘model’ who of course went on Big Brother. I had no idea who the fuck she was so when she turned up to my house and was like ‘Hey, it’s me’ I was like ‘Hey, it’s me too’?” laughs Joseph. Suffice to say the date didn’t go well, as the song explains during Joseph’s show.

BY DENVER MAXX

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : The Kelvin Club, Melbourne Place, CBD DAT E S : April 6 - 18 (except Monday) T I M E S : 6.30pm (April 13 - 18 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $10 - $18

As the Official Beer of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Coopers is available at these festival venues

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

PAGE 35

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

NAT HARRIS & MEGAN MCCREA

JOSEPH MOORE YOUNG COMEDY BILLIONAIRE

MARKED TO CLEAR Young Comedy Billionaire, eh? That’s what Kiwi comic Joseph Moore is calling his show for Melbourne International Comedy Festival. “The title comes from my lofty ambitions in comedy,” says Moore, one of the performers in New Zealand’s popular stand-up show FanFiction.

“You don’t get anywhere in comedy by wishing. But with only ten nights at a 50 seat venue, it’s not going to happen this year!”

FanFiction has become a source of talent for this year’s MICF by the looks of things. From what Beat hears, it sounds like the comedy scene in New Zealand is going gangbusters and is very youth-driven.

“It’s really taken off over the last two years,” agrees Moore. “There’s a solid established scene. It’s a weird time in New Zealand cos all of a sudden there’s heaps of work. Lots of TV work. Just when you think it might be time to move over to Australia.”

Is there a distinctively Kiwi style or anything that Moore would say defined NZ comics? According to him, they’re all sweet. “We’re likeable and nice. We have different approaches but we’re similar in that we’re a nice bunch. We all rub off on each other. We learn a lot from each other. Lots of New Zealanders are doing comedy.

And yes, we all love Cal Wilson. It’s great seeing how she’s made a name for herself over here.” Moore is definitely keeping himself nice. “I like to be as likeable as possible. I am as nice as possible.

I don’t cover awful stuff. I don’t want to make people squirm or question me as a human. I don’t want to compromise my reputation as a lovely, well-rounded guy.” How does he make being a lovely well-rounded guy funny? “My comedy is personal but told through general observations. Stuff about popular culture. I have opinions but my show isn’t about me saying any of those things.”

Moore wrote comedic plays with an old school friend for few years which led to work writing for television. He had already performed stand-up in the New Zealand comedy festival and liked it. “I missed the festival vibe so I entered RAW in 2010 and started doing standup after that,” he says. He says he’s had an ‘awesome’ introduction to comedy: Wil Anderson saw FanFiction while on a trip to New Zealand and invited the comedians to perform at MICF, at his own expense.

After writing for television, Moore is looking forward to performing his solo show and saying what he wants. “A lot of my days are spent trying to make other people funny,” he says. “I’ve spent a lot of time

writing jokes for other people. I love doing stand-up. Doing my own one hour show I can be myself.

“I love that a lot of the new school US comedians are coming through,” he notes. “They talk about popular culture, they’re selfobsessed. They talk about 21st century problems. The show I’m bringing to Melbourne is about my obsession with hip hop. I’m a white, middle class boy and I’ve always wanted to make beats. I resigned myself to never being the frontman of a band but I spent a lot of time in my bedroom and stored up a lot of music that I use in the show. It’s quite technical. I use a laptop. I do some things with my voice. There’s a slight vibe of a party in my show, a small neurotic party. I have a natural nervous energy on stage and I play that up a bit, it’s part of the act. I’m trying to come across as confident, trying to have the confidence of a rapper but in myself I’m actually quite uncomfortable.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : Trades Hall - The Front Room, Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) TIM E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) TICK E T S : $14 - $20

Two new girls have gotten together for this year’s MICF to do a show together. Natalie Harris and Megan McCrea reckon they’re misfits, or at the very least bad apples, and may possibly end up in the remainder bin. “Marked to Clear is part stand-up, part sketch comedy, part garage sale,” says McCrea. “We love the energy of interacting with the audience. It should be a real mixed bag.” McCrea made it to the RAW Comedy National Final in 2014 but that hasn’t opened each and every door. “I tried to get into the Camberwell amateur theatre group but they wouldn’t have me! They were just into serious people.”

The two hit it off when they met at a RAW Comedy heat. Marked to Clear is the baby they’ve made together. “When we met we chatted about doing skits and comedy together,” McCrea says. “I’m turning 30 and I’ve never had a serious relationship; I cover the relationship stuff, but it’s not just about being single – it’s bit about that and more about where I am in life; I’m looking at my life. Plus the humiliating journey that I’m on! It’s about being a misfit. Not so much but doing a few skits about things that have happened to us. It’s each other’s life stories and some other characters.”

Harris performed her own solo show, Secrets in MICF 2014. Last year she presented The Vagina Diaries documentary for ABC2’s Opening Shot series I’m a massive collector,” she says. “I used to collect footy cards but I gave that up for crystals.”

“She’s given me a crystal for my confidence on stage,” adds McCrea. “I’m finding the spiritual aspect of life,” continues Harris, who appeared in a 2013 Tropfest finalist film Charades, the ABC2 comedy series Twentysomething as well as Channel 31’s Studio A. The crystals are working then. “I always did drama at high school,” she says. “I went on to do performance art; I always just really enjoyed it. Did an intense improv course – it was petrifying but very good .”

“We’ve had some similar experiences,” Harris says. “We’re both a middle child so this is an attempt to get some attention. And we both had misguided aspirations to becoming police officers. We can play really good cops on stage. Just don’t ask us to do the paperwork.”

CRAIG HILL

DAVE THORNTON

GIVE HIM AN INCH

SPIT & POLISH Most things can do with a bit of spit and polish…what does that even mean? Join Dave for a brand spanking new hour of stand-up and you’ll probably leave none the wiser. After taking a year out to launch his new breakfast radio show, Dave returns with a wonderfully crafted hour of new jokes. A consummate storyteller, Dave draws his audience in, creating live shows that have made him a must-see act on the global festival circuit with sold-out shows and five star reviews in Melbourne, Edinburgh and the prestigious, invitation-only Montreal Just for Laughs. It hasn’t all just been radio and touring though — Dave has also hosted the Just for Laughs at the Sydney Opera House series (2013 and 2014), played the role of Troy on ABC TV’s Upper Middle Bogan and took out the GQ Comedian of the Year award in 2013. A new Dave Thornton show is always a treat and it will sell out — so what are you waiting for? Book today.

Strap yourself in for a Craig Hill thrill! Hot on the heels of last year’s hysterically funny sold-out season, don’t miss the chance to see Scotland’s favourite kilted treasure – live and unleashed. Book early for this deliciously wicked and gloriously camp evening of noholds-barred comedy and pure unadulterated fun.

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V ENUE: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahan DATES: April 14 - 19 T IMES: 8pm (Sundays 7pm) T ICKETS: $29 - $35

PAJAMA MEN

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : The Grand Mercure Hotel - The Downstairs Lounge, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) T I M E : 8.30pm T I C K E T S : $10 - $15

V E N U E : ACMI - Below, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 27 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $24 - $34

THE NAKED MAGICIANS

2 MAN 3 MUSKETEERS Pajama Men are a Far Side comic come to life. To call them unhinged would be a disservice, as fast with word-play as they are on swapping characters, they won the Barry in 2009 and have returned to the festival with a first for them. Their new show is based on preexisting material rather than usual flights of lunacy. “We ran out of ideas,” Shenoah Allen confesses. Allen is the man in the bigger set of pajamas, unsurprisingly also the bigger of the two Pajama Men. Their shows play out like a never ending stream of consciousness, random characters take off on flights of fancy taking the audience along for the ride, when in fact you are simply watching two guys in pajamas wave their arms around on stage. Like everything the Pajama Men do, there is an involved backstory to the new show.

“Many years ago the Kelly Leonard (VP of an American comedy institution called Second City) came and saw us in our first ever show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,” explains Allen. “The show was dying. We were losing our shirts and this guy saw us and was like “Hey, that was great. I’m gonna bring you to Chicago!” He was one of four people in the audience the night he came and took a huge chance on us and really helped establish us as an act. A decade later, he rang us out of the blue and said, ‘I want you to write 2 Man 3 Musketeers.’ We thought, ‘Well you work where Bill Murray got his start. You discovered Tina Fey. You took a chance on us when we were completely unknown. You have a funny idea for a show and you want us to write it? You got it.’ We teamed up with another writer this time around too. A hilarious guy named Tim Sniffen.”

Up until now, it has been impossible to guess what can and will happen in a Pajama Men show, so basing their show on a 1844 novel might take away some of the fun. “We have zero fear of that,” is his reply. “No one’s read this book. Right? Or do you have a dog eared copy of Dumas’ classic sitting on your nightstand? One of our characters is so fat he can disguise himself as a beige lake.”

He is right, because I surely don’t remember that guy in the Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell and Oliver Platt version of the movie. On reflection, it sounds a lot like either Charlie Sheen or Oliver Platt these days. Their shows are layered with so many different, insane characters, my favourite has always been a tiny man with crab hands that said, ‘But I’m so small.’ “Yeah that little guy was great,” responds Allen. “What the hell was it? We still don’t know. I’d

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“Nat’s moved apartments and is dealing with a body corporate for the first time,” continues McCrea. “Our comedy is very much anecdotes, day to day stuff. It’s stand-up mixed with skits. Play other characters. We really want to take advantage of the fact that we’re doing a show with someone else. Not just the standard format. Not just 20 minutes of stand-up each. I got banned from Crown Casino last year; I got banned for five years. I have to make an application to go to the restaurant. You think you’d never go back. But a lot of things happen at Crown, there’s comedy at Crown and when people come to Melbourne they want to go there – it is a thing. My parents wanted to go there. They have facial recognition software and when I walked in with my mum and dad I got tapped on the shoulder and was asked to leave.”

A five year ban from the Casino’s a bit bad-arse. But you’ll have to see the show to find out what she did. Harris isn’t quite such a rabble rouser. “I’ve got a few warrants, unpaid myki fines, parking fines; they’ll get me one day.”

revive Jennifer. A 14-year-old girl that was occasionally possessed by dark forces. I really liked riding that line between Peewee Herman and Rob Zombie.”

If that sounds like something you’d want to see then the Pajama Men’s tangents are for you. Much like trying to decide would win in a fight between a gorilla and a polar bear (cage match, not on home turf or in jungle or on ice). “Gorilla for sure,” snaps Allen.

“Polar bears tend to be mostly fur. Ever seen one wet? They look like Whippets.”

BY JACK FRANKLIN

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VEN U E : Forum Theatre - Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD (March 26 - 29) & Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD (March 31 - April 19) DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 9pm (March 26 - 28 9.45pm, March 29 8.45pm and April 5, 12 & 19 8pm) TICK E T S : $29 - $49

In preparation for my interview Mike Tyler, who is one half off comedy duo The Naked Magicians, I used my supreme investigative journalism skills and searched “the naked magicians” in YouTube.

The first option to pop-up was entitled ‘2 Magicians, 2 Cups’ and was accompanied an image of two fit looking blokes bereft of clothing with an upside-down cylindrical shiny silver cup (more like a thermos in size) covering their genitalia. During the video, the magicians execute the classic ‘which cup is a ball under?’ sleight of hand trick and manage not show any of their own ‘balls’, if you get the drift. “It took us about 50 takes to get it right because we kept flashing our bits and pieces, a little bit of nutsack would come into view. Of course we knew we couldn’t put it on YouTube if it had any male genitalia in shot,” explains an upbeat Tyler.

Both Tyler and the other naked magician Christopher Wayne are full-time career magicians with their ‘craft’ paying the bills and also seeing both men travel around the world. Performing magic naked creates many challenges, not the least of which is having no sleeves to hide objects in, but the nudity has an obvious shock-value to it. It seemed apparent to ask Tyler if he was concerned the nudity would take away from the real magic? “It’s interesting because we have been magicians for about seven to eight years each. I’ve been doing high-end corporate and Chris family shows,” he notes.

“But we realised that we wanted to create a show that attracted an audience that otherwise wouldn’t go and see a normal magic show.

We believe that everyone has that naughty cheeky side bottled up inside of them and we wanted to play on that ‘naughtiness’ to attract an audience that otherwise wouldn’t go to a magic show. People may come along for the nudity element but there are a lot of different elements of the show that appeals to different people like the really incredible magic, the non-stop laughs and of course we do promise full frontal nudity.”

Clearly the idea of getting naked in front of hundreds of people doesn’t bother him. A part of this comfort with his own naked form will come from Tyler’s experience on stage but it would also come from the fact he is fully ripped – as a teenager Tyler was an elite swimmer and he clearly has kept the physique of a high powered

aerobic athlete. Wayne likewise is a fairly taunt and terrific specimen of the male form, but clearly his non-elite training base means that when he is placed naked beside the fully ripped Tyler his pale torso pales in comparison. “We had an interview with Star Observer last year and they put us on the front cover of the magazine but in the middle of the face-to-face interview the editor rang the interviewer and when he got off the phone he said to use ‘which one of you guys has got the abs? Let’s just do the interview with you’ And Chris was like ‘Ouch, that hurts so much,” explains Tyler with a droll chuckle.

Concluding our chat, I ask Tyler to leave me with a pitch to explain why The Naked Magicians is bound to become one of highlights of Melbourne International Comedy Festival. “It’s a very engaging and interactive show,” he notes. “One of the tricks that we are very proud of – and we are the first people to ever perform it in Australia – is one where everybody gets a gift when they walk into the theatre, and the trick actually happens 100 per cent in the audience’s own hands.”

BY DENVER MAXX

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : Greyhound Hotel, 1 Brighton Rd, St Kilda DAT E S : March 26 - April 12 (except Mondays) T I M E : 7.30pm T I C K E T S : $39.90 - $49.90

NORTHCOTE TOWN HALL The Alternative Home of Comedy As part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival catch….

Speakeasy Presents Daniel Kitson

Polyphony

25 March - 19 April

Main Hall

Sarah Collins & Justin Kennedy

Bucket's List

25 March - 5 April

Studio 2

Sameena Zehra

Homicidal Pacifist

25 March - 19 April

Studio 1

Emily Taylor

Backwards

26 March - 18 April

Studio 2

Emma J Hawkins

I am not a Unicorn!

31 March - 8 April

Studio 1

Paul Verhoeven

Tell Me Lies

10,11,17,18 April

Studio 2

Loud Mouth Presents Matty Grey

AGE-LESS 3

28 March - 2 April

Studio 2

Sabrina D'Angelo

Zen The Pigeon Girl

28 March - 10 April

Studio 1

Matty Grey

Grossed Out Game Show

11 & 12 April

Studio 1

Laughs for adults, kids & families darebinarts.com.au | 9481 9500

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PAGE 37

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

DRACULA’S

JEKYLL X JAMES

RETRO VAMPT

CACTUS BLASTUS

“We’ve gone all ‘70s glam retro,” announces Stewart Diamond, performer at Dracula’s theatre-restaurant. He’s talking about Dracula’s new show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Retro Vampt, a ‘tripnotic journey of psychedelic variety acts’ including burlesque, acrobatics, stand-up, puppetry and lots of wonderful ‘70s live music. “We open with a Clockwork Orange-inspired piece; our opening act is very cool,” says Diamond, who hosts the show.

“There’s comedy, burlesque, a lot of music in this one – great songs throughout, we do songs from Bowie, big disco numbers like I Will Survive, and we end with a big disco finale. And there’s a disco ball.

It’s a ‘70s-based theme show, but nothing like your jukebox ‘70s show with the same old songs. We still have a dark edge, we’re still vampires. Only it’s a different version of vampiredom, we’ve taken it to different level.”

Beat’s been to one of Dracula’s shows before, and if by chance you have any preconceived ideas about this sort of entertainment being anything below par, chuck ‘em out now. Dracula’s offers punters a glamourous, funny, accomplished and tightly polished show. “It’s a fun show; we’re still getting younger crowds coming through, new faces to Dracula’s, which is great,” Diamond says. Diamond, as well as being the show’s host, is also resident stand-up comedian. He sits down regularly with owner Marc Newman to nut out his jokes (Dracula’s is a family business). “We do have the ability to change it up,” he continues. “In one show, there was a tech issue, which left a gap and I had the luxury of being able to fill it with improv.

It was scary! It’s a good test of your knowledge. We do our own version of Stairway to Heaven, a big number, totally different to the norm at Dracula’s. It starts soft and has a big rock-like ending. It brings the house down every night. We went out on a limb with Retro Vampt. With our opening video, we reference ‘70s porn stars, the police shows, the blaxploitation shows – it sets up the theme of Retro Vampt with the flares, the afros, the corniness of it all. And then there’s the audience interaction, even more of it this time.”

Something’s going right cos the cast is made up of the same performers as last year and Diamond says they’re very tight by now. One of the best things about working in a Dracula’s show, he reckons, is the creative freedom the performers enjoy. “The beauty

of it is that it’s not a musical where you’re handed a script and you have to stick to the lines,” he notes. “We are always allowed to bring our own spin to things, we can play around with things, we can always suggest acts, call on our own experiences, add jokes, add to costumes, the musicians have control of the music, of the harmonies; it’s a great creative process. The musicians are multitalented,’ Diamond continues. “They play bongos, guitar, sex, doing iconic musical moments from the ‘70s. Music is the main theme in this year’s show. There’s a bit of everything. There’s a pole routine and a comical aerial act featuring a James Bond sequence. But we’re still a cabaret and we’re still vampires so there’s the dark element of that. And the sexiness! Dracula’s has evolved. We’re into the golden age of vampires now. It’s a funny glamorous show with way, way more sequins!”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : Dracula’s, 100 Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : March 25 - April 18 (except Sundays and Mondays) TIM E : 7.30pm TICK E T S : $85 - $115

Jekyll x James return to Melbourne with their own unique brand of musical storytelling in Cactus Blastus, a riff on the Western genre. I asked Cameron James to fill me in a bit more on the flavour of the show. “Jared and I do music, comedy, sketch comedy and clowning all in one. We play live music - live hip hop and punk songs - and then we loop that music and we do sketches and stupid shit on top of it...last year’s show was horror-themed, this year’s show is cowboy and spaghetti Western themed.” They’re covering as much of the genre that they can. “Our show is a live action peyote trip - the audience comes on a psychedelic peyote trip with us through the Wild West.”

It’s the perfect excuse to get out the movies that made the genre, to get your teeth into some hardcore research, something that went a little bit awry in Jared and Cameron’s plans. “We’re both movie fans so we’ve seen a whole chunk of Westerns in our time. We went to the video shop - I can’t believe they still exist - but we got out 15 Westerns, and we started watching one, and then we just sort of stopped watching it and started watching YouTube videos of people being hit in the face or something - we lost interest in the research very quickly, and instead started riffing off the things we already knew, the things we had seen before and whatnot. It’s art.”

The Western is a large and varied genre as well, so the pair are trying to stick to the old-school tropes, rather than battle with such groundbreaking films as Wild Wild West. “I’m sure we had a big conversation about [the giant mechanical spider], but we decided that Will Smith already covered it so deftly. We’re more into the spaghetti Westerns, the Westerns made by Italians and all the westerns made by people who were taking LSD in the ‘60s, that’s kind of the stuff that we’re more interested in.”

Jekyll and James circled each other in their own solo stand-up careers before finally deciding to join forces, but the process was organic. “Jared would be onstage and I’d be in the audience and I would heckle him, and then it would become a sketch. We’d bomb each other’s sets and hijack each other’s shows from time to time, and then last year we wrote our first actual show...and that’s how we found our actual style...I think, that I haven’t seen anyone else do a combination of music and clowning.”

Although they’ve been compared to The Mighty Boosh and Flight of the Conchords, it’s hard to pin down the pair’s influences, as they prefer to continue working on their style, “It’s really about coming up with the best stupid idea - we put a high premium on stupidity in our writing.”

After Melbourne the pair are continuing to tour, but are also looking to work in another direction. “We haven’t really discussed this in depth, but we’re also thinking of making this the basis of a web series. I see it moving in that direction beyond being a live show, I see it becoming something new online. I haven’t really discussed this much with Jared.”

I point out that if I put it in the article then it will have to become true. “Exactly! There’s no argument with that.”

BY SAM WILSON

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V E N U E S : Forum Theatre - Carpet Room & Pizza Room, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $18

THE KRANSKY SISTERS

KITTY FLANAGAN SERIOUSLY?

PIECE OF CAKE In this brand new show, Kitty opens up and talks about her feelings.

Seriously? No. This is stand-up comedy, there’s no room for naval gazing, just funny stories, stupid voices and hard laughs. Here’s what you get: The inside scoop on gravediggers, cops, Cubans and spaghetti soss. Advice on how to keep a straight face when doctors use ‘proper’ words like ‘anus’ and ‘areola’. Find out why dog people are the new cat people, why old people love salt and why dating a felon is all the rage these days.

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Watch out! The Kransky Sisters are bringing their own unique brand of musical comedy back to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. From ABBA to Pink Floyd and Beyonce to AC/DC, these three eccentric sisters with their eclectic mix of instruments including musical saw, tuba, old reed keyboard and kitchen pots have cooked up a very special sweet and sour serving of well-known songs gleaned from their old wireless at home. Add to this a spicy lot of stories from the sisters’ travels, and you have the icing on the cake. Hot out of the oven, these oddball Queensland sisters reminiscent of your old aunties, will leave you wanting seconds.

V ENUE: Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DATES: April 7 - 19 (except Monday) T IME: 7pm T ICKETS: $37 - $44

ONE MAN BREAKING BAD

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V E N U E : Palms at Crown, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank DAT E S : March 27 & 28, April 17 & 18 T I M E : 7.30pm T I C K E T S : $49.90

REBECCA DE UNAMUNO IS OPEN TO SUGGESTION

THE UNAUTHORISED PARODY

Miles Allen performed his show One Man Breaking Bad at the Kelvin Club for MICF last year. “This year it’s a very different show,” he says, “It’s gotten better along the way. I’m excited to be doing it, there’s a lot of new material. More impressions, more props. Jesse’s still narrating but it’s been broken up into seasons.”

Breaking Bad features some of the most morally compromised characters on television, especially the protagonist Walter White, mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned meth manufacturer. So it’s curious that performer Miles Allen is drawn to the series, given that he’s a Christian and all. “The show’s synonymous with faith,” Allen says. “It’s the classic story of someone going down a slippery path when they could have made other choices. We look at Walter while he’s still a meek mild chemistry teacher, he loves his family and he’s diagnosed with cancer. He faces a choice which he believes is justified. That could be a path we all go down. There are so many times in the show where he could have made a different choice.

There are ‘God moments’ where he would have been taken care of.”

Beat is surprised to find a believer in the irreverent world of comedy where religion is so often a target for humour. “People are surprised,” says Allen. “People ask me questions. But I don’t really expect any sort of persecution. I’m just your generic comedian.”

As fans of Breaking Bad will know, one of the charismatic characters from the series now has his own spin-off show. Is Allen going to do a Better Call Saul show? “It’s a possibility,” he says. “It depends how well this show goes. It’s been very well-received by UK audiences. It’s foreseeable that I could do one down the track.”

Allen’s looking forward to performing at the Roxy in Los Angeles in June cos he’s heard that the audience will include Bob Odenkirk himself, the actor who plays Saul Goodman. ”I’ve heard he’s very interested in seeing the show” says Allen. “That’s a dream come true!

Saul works in mysterious ways.”

Allen says one challenge he faces is keeping his voice healthy. “It’s a big challenge keeping my voice from going out. I can start losing my voice very quickly on stage. But I had a brilliant voice coach just before the UK tour and that helped immensely. It’s holding up a lot

PAGE 38

and is stronger than ever.”

Although he originally intended to become a professional baseball player, Allen found his comedic skills when he changed high schools as a very young teenager; in reinventing himself he discovered a gift for mimicry and accents that he’s been developing ever since.

“It started with Spongebob,” he recalls. “When I finished school and was thinking about finding a normal job, I quickly realised that performing was something I truly love. And I’m not really good at anything else. My parents quickly conceded that this is the best path for me. They’ve been very supportive ever since. ” Is there anyone he’s jealous of? “It’s an active process to be grateful for what you have,” he replies. “Living in LA, you’re constantly being a business card, showing what you do. I’m guilty of it too. You see your friends getting TV roles sooner than you do. It’s an active process to try not to be jealous.

There are standards of excellence you can aspire to, people you can strive to emulate and you can work towards that.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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VEN U E : The Kelvin Club, Melbourne Place, CBD DAT E S : April 4 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E : 9.30pm TICK E T S : $25 - $30

Veteran impro performer Rebecca De Unamuno is making her 40th birthday a year-long celebration, and it all begins at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. “I did Open to Suggestion ten years ago, and it was a Moosehead award-winning show...I turned 30 during that run and in Melbourne on opening night it’s going to be my 40th birthday, so I’ve sort of set up a ‘festival of the 40th’ - for the next 12 months I’m going to do all of the things that I love to do, and I love this show so I’m bringing it back.”

Audience suggestions kick off each show, with De Unamuno forming three characters based on offers from the audience. Over the course of the next hour, she creates monologues based on her three characters whose lives are somehow intertwined. How that link occurs is different every night. “I never know when that’s going to happen, or when I’m going to think of it or discover it. I had one where one of the characters was a cat owner and the cat had nine lives and had touched all three of their lives. Or somebody was writing a romance novel and then it turns out that one of the male characters that I was playing ended up the lead in the romance novel. It’s just looking for those similar themes or recurring parts of dialogue that end up connecting the characters.”

This way of storytelling relies on a mixture of sources, including her own experiences. “I think audiences can appreciate when a story comes from truth, rather than making it up, and there’s many times in my show when I might be playing a character who has nothing to do with me, but something that’s happened in my day or a song that I’ve heard...might just creep into the show.” This is just one of the ways that De Unamuno’s show differs from those performed by an improv group. “When you’re performing with other people, when you’re improvising, you can rely on them to come up with an offer if you don’t have one, but if you’re on your own, you’ve gotta keep going until something pops up.”

De Unamuno is playing the Adelaide Fringe when I speak to her, and Open for Suggestion is already off to a flying start. “This has been the first chance for me to do the show after ten years and get it back on its feet. You have a love/hate relationship with it until you feel like you’ve hit your stride, I’m loving it again which is great...every show is different, so even if it’s just to prove a point you can come back

and see it again. I’ve had a few recurring audience members here in Adelaide, which has been great. I don’t play the same character twice in a run, so that’s the challenge for me as well.”

Although a highlight of De Unamuno’s ‘festival of the 40th’, she’s got some other big plans for the year. “I want to have a party! I’m 40 and I’m single and I figure I’ve been to so many weddings and so many christenings and birthday parties for young people, that I figure that I would like to have a party.”

Why do they get all the fun?! “Yeah! I want to get some presents!

And there’s a few places in the world that I’ve never travelled to - I’d love to have a holiday, and just watch all the films that I really enjoy, and read the books I love, that kind of thing!”

BY SAM WILSON

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V E N U E S : Victoria Hotel - Vic’s Bar, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall - Backstage Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD (April 13 only) DAT E S : March 26 - April 13 (except Mondays, bar April 13) T I M E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm, April 13 6.30pm) T I C K E T S : $19 - $25

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18/03/2015 4:39 pm

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

FEATURE:

DIARY OF A TOURING COMIC

EASTEND CABARET PERVERTS

BY SIMON TAYLOR I’m currently writing this from a hotel in Manila, overlooking the city’s red light district. Well, I’m not overlooking it intentionally. That would be creepy. It’s just where the promoter booked me for the two nights I have shows in the Philippines. Last night I did a gig at Skippy’s Australian Bar & Grill, an Aussie themed venue. Not a single Australian in sight. It was packed with Americans and Brits enjoying a classic Aussie “pizza” and “San Miguel Pale Pilsen”. Full irony intended. This is just one of my favourite gigs from my time on the road in the last year.

Another I remember fondly was also in Asia. I was staying in a cheap little hostel down one of the darker streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had just done a show down the road at a cool outdoor venue. It was well organised and pretty pleasant. Back at the hostel I walked out of my room at about 10pm to go to the bathroom. The owner of the hostel, a 20-something woman yelled “Hey funny man!

Come perform in the bar.” In my shorts and singlet I was lead to the communal area. “Where’s the stage?” I asked “No stage, stand on this.” She pointed to an Esky. For 20 minutes, I yelled my stand up set to a group of giggling drunk backpackers from every part of the globe. Nothing spells the success of an impromptu comedy set like the union of diverse cultures and cheap Cambodian alcohol.

In late 2013 I was on the road in America. I was driving across the Southern states in a Mazda 6. You know, like the cowboys did. I arrived in Albuquerque by dusk, when the town glowed golden brown.

Many say this city is pretty sketchy but to be fair, their crystal meth is apparently delightful. I found a local open mic on Facebook to jump in on. Most open mic comedy nights are a lineup of adolescent males talking about their dicks. Not in Albuquerque. The comedy night was held in a giant empty nightclub on Tuesday. The majority of the performers that night were recently divorced mothers hanging shit on their kids and ex husbands. It was a kind of weird mothers’

club therapy group. But don’t worry, I made sure I kept up the required quota of dick jokes to give the night some gender equality.

After everyone’s sets I remember a lot of hugging going on. I sometimes wish we had that at Melbourne gigs.

And finally, New York. What a god damn magical city. I flew into JFK at 8pm. I had a gig in Manhattan at 9pm. It was going to be a push. The cab crept us to closer and closer to the gig as I drank in the glorious Empire State for the first time. Once we found the street I hopped out and raced around trying to find the bar. At 9pm I walked into this little glowing dive and followed the laughs to the back of the venue. As I got in a guy holding the lineup turned around and said, “You better be Simon Taylor.” I’ve never been so relieved to be me. Within a minute of entering the room I was on stage, full of enough adrenaline to kill a small rat. Post-show, I met a woman who had moved to the city from South Carolina. I asked her what advice she would give to someone who wanted to move to New York. As we strolled down the street to the subway, so she could get her train home, she said, “Three tips to living in New York: one) be the most positive version of yourself, two) don’t take anything in this town too seriously, two) enjoy being an individual.”

As we stood on the platform her trained pulled up. I grabbed her hand and she kissed me. “Enjoy New York,” she said as she turned away, walked onto the train and was gone forever.

Simon Taylor will perform his show Personal Best at The Butterfly Club from March 25 - April 19 (except Mondays and Tuesdays). Tickets are $25.

Beat spoke to EastEnd Cabaret, AKA professional rude girl and ‘deviant diva’ Bernadette Byrne, and her accompanist Victor/Victoria (‘half-mustachioed weirdo’, of ambiguous gender but fine with being referred to as ‘she’). The much adored and award-winning comedy cabaret duo is bringing a new show, Perverts, to MICF 2015. “It’s musical comedy,” says Byrne. “It’s got a whole pile of new songs. And it’s quite rude.” Very rude, according to reports. “We aren’t going out of our way to try and shock. But there are things that happen,” Byrne adds mysteriously. “I talk about the funny side of sex. About things that happen unexpectedly. I do talk about the intimate side of a relationship (and we drink a lot of gin).” Would that be a relationship with Victor/Victoria (henceforth referred to as Victy), perhaps? Byrne denies this although she admits there has been much speculation.

“I’ve been trying to get rid of her for 25 years.” “We sleep in the same bed,” notes Victy. “Perhaps we’re dating?” “We share a bedsit in east London. You sleep on the floor most of the time,” Byrne retorts.

“There’s only one bed but London is expensive! We’re not together, we just live together. People get confused and there are rumours that we are a couple but she’s just my accompanist.” “Actually we are soul mates,” contradicts Victy. “She couldn’t do the show without me. She needs me to play the instruments.” Are there any power struggles between the two on stage? “I’m the star!” notes Byrne. “But she does step out of line sometimes. She freaks most people out with her personality; she can be a little bit possessive. And aggressive.”

“I’m just deeply attentive to what Bernadette needs,” argues Victy.

“And what she doesn’t need. That man could have been a stalker!

He was all up in your face!” “I was just calmly sitting on his lap,” says Byrne. “I admit his hand was well-placed.”

The two performers speak in vaguely east European accents but they won’t reveal where they’re actually from. “If I tell you I will have to kill you,” says Byrne. “That sort of thing.” Beat’s intent on staying alive so back to the show: over the last few Australia has gotten hot and bothered with Eastend Cabaret’s offerings, Notoriously Kinky, Dirty Talk and Sexual Tension. Crikey describes them as ‘a high-powered feminine Flight of the Conchords dipped in acid and drenched in smut.’ It seems that we just can’t get enough of these two; they’re coming to Melbourne after a riotous season in Adelaide.

LUKE MCGREGOR

NOEL FIELDING

I WORRY THAT I WORRY TOO MUCH

AN EVENING WITH NOEL FIELDING

Don’t miss the return season of Luke’s 2014 smash-hit show! For three nights only Luke is taking the stage at the Comedy Theatre.

This is not a drill. This is your last chance to see the show that sold out The Hi-Fi and won Luke Best Newcomer at the Sydney Comedy Festival last year. Australia has discovered Luke through his standout performances on It’s A Date, Utopia and The Project.

Powerfully awkward and completely honest, Luke’s award-winning stand-up has taken him around the world, including two sell-out runs in London’s West End. Now he returns to Melbourne with his 2014 award-winning show exploring his OCD, life’s fears, failures and awkwardness.

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VE N U E : The Comedy Theatre - Cnr Exhibition & Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 30, April 6 & 13 TIM E : 8.45pm TIC K E T S : $32

MARK WATSON

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Old Met Shop, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.30pm (Sundays 8.30pm) T I C K E T S : $25.50 - $33

V E N U E : Arts Centre Melbourne - Hamer Hall, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : April 15, 16 & 19 T I M E : 8pm T I C K E T S : $79.90 - $89.90

HARLEY BREEN & HEATH FRANKLIN

FLAWS

“It’s been three years since I came to Melbourne, which is quite a long gap,” acknowledges Mark Watson, a returning Comedy Festival favourite. “In that time, I’ve had various issues with depression, drinking, mid-life crisis.. I’ve quite had an eventful life in the past three years!”

In his latest show, Flaws, Watson exhibits a brilliant alchemy, turning his inner turmoil into comedy gold. Fans can expect a slight change of pace this time around. “Flaws is a much darker, more personal show than I’ve tended to do in the past. It is basically about my own flaws that I identify within myself and about human fallibility in general,” Watson reveals. “I’ve been touring the show for a long time now. I’m bringing it to Melbourne in the most refined form, because I’ve been working on it for such a long time. Certainly, it’s tended to be one of my most uplifting shows as well, because I’ve taken the audience on that emotional journey.”

Flaws has presented a fresh challenge for Watson, luring him from his self-styled comfort zone. But, as Watson points out, it’s good to push yourself as a performer. “In the past, I’ve shied away from doing personal stuff to an extent, so there’s much more of a sense of release and reward in this show. If it goes well. Of course, if it goes badly and you’ve really exposed yourself, then you feel like shit,” laughs Watson. “But that’s the risk we take. That’s what it’s like being a stand-up, anyway: there’s always fairly high stakes, I’ve made the stakes a little higher for this show.”

Watson generally favours a hectic, high-stakes lifestyle, juggling parenthood and comedy, as well as television, radio and writing.

That trademark manic energy of his must surely come in handy?

“I’m quite a nervy, hyper-energetic sort of person. In a way, it’s not really a persona. I do repress a lot of my personality in everyday life.

Manic energy is quite useful in a comedy show but it’s not that useful in a dinner party or at a parents evening at school or something,” Watson quips.

“It’s probably true to say that I don’t exactly put it on as a persona for the stage, but on stage, I do release aspects of my personality that I generally keep locked up. When it’s going well, doing live shows really gives me the opportunity to feel like myself in a way that I don’t often feel in everyday life...which is, again, the same for a lot of comedians,” he muses. “It is quite a cliche, being this performer

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Noel Fielding, one half of the award-winning comedy duo The Mighty Boosh, Team Captain of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and the star behind Luxury Comedy is heading to Down Under. An Evening with Noel Fielding promises to be anything but a normal evening. Expect a magical mix of Noel’s unique brand of stand-up comedy, live animation, music and some of his best-known TV characters, such as The Moon and Fantasy Man. There’ll also be muscular support from special guests including Mike Fielding (Naboo/Smooth). Don’t miss out, come along, and bring your friends. Fancy dress is optional.

But we need to watch out. There was a bit of bum baring in Perth, apparently. “I was riding a Man Beast,” explains Byrne. “They’re big brawny bearded men over there; he was a huge miner. He was wearing low cut shorts. They started to slip. He exposed himself.”

“There was a lot of arse,” notes Victy. “In the end he enjoyed it.”

“Everyone did,” says Byrne.

Who would they consider to be influences on their performance?

“80s power bands like Meatloaf,” says Byrne. “But don’t put that in.” “Yes, put that in,” says Victy. “Meatloaf. And Tim Curry in Rocky Horror. David Bowie because of weird laser sounds; always weird laser sounds,” she adds. “And Freddie Mercury, he was very cool; he played a lot of instruments. And Prince.” Victy is no slouch herself when it comes to multi-instrumentality; in one show she’s been known to play piano, loop pedal, violin, musical saw, kazoo and glockenspiel. “We have to carry about a shitload of instruments,” complains Byrne.

CAPTAIN FUN PANTS AND THE MYSTERY OF THE FUN-O-MATIC FU N WAND

that starts to feel more at home on stage than anywhere else... I’m resistant to the idea, but there is a lot of truth in that.”

Interestingly, Watson still tends to identify as an introvert. “It’s that getting on stage gives you such a chance to be an extrovert. I’m an introvert who gets one hour a day to be a complete lunatic,” he explains, before the conversation inevitably turns to his marathon Comic Relief effort last month. “I treated myself to 27 hours of extroversion on that occasion!”

This festival marks the end of Flaws, Watson keen to plot a new course. “I’ve done it in Edinburgh and I’ve toured it. The next step is to develop a new show and, if all goes well, I might end up coming back to Melbourne to premiere the show there. That’d be the dream.”

BY NICK MASON

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VEN U E : ACMI - Beyond, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICK E T S : $28 - $38

The comedy of Harley Breen typically revolves around adults-only subject matter, such as drinking, smoking, masturbation and neuroses. Heath Franklin is best known to comedy audiences in the guise of Chopper Read, and his shows tend to be so cuss-heavy as to give you a seizure. So here’s an unfathomable concept – Breen and Franklin teaming up to write, direct and perform a kids show.

But with Captain Fun Pants and the Mystery of the Fun-o-matic Fun Wand that’s precisely what they’ve done.

“I was touring [Chopper’s] Repeat Offender in New Zealand and I brought Harley along to open up the shows for me,” Franklin says.

“We were passing time in the tour van and decided it would be pretty funny for two of the most potty-mouthed comedians that we know to do a kids show and walk the tight rope of good taste.”

Yep, this is certainly a radical shift in circumstances for the two sharp-tongued comics. In the play, Captain Fun Pants (Breen) and his best mate Pirate No Beard (Franklin) are out to retrieve the Funo-matic fun wand from WrongTown, where Sammy the Seagull has hidden it.

“It’s full on,” says Franklin. “It’s like running a marathon every single time. By the time we get off stage, we’ve been moving constantly and we’re drenched with sweat and exhausted. It’s the only time I think I’ve ever earned a Powerade.”

“It’s a completely different way of engaging an audience,” Breen says. “You’ve got to be able to engage a four-year-old and a 40-yearold and a ten-year-old all at the same time. That’s not an easy task.

But I’m a big kid at heart, so is Heath.”

In contrast to a stand-up set, this show follows a detailed narrative.

“It’s certainly the most scripted show I’ve ever written,” Breen says.

“My stand-up is a combination of dot points and ideas. But Fun Pants is a two-part play. It’s very much a pantomime-y kind of thing.”

However, the effort that’s gone into the script writing doesn’t mean Captain Fun Pants is an overly complex and emotively dense affair.

“Quite honestly, we wanted to write the silliest most absurd kids

show that the two of us had within us,” Breen says. “To just have 45 minutes of silly chaos, and I think we’ve achieved that. We absolutely thoroughly enjoy it. I think it’s the most fun show I’ve ever been involved in. It’s being loud, silly, making fart noises, getting crazy and then ending the show.

“It’s really about keeping that rollercoaster going for 45 minutes,” he continues, “while also being clear that there is a story. Fouryear-olds, eight-year-olds, love stories, so you’ve still got to give them a story, but make sure you engage them all the way through.”

Breen and Franklin seem almost alarmingly enthusiastic about this show. Whether they’ll manage to tame their potty-mouthed tendencies, however, remains to be seen. “Even fellow performers were like ‘How do you not get up and swear’?” Breen says. “I’m like, ‘Because I’m performing to four-to-eight year olds.’ It’s not like my choice of vernacular in everyday life is the only way I can talk. You just go, ‘Well now I’m at a kids show.’ There is a bit of purging out back before we start the show, but to be honest, I’ve never really struggled with it.

“There’s been moments on stage in the past where maybe a certain curse word has slipped out,” he adds, “but it’s usually never noticed. And if it is, no one really gives a fuck.”

B Y AU G U S T U S W E L B Y

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 28 - April 12 (except Mondays) T I M E : 11am T I C K E T S : $15 - $18

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PAGE 41

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

AKMAL

JAMES ACASTER

Known for his incredible ability to deal with hot topics in a hilarious and slightly offensive way, Akmal promises this year to deliver a show that’s punctual and jam-packed with words…some of which he’ll be using for the first time. One of Australia’s most respected and accomplished comics, Akmal draws on his Arabic heritage, his experiences immigrating to Australia at the age of 11, and his disillusionment with religion and the modern world to deliver a stand-up show that’s fresh, honest and ridiculously funny.

James Acaster returns to Melbourne with a brand new, immaculately crafted and preposterously silly hour of his trademark off-beat storytelling. Nominated in 2014 for best show at the Edinburgh Fringe for the third time, we’re starting to wonder what he has to do to take it home. The king of well-executed callbacks and clever visual gags, a night with Acaster is a guarantee of low-key, whimsical stand-up from an idiot with appalling posture who takes himself very seriously. He walks his audiences through an enjoyably cuckoo hour of tales until a comically dreamlike world is created, a world any audience will end up loving, despite never knowing they wanted to be a part of it in the first place. He’s already working on a great playlist for when you guys walk into the venue.

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V ENUE: Forum Theatre - Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DATES: March 31 - April 19 (except Mondays) T IMES: 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T ICKETS: $30 - $39

MESHEL LAURIE

TIEN TRAN

TALKS FUNNY

MOLOTOVS ON OLD STREET

Meshel Laurie is finally back on stage, talking to the most inspiring and influential members of the Australian comedy illuminati. Stage, screen and radio stars will come together for a comedy school reunion over four special shows, giving you a unique chance to see some of your favourite comedy teams reunited. Meshel’s been around long enough to know that behind every great comedy combo is a bundle of great/outrageous/contentious/half-true stories and she’s ready to pull every one of them out into the cold light of day for your amusement. There’ll be laughter, there’ll be tears (of laughter) and there’ll be red faces and accusations. Don’t miss this unprecedented opportunity to see comedians in “stories of the olden days” mode.

An up-and-coming comedian rising through the ranks, Tien Tran was nominated for Best Newcomer at last year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival after having been hand-picked to be in The Comedy Zone, the festival’s show case of new comedians from around the country. Tran’s style of absurd observational comedy with a mix of insightful social commentary will have audience members laughing even though they might find themselves disagreeing with him. He covers race, sex and politics with unabashed honesty and vigor. You may’ve seen him on SBS’s Stand-Up at the Bella Union or opening for US acts such as Anthony Jeselnik, Mike Epps and Dov Davidoff.

Come see this new voice in Australian comedy that’s garnering much acclaim from audiences and comedians alike.

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 28, April 4, 11 & 18 TIM E S : 5.30pm (March 28 4.15pm) TIC K E T S : $38

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $26 - $33

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V E N U E : Gin Palace - The Swamp, 10 Russell Place, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $25

SARA PASCOE

SAM SIMMONS & DR BROWN

SARA PASCOE VS HISTORY

CEREMONY

Sam Simmons and Phil Burgers spent part of the summer together in LA. They went sailing, walked shirtless, got drunk by an open fire and even ate fancy French food one night. They also wrote and performed a show together called Ceremony. On their own, these two brilliant absurdist comedians sell out shows, win awards and leave audiences in a delighted state of confusion on any continent they choose. In a move that could go one of several ways, they are performing together for the first time in Australia.

SARAH KENDALL

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April (except Monday) TIM E S : 11.30pm (Sunday 10.30pm) TIC K E T S : $28 - $35

After a stunning Melbourne debut in 2014, the captivating comedy brain of Sara Pascoe is back with a brand new show, taking on the sexual evolution of the human race in Sara Pascoe Vs History.

Leaping from stimulating arguments to abstract confabulation with healthy doses of openness, honesty and earnestness, Sara’s personal anecdotes develop into hilarious points about relationships and society’s influence on them. Informed by her own romantic history and cultural insights, Sara Pascoe Vs History takes you on an intellectual trip while riffing about strip-Trivial-Pursuit, Adam and Eve, Kim Jong-il and your ex. Your brain can recall being a child, while your body remembers being a monkey. Everything that has happened shapes who we are today. Sara is one of the most interesting contemporary stand-up comics around, with a show full

TAHIR

A DAY IN OCTOBER

JUST ASK ME

After walking away with the comic’s choice (Piece of Wood) award at last year’s MICF, multi-award winning comedian Sarah Kendall is back with a new hour of storytelling. In this hour-long narrative, Sarah’s story will take audiences back to a pool party she went to in 1989 that was so disastrous the ramifications are still being felt today. It was a pretty bad pool party. Kickstarting her stand-up career in Australia, Sarah built quite the reputation on the local comedy scene, before taking off to relocate to London, where her sharp, observational humour saw her in demand and continues to perform at all the major festivals in the world. Along the way, she’s scored a swagger of nominations and awards (including being the first woman in nine years to receive a prestigious Perrier Award Nomination at the Edinburgh Festival). Having Sarah back in Australia and at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is a real treat, so do

Are we a xenophobic nation? In this light-hearted, jam-packed show, Tahir explores all things xenophobic: boat people, religion and even a pork-free society. Just Ask Me will contain Tahir’s usual signature audience participation, with some discovering their level of racism by spinning the ‘Wheel of Racism’! No suspicious backpacks allowed.

TOMMY LITTLE

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $26.50 - $33

yourself a favour and be sure not to miss a chance to spend an hour with Sarah Kendall.

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Old Met Shop, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TIC K E T S : $22 - $30

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V E N U E : Groove Bar, 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank DAT E S : March 27 - 29, April 7-19 (except Monday) T I M E S : 8pm (Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays 7pm) T I C K E T S : $28 - $35

WIL ANDERSON

ENTER THE WEAPON

FREE WIL

Tommy Little has been smashing it at festivals and clubs around the country (and overseas) since he hit the comedy scene in 2007.

Energetic, surprising and completely engaging, Tommy has fast evolved into one of the country’s most exciting comedians, with sold-out shows and rave reviews. Tommy is now a part of many Melburnian mornings as co-host of Nova 100’s breakfast show. Not content with talking during one meal, he also pops up at dinner time as a regular guest host on Network Ten’s The Project. Despite this success on stage, on screen and on the radio, Tommy has not quite been able to live up to his own self-proclaimed nickname – The Weapon. In his new hour of stand-up, he’ll tell you why.

Australia’s most prolific comedian is back with a brand new show.

Passionate, intelligent and provocative with bravery on stage that’s second to none, Wil is truly world class. Not one to rest on his laurels, Wil took a year off Gruen and spent 2014 relentlessly touring through the US, performing everywhere from Alaska to Texas, headlining clubs and sharing the stage with the likes of Sarah Silverman, Bill Burr and Patton Oswalt. His popular TOFOP podcast even co-headlined the LA Podcast Festival, with the live stream of the show the most downloaded show of the entire festival. Now entering his 20th festival season in a row, Wil continues to dominate the comedy stage.

PAGE 42

of curiosity, as she explores everything from female sex drive to kamikaze sperm in considered detail.

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VEN U E : ACMI – Beyond, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) TIC K E T S : $24 - $32

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BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : The Comedy Theatre, Cnr Exhibition & Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 24 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.15pm (extra show Saturdays at 5.45pm, Sundays 8.15pm) T I C K E T S : $30 - $49.90

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

PAGE 43

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ANTHONY JEANNOT

ARI SHAFFIR

UNACCEPT-A-BUBBLE

DO MUSHROOMS

Unaccept-a-bubble is the debut show from one of Australia’s freshest voices, Anthony Jeannot. Fresh off performing to sell-out crowds at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Anthony delivers a show that’s extremely personal, still being deeply relatable. Covering love, the search for work and mortality, Unaccept-a-bubble is the story of finding your feet, only to look down and realise you’re stepping in a bit of poo. A commanding storyteller, Anthony combines subtle emotion with obvious dick jokes, in a show that’s sure leave the audience “smiling and surrounded by bubbles.”

Ari Shaffir describes his comedy as a puppet show, but way filthier and without the puppets. In addition to his increasingly popular podcast The Skeptic Tank and as a regular on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, Ari is probably most well-known for a series of comedy works entitled The Amazing Racist. Ari requests that you please don’t come to the show if you’re easily offended, or if you don’t like a Jew telling awful stories about sexual misconduct.

Everyone else, please come.

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V ENUE: The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DATES: March 26 – April 5 (except Monday) T IME: 7.30pm T ICKETS: $5 - $15

V E N U E : Comic’s Lounge 26 Errol St, North Melbourne DAT E S : April 16 - 18 T I M E : 10.30pm T I C K E T S : $30

GREG BEHRENDT

ALEX WILLIAMSON

I AM THE KING SWEATER

THAT GUY FROM THE INTERNET

After years on the US comedy circuit, California native Greg Behrendt was flung to meteoric stardom with his role as consultant on Sex in the City. He followed that by co-writing He’s Just Not That Into You. One New York Times Bestseller list and subsequent film adaptation later, it’s all gone away and Greg is older, wiser and sporting great knitwear. I Am The King Sweater is a stand-up odyssey with guitars, by the Patron Saint of comedy comebacks, featuring the (mostly) true story about Greg’s failed rockabilly career, dead kangaroos, cosmetics and the Japanese emperor. Think 1968 Elvis without the fame, looks or songs, but a lot more jokes.

YouTube superstar back by popular demand after a crackin’ run in 2014. That Guy from the Internet; that’s what Alex is, but he’s also sold out Edinburgh, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney since he was last in Melbourne. Get set for the brand new show from the guy from the Internet, and get in quick. With over 50 million views and some 485,000 people who have signed up as subscribers to his YouTube channels, as well as over a million ‘likes’ on Facebook, 80,000 Twitter and 430,000 Instagram followers – he’s running hot and the public love his work.

JAQCUES BARRETT

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VEN U E : Greek Centre - The Parthenon, 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) TIC K E T S : $28 - $34

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V E N U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 27 & 28 T I M E S : 9.15pm (extra show Saturday 10.30pm) T I C K E T S : $35

BRYONY KIMMINGS & TIM GRAYBURN

THE CONFIDENT PROFILER

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT After ten years of bartending and 12 years of stand-up, Jacques has weaponised his ability to sum people up on sight. His policy?

Always judge a book by its cover; that’s the whole point of a cover.

We all have decent intuition when we meet new people, but Jacques wants to go deeper. Teaching you how to interpret body language, body art and body odour. Sharpen your ability to identify potentially dangerous stalkers, strangers and people from Queensland. Soften the edges of your online profiles so prospective employers and life-partners don’t notice your faults until it’s too late. In just 60 minutes, Jacques will show you how to transcend the stigma of being “judgmental” and become a Confident Profiler.

JOEL OZBORN

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VEN U E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E : 7.45pm TIC K E T S : $15 - $25

Fake It ‘Til You Make It is a new theatrical collaboration from Bryony Kimmings and her partner, Tim Grayburn, about clinical depression, love and ‘being a man’. Meet Bryony and Tim. Bryony is an outrageous, hilarious and fearless performance artist based in London. Tim is an outrageous, hilarious and fearless account manager at a top advertising agency. Bryony and Tim are a couple.

Bryony spends most of her life on tour, trying her best to change the world. Tim spends most of his life at a desk trying his best to sell the world. Six months into their relationship, Bryony finds out that Tim suffers from depression. This collaboration between Bryony and Tim seeks to blast the taboo of mental health out of the water – with homemade music, stupid dancing, on stage arguments, real

DAVE EASTGATE

BE HERE NOW

I WISH I HAD A BAND

Award-winning comedian Joel Ozborn has toured the globe and shared the stage with the biggest names in comedy. In Be Here Now, he explores the notion of living in the moment and covers religion, big corporations and personal heroes. He also recalls how, at the age of six, he realised he would never be as good as Mozart.

Australia’s hottest new musical comedy genius, Dave Eastgate, is ready to strap on the leather, crank up the metal and metaphorically smash your face like a plastic schooner cup with his signature blend of stand-up comedy and balls out rockin’ thunder! After jetsetting overseas and performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, our favourite guitar hero, Dave Eastgate, hits Melbourne with his solo show I Wish I Had A Band. Dave blends rock, rap, emo, country, lounge and a little bit of soul as he takes you on this hilarious, high energy musical safari. Welcome to the jungle, baby!

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VENUES: Forum Theatre - Ladies’ Lounge, Carpet Room & Pizza Room, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DATES: March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIMES: 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TICKETS: $19 - $25

life stories, tears and truths. A wickedly heartwarming and funny celebration of the wonders and pitfalls of the human brain, Fake It ‘Til You Make It sees Bryony and Tim seek to unpick what it takes to be a ‘real man’ in a society, in which one in eight men will have depression and one in five men will experience anxiety at some stage of their lives.

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V E N U E : Trades Hall - Old Council Chambers, Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : April 7 - 12, 17 - 19 T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $19 - $25

JAMES SMITH

JOSIE LONG CARA JOSEPHINE The three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and cult optimist is back with her most personal show to date. It’s about love and being outdoorsy as a bear. As she returns to Melbourne with a new niece in the picture, Josie reflects on her own childhood and the resilience of an older sister. She’d never really truly known heartbreak until now, and she’s using this experience to change her ways; to be more patient, to work out what she really wants and to become a better person. This is truly her most heartfelt, honest and revealing material, but don’t fret – politics will still get a mention.

A beautifully crafted hour focusing on love, family and heartbreak, Josie explores why she’s discovered a passion for the outdoors, her inability to be alone as well as explaining her penchant for recreating ‘40s American film noir and letting us in on a game she plays at classical concerts.

PAGE 44

Fans of pure stand-up should not miss Australian-born New Yorkbased James Smith. Since debuting at the Just For Laughs festival, James has appeared on Comedy Central, ABC, TBS and Flight of the Conchords, featured in Time Magazine and recently gave a TED talk.

He’ll appear on Conan on his return to the US and performs nightly at the world famous Comedy Cellar in New York.

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VEN U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 6 - 19 (except April 8 and 13) TIM E S : April 6 - 12: 9.45pm (Monday 7pm, Sunday 8.45pm), April 14 - 19: 8.15pm (Sunday 7.15pm) TIC K E T S : $26.50 – $34

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 30, April 6 & 13 T I M E : 8.30pm T I C K E T S : $25

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : Theatre Works, 14 Acland St, St Kilda DAT E S : March 25 – April 5 (except Monday) T I M E S : 7.30pm (Sundays 5pm) T I C K E T S : $25 - $35

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PAGE 45

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

MARK TRENWITH

TONY LAW

DISN EY GUY

ENTER THE TONEZONE

Mark tried to give up Disney. In 1992 it was his first year of high school and to be popular he tried to hide his ridiculously childish Disney obsession. What followed was this hilarious John Hughes Wonder Years-style coming of age tale full of sublime teenage awkwardness, humiliating stories, tragic ‘80s nostalgia and the struggles of a teenage boy having to turn his back on his Mickey Mouse jammies forever.

Dive into the zone of Tone for a life-affirming, life-changing, standup art show from the multi-award winning nonsense-maker, Tony Law. Following a multitude of successive sell-out Edinburgh Fringe seasons, Tony crashes down in Melbourne with an hour of his trademark tangential madness. The show will feature magical shapes, an original song, some truly heart-breaking nonsense and will briefly tackle world issues through the medium of dance. In the end, you’ll realise it’s a bit about the fear of death. Let Tony lead you in a collective breakdown as we explore the depths of his psyche.

Have your cores dismantled and reassembled, your timeline joyously disturbed.

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V ENUE: Trades Hall – Evatt Room, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DATES: March 26 – April 5 (except Monday) T IMES: 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T ICKETS: $18 - $25

BEV KILLICK

TIM BATT

PARTY TRICKS

EXPLORES THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Bev hosts a night of hilarity and wonder. Gasp at strange and extraordinary feats. Absurd, bizarre and just plain ridiculous. Tricks you never knew your favourite comedians could do, plus an audience segment. Party Tricks is a step away from the norm and promises to be mad fun! Everyone has a party trick. Some are stranger than others.

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Tim Batt is an award-winning New Zealand comedian (and host of an international smash podcast) who’s previously sold out NZ Festival runs and is finally coming to Australia. From Uber to the NSA, to why call centre work is worse than prison, and why Buddhist monks aren’t as great as everyone thinks – this is set to be a high energy and much talked about show. Tim’s intellectual bent and hilariously absurd ideas about the world are well and truly on display in this brand new show. Don’t miss Tim’s Australian debut.

V ENUE: Melbourne Town Hall - Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATES: March 30, April 6 & 13 T IME: 9.45pm T ICKETS: $25

COREY WHITE

ONGALS

THE CANE TOAD EFFECT

BABBLING COMEDY

In his debut solo show, Corey White sifts through the wreckage of a broken home, mental illness, and failed love, delivering an hour of sparkling stand-up comedy that cuts through the woe to the beautiful heart of life. This is a show that affirms the power of the human spirit and glory of being alive.

The surprise hit of 2014, multi-award-winning comedy, clowning and beatbox ensemble ONGALS performed to 1,000s as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Very Big Laugh Out. They return in 2015 with the hour-long outing of their gob-smacking hilarious moves. Expect breathtaking magic, effortless circus and exceptional skills from this non-verbal comedy collective that will have you laughing your hat off – even though you don’t know why.

A high-energy physical comedy spectacular, guaranteed to tickle the funny bone of every age, this wave of K-Comedy is truly sidesplitting fun for all generations and a show you won’t want to miss.

Melbourne comedy audiences are renowned for knowing just what is the next big thing and Korean comedy has well and truly landed on Melbourne soil – prepare to get hooked!

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V ENUE: Portland Hotel - Pool Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T IMES: 9.30pm (Sundays 8.30pm) T ICKETS: $15 - $20

COLIN LANE & DAVID COLLINS

NEIL HAMBURGER

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Cloak Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $25.50 – $33.50

V E N U E : Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets, 80 Smith Street, Collingwood DAT E S : March 25 - April 5 (except Fridays, Monday & Tuesday) T I M E S : 8.40pm (Saturdays 6pm, Sundays 7.20pm.

T I C K E T S : $20

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V E N U E : The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 12 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S : $25 - $33

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel - Portland Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $28 - $34

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 12 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) T I C K E T S : $27 - $35

DISCOUNTED ENTERTAINER

THE 3 MIKADOS Colin (Lano & Woodley) and David (The Umbilical Brothers) have teamed up to take on another formidable double act – Gilbert and Sullivan. This fast paced, hilarious show is infectiously fun. Already well-known for their comedy, it’s an added bonus that both David and Colin can really sing. This reduced re-telling of the light opera classic will surprise – it’s a refreshing new take for Gilbert and Sullivan fans, with faithful renderings of some of the more popular songs and a completely ridiculous hour of feel good nonsense for the uninitiated. If you’re looking for a big, fun hour in the theatre with two of Australia’s most loved professional idiots, don’t miss the world premiere of The 3 Mikados.

INNES LLOYD

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VEN U E : The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) TIC K E T S : $25 - $44.90

MILTON JONES MILTON JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DAFT

MEN OF YOUR DREAMS After years as solo artists and variety guests, comedy and improv duo Innes Lloyd are premiering their first full-length show at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival and they’re asking: are you troubled by night terrors? Are you kept awake by nightmares?

If the answer is ‘yes’, don’t waste another minute, pick up your phone and call the professionals. Rob Lloyd and David Innes are experts in nightmares; connoisseurs of nocturnal imagination. They are Innes Lloyd: Men of Your Dreams. After years of searching the globe for their long-lost little brother, they are coming to Melbourne to educate its peoples on the dangerous truths about dreams. With rapid-fire delivery, high-energy physicality, lashings of audience interaction and a pinch of improvisation, Innes Lloyd are the quintessential mash-up of smart wordplay, dumb pop-culture references and a bit of real science thrown into the mix.

PAGE 46

Neil Hamburger is the star of a new film by Rick Alverson, Entertainment, that premiered at 2015 Sundance Film Festival, following his spiral into a harrowing abyss. He’ll annoy the hell out of most people, with his greasy hair, stained tuxedo, disgusting throatclearing and ridiculous jokes that spiral into unbelievable obscenity.

But he’s a true original; a man who thinks he should be a showbiz legend but has been worn down by failure and his own self-loathing.

For those whose comedy tastes veer to Steve Coogan, Andrew Dice Clay, Charlie Chuck, Stewart Lee and Bobcat Goldthwait, Neil Hamburger is the comedian you need to see at least once.

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VEN U E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 –April 5 (except Monday) TIM E : 10.15pm TIC K E T S : $16 - $23

UK comedy hero, master of the absurd, he of the loud shirt and messed up hair is returning to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a brand new arsenal of quick-fire one-liners. After a delectably deadpan Australian solo debut in 2014, the telly regular (Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Roadshow) brings us The Temple of Daft, a (hopefully) doom-free hour of expertly crafted gags and nonsense, delighting audiences of all ages with his absurd wit and lightning mind. An evening in the company of an idiot. Or is he? Yes, he is. Only come if you like jokes though.

If not you’ll be cross.

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

“ It’s safe to say that

Natalie Harris’s secret is out — and a pleasure to share.” Herald Sun

“ This girl is one to look

out for, and this show is definitely one to see.”

Yawp Magazine

“ Megan McCrea has engaging body language.”

Sydney Morning Herald

8.30PM

Thursday 26th March – Sunday 5th of April (No Mondays)

The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure – Swanston Street, Melbourne Tickets: Full: $15.00, Conc: $12.00

Bookings: www.trybooking.com

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

PAGE 47

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

JOHN KEARNS

JEN KIRKMAN

SHTICK

I’M GONNA DIE ALONE (AND I FEEL FINE)

With unprecedented back-to-back wins in Edinburgh for Best Newcomer and Best Comedy Show, as well as a Barry Award nomination for his Melbourne debut, John Kearns returns to our shores with his simultaneously deep and daft new comedy show. The award-winning and critically-acclaimed Shtick is a series of crafted comedy curveballs, mixed with touching and hilarious vignettes from John’s real life as he soars upwards into his role as a professional and full-time comedian. The ultimate wordsmith and poetically witty comic, Kearns will construct an intelligent hour of comedy that’s both thoughtful stand-up and eccentric performance art, straddling both a clownish physical act and a rumination on the ungraspable nature of comedy.

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Jen Kirkman is one of the most exciting comics on the US scene and author of the bestselling book, I Can Barely Take Care of Myself – a memoir about her choice to remain childless. Kirkman talks about a loving divorce, being bad at marriage but good at living alone, why she would be a terrible mother and the realities of a sex life at 40.

She returns to Melbourne after appearing in Headliners at the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival – smart, sassy and often scathing, with a rock star look and the attitude to match, Melbourne gets a new chance to laugh along with her.

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VENUE: Victoria Hotel - Acacia Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIMES: 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) TICKETS: $26 - $33

SUNDAY MAIL

TIME OUT

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Cloak Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) T I C K E T S : $28 - $34

INDAILY

EDINBURGH SPOTLIGHT

THREE WEEKS

‘A LASCIVIOUS, LIP SMACKING, FAINTLY TERRIFYING TREAT. HILARIOUS’ TELEGRAPH

MICHAEL CHE Having been named one of Rolling Stone’s 50 Funniest People, Buzzfeed’s 50 Hottest Men in Comedy, and Variety’s Top Ten Comics To Watch, Michael Che has risen to US comedy’s highest ranks, co-anchoring and writing for the legendary Saturday Night Live segment Weekend Update. A native of lower Manhattan, Michael’s humor applies street culture to world issues. In addition to his work on Saturday Night Live, Che has been a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and appeared on numerous late-night television programs including The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Che headlines shows all over the world and has performed to rave reviews at such festivals as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Comedy Central’s South Beach Comedy Festival, The Moontower Comedy Festival, The Montreal Comedy Festival and Bonnaroo.

There’s no doubt Michael’s career is on a one-way trajectory to success, so catch him in Melbourne while you can – this star ain’t done rising yet.

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VENUE: The Hi-Fi, 125 Swanston St, CBD DATES: April 15 – 19 TIMES: 9.45pm (Sunday 8.45pm) TICKETS: $30 - $36

NAZEEM HUSSAIN LEGALLY BROWN As the star and creator of the critically-acclaimed, smash-hit TV show, Legally Brown, Nazeem Hussain debuts his much anticipated solo show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Now the brownest household name in Australia, it’s been four years since Hussain last performed at MICF as part of the award-winning duo, Fear of a Brown Planet, who were named the Best Newcomers in 2008. Hussain has become the master of exposing the inherent absurdity in prejudice and flipping stereotype on its head. His live shows are no different: cerebral, confronting and funny. Expect the unexpected when Nazeem Hussain returns to the stage at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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VENUE: Melbourne Town Hall – Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIMES: 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TICKETS: $20 - $30

PAGE 48

26 MAR - 19 APR, 9.30 MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

GEN FRICKER

MICHAEL WORKMAN

MONSTERPUSSY

WE HAVE FUN DON’T WE

Fresh from supporting Reggie Watts on his national tour, Gen Fricker brings Monsterpussy to the innocent people of Melbourne: a new hour of songs, stories, and meditations on Rock Lobster (the greatest song of all-time). Sardonic, unique, and downright weird, Gen has quickly become one of the brightest young stars on the national comedy circuit, with her unique blend of sassy stand-up and dark musical experimentation, delivered with a butter-wouldn’t‐ melt‐in‐her‐mouth smile.

Michael Workman returns with his latest and boldest creation. A genre-defying fable spinner with a captivating imagination, Michael takes audiences into unexpected worlds with rich characters and surprising, universal stories. Captivating, immersive and hilarious, Workman’s boldly unconventional comedy has truly come into its own with We Have Fun Don’t We. Within six months of his first gig, hel won the national RAW Comedy competition and found himself thrust into the maelstrom of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His first solo show then took out the coveted Best Newcomer Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. For the first time as well, he will be holding his first solo art show for the length of the festival at Mario’s Café, 303 Brunswick St, titled The Wolf and the Worm: The Icons of an Unknown Faith. Don’t miss your chance to truly experience the world through Workman’s remarkable eyes at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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V E N UE: Portland Hotel - Locker Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT ES: March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M ES: 6pm (Sundays 5pm) T I C K ETS: $15 - $20

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V E N U E : Victoria Hotel – Acacia Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $25

RICH HALL 3:10 TO HUMOUR The critically-acclaimed cranky American, the master of improvisation and audience banter, maestro of off-the-cuff musical comedy ballads and steadfast hero of the comedy scene – US comedian Rich Hall is coming back to town. After a massive Barry Award win at the 2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Rich brings his new hour of stand-up, 3:10 To Humour. Famous for his Ode to Bundaberg Rum, taking on Australian capital cities in song, riffing ingeniously with the audience as himself or as his redneck alter ego Otis Lee Crenshaw (not to mention being the inspiration behind Matt Groening’s character Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons), Hall is the master of absurdist irony and the king of rapid-fire wit. His plain, spoken, growling indignation and acerbic observations have an unerring talent for hitting his targets with precision every time, leaving his audience hanging on every word and winning him fans all over the globe. Many have been following the cantankerous charms of this festival veteran for years, but for those who haven’t heard his grouchy, deadpan style comedy yarns, it’s time to get on board. Come and ride with him on the 3:10 To Humour, it’s sure to be an express line to an hilarious ruckus.

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 9 - 19 T I M E S : 9.45pm (Monday 8.15pm, Sundays 8.45pm & Friday April 17 11.15pm) T I C K E T S : $30 - $39

RUSSELL KANE SMALLNESS For the first time since his triumphant 2011 award-winning festival season, the impossibly-quiffed Russell Kane returns to Melbourne to ponder whether size really matters. Exploring how to keep things small when life gets big, Russell looks at the British obsession with smallness and their own insignificance, and concludes that it’s turning them into miserable neurotics. As with all Russell Kane shows, he takes his central idea and spins it out as a container for hilarious anecdotes about sharing hot tubs with Nicole Scherzinger and demented holiday encounters in Thailand. Don’t miss Russell being tiny but fierce, close but distant in smallness. Or the bigger life gets, the greater the importance of smallness.

i BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : Arts Centre Melbourne - Playhouse, 100 St Kilda Road, CBD DAT E : April 8 - 12, 15 & 17 T I M E S : 9pm T I C K E T S : $28 - $38

PAGE 49

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

GARY PORTENZA

RUBY WAX

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE

SANE NEW WORLD

Darth Vader. The Joker. The shark from Jaws. Hans Gruber. Voldemort.

Pathetic, all of them. You want an evil villain? You need the deranged twin brother of Dr. Professor Neal Portenza, i.e. him, Gary Portenza.

Don’t come to show if: you’re afraid of the dark, you can’t handle the truth, you don’t like being touched, or if you think Neal Portenza is better than him. It’s a funeral, so come dressed in smart casual attire, but not too smart or too casual. For example, don’t come dressed as a scientist wearing board shorts, even though, strictly speaking, that does fit the criteria. You have been warned.

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Having trouble with your mind? Motor mouth American Ruby Wax can help. Based on her #1 best-selling book, Sane New World: Taming the Mind, Ruby’s brand new solo show sees the queen of hilarious acerbic humour providing a tour of the human brain. It’s part comedy, part group therapy session, and totally entertaining.

The brain explained, by a woman who’s become a highly respected campaigner for mental health issues, Sane New World explains how little we know about our minds and just how precious they are. Since her last tour, Ruby Wax has completed a masters degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at Oxford University and became more interested in the cerebrum than celebrity culture.

Here, she shares it all.

V ENUE: Tuxedo Cat, 17 - 23 Wills St, CBD DATES: March 25 - April 7 (except April 1) T IMES: 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) T ICKETS: $15 - $20

JIM JEFFERIES

STEPHEN K AMOS

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V E N U E : Arts Centre Melbourne - Playhouse, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E S : March 27 - April 5 (except Monday) T I M E S : 9pm (Sundays 8pm) T I C K E T S : $35 - $42

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V E N U E : The Croft Institute, 21 Croft Alley, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - 28 & 31, April 2, 4 & 7 T I M E : 6.30pm T I C K E T S : $14 - $18

WELCOME TO MY WORLD He’s Australia’s biggest selling, most successful comedy export of the last decade. He’s stormed his way across the globe, selling out shows on every continent on earth (except Antarctica, but he’s working on that). He’s had global TV solo specials and his own TV series in the US, does it get any better? It bloody well does, because he’s about to rock stages across his home country. In 2014, there wasn’t a seat left to sell across the entire national tour, so it’s time to get in and get in quick to ensure you don’t miss the comedy phenomenon that is Jim Jefferies in this hot new live show.

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The maestro of feel-good comedy returns to Australia with his new show. Fresh from a sell-out tour of the UK, Stephen K Amos has charmed and entertained audiences all over the world with his natural, assured delivery and his honest, original material. In 2015 Stephen brings his latest hour of hilarious and personal stand-up to Melbourne. Expect big laugh out loud moments with plenty of heart, irreverence and quirk.

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V ENUE: Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda DATES: March 27 - 28 T IMES: 7.15pm (extra show Saturday 9.45pm) T ICKETS: $48 - $54

V E N U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8pm (Sundays 7pm) T I C K E T S : $36 - $48 E X T R A : Stephen K Amos will bring his Talk Show to Melbourne Town Hall – The Supper Room on April 12 & 19 at 4.30pm.

JOSHUA LADGROVE

SUPERWOG

TALKS AT YOU FOR 52 MINUTES IN EXCHANGE FOR SOME OF YOUR MONEY

TALK SHIT GET HIT

From the same idiot who brought you Come Heckle Christ, Neal Portenza and Gary Portenza, comes his debut half stand-up, half late-night riot show. Once, he won an award for comedy and if you’re into that sort of thing, come along. Also, he’d put up some nice fivestar reviews, but that seems somewhat disingenuous given those were his other shows. In lieu of spurious reviews, this is a poem he wrote: “Come to my show, I hope it will be OK, roses come in a variety of colours, please come to my show, comedy is subjective, maybe you won’t like my show and that’s ok.”

NINA CONTI

Get ready for a night of non-stop laughs as Superwog, the superstars of YouTube comedy, present a brand new, hilarious live stage show, Talk Shit Get Hit. With an incredible 62 million YouTube views and more than 400,000 subscribers, Superwog regularly top the YouTube comedy charts. In 2013, the boys sold out shows around the country and in 2015, they’re back, bringing with them a brand new, live stage show to Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Don’t miss out as Talk Shit Get Hit promises to be one of the hottest tickets of the year.

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VE N U E : Tuxedo Cat, 17-23 Wills St, CBD DAT E S : April 2 - 18 (except Wednesdays and Sundays) TIM E : 11pm TIC K E T S : $10

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V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 27 - 29 T I M E S : 5.30pm (Sunday 4.30pm) T I C K E T S : $39.90

THE BEAR PACK

IN YOUR FACE The Bear Pack is Sydney’s Steen Raskopoulos (Sydney Comedy Festival Beast Newcomer 2013, National Theatresports Champion) and Glenn Innes’ ‘Man About Town 2006’ Carlo Ritche (One Man Yarns). Their show is an hour of improvised storytelling. Inspired by your suggestions, The Bear Pack will create the kind of stories your grandparents wish they could tell you. Guaranteed to make you feel again, The Bear Pack is the steam-ship of hilarity you’ve been waiting for, don’t let it sail away without you.

Nina Conti has won a British Comedy Award, stormed Live at the Apollo, Russell Howard’s Good News, Sunday Night at the Palladium, and made a BAFTA-nominated film, all without even moving her lips.

This year, Melbourne International Comedy Festival favourite awardwinning ventriloquist will create a new show each night by plucking inspiration from the audience. Strap into the mask as Nina gets in your face. With the help of Monkey and a bag of tricks, truly anything can happen in this unmissable improvised adventure of hilarious witchery.

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VENUE: Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATES: March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) TIMES: 7pm (Sundays 6pm) TICKETS: $28 - $38

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – The Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 10 & 11 T I M E : 11pm T I C K E T S : $25

THE IMPROV CONSPIRACY

PAPA CJ NAKED

PLAY LIKE A GIRL This is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut of India’s favourite comedian! He’s toured sell-out shows across four continents, been a Last Comic Standing Finalist and, just last year, won the title of Asia’s Best Stand-Up Comedian Award 2014.

Now, Papa CJ is ready to bare all. In his new show, Naked, the man described as an “Indian Chris Rock” brings tales of school, work, love, sex, passion, heartbreak and hope. This Indian tea-planter’s son received an Oxford MBA, then gave it all up and became a comedian.

This show is guaranteed to make you laugh, will possibly make you cry and might even change the way you look at your own life.

PAGE 50

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VEN U E : Trades Hall – The Meeting Room & The Quilt Room, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : March 26 - April 12 (except Mondays and April 11) TIM E S : March 26 - April 5: 7pm (Sundays 6pm), April 7 - 12: 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) TIC K E T S : $25.50 - $35.50

Not too long ago, the average improv show was dominated by awkward 20-something guys wearing ironic t-shirts, and it was a bit of a mess. Luckily for everyone, there’s been a record number of extremely talented females getting involved in improvisation during recent years, thanks in part to the trail blazed by hilarious women like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who both cut their teeth improvising at Chicago’s famous iO Theatre. The Improv Conspiracy’s first all-female showcase is not just about girl power, it’s also an opportunity to debut an exciting new Chicago-born improv comedy format that has never been performed in Australia before. These girls know how to play. Boys, you can provide the suggestions!

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ALICE FRASER

JEFF GREEN

SAVAG E

HAPPY HOUR

Everyone believes something. It’s what makes civilisation tick. But after a chance encounter with a true believer, Alice starts to think that maybe she’s a heretic. What does she believe, and what’s at stake? Life, death, love and paper towels. When you’re an outsider, sometimes faith is the last thing you need. Some things make you feel Savage. Banjo playing, overeducated, and full of wild words, Alice Fraser takes you through a new hour of brilliant comedy about love, anger and belief. What makes you tick? What do you believe?

All Jeff wants is to be happy. So why are there so many obstacles in his way? Money, relationships, kids, authority, three-sided mirrors in lifts, faulty automatic doors, the cat, and his own dumb thoughts and actions. One of the UK’s hottest comedy exports – star of stage, screen and the page – Jeff Green has been selling out shows in Australia to rave reviews for almost two decades, and his latest offering will be no exception. Join the multi-award winning comedian as he mines the comedy gold from the pursuit of happiness, armed with his razor-sharp wit and wry observations. Don’t miss this show.

It might just make you happy.

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VE N U E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT ES: March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T IM E : 8.30pm T IC K ETS: $15 - $22

TAKE THE

V E NU E : ACMI – Below, Federation Square, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St. CBD (Mondays only) DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 T IME S : 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) T ICK E T S : $22 - $32

GREAT COMEDY TITLES FROM

LAUGHTER L AU UG GHTER ER HOME WITH YOU

EM RUSCIANO THE MOTHERLOAD Imagine all the love of a Celine power ballad, and all the snot and isolation of an Ebola outbreak. This show’s kinda like that clip Beyonce did with Blue Ivy, only with more c-bombs, more references to extreme toilet paper usage and no attempt whatsoever to hide marital difficulties. From parenting in the ‘80s to her hatred of the Disney musical, Frozen, The Motherload will leave no stone unturned, no relationship unexamined, no swear word unsworn. Oh, and there’ll be a John Farnham sing-along. By God, there will be a John Farnham sing-along. Accompanied by her long suffering father Vincie, Em will rip through your heart like herpes at a blue light disco.

If you’ve had a mother, this show is for you.

i OUT 1ST APRIL

V E N U E : Trades Hall – The Quilt Room, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DATE S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TI M E S : 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm) TI C K E TS : $24 - $32

OUT 15TH APRIL

JOEL CREASEY THE HURRICANE

OUT 1ST APRIL

OUT 1ST APRIL

Lock the doors, batten down the hatches, for God’s sake please take down that annoying wind chime...a storm is brewing.

Winning critical acclaim, celebrity fans and five star reviews around the world while leaving a trail of comedic annihilation in his wake, Joel Creasey returns to his spiritual home of Melbourne to premiere his hot, brand new show. Join Australia’s hottest comedian for a night of laughs delivered in signature Creasey style: tight jeans, big hair and a truckload of wicked stories.

Strap in, bitches, a hurricane is coming.

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AVAILABLE AT 201502157_ABC_Comedy_Guide_Print_Ad.indd 1

3/19/15 2:16 PM

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

V E N U E : ACMI – Below, Federation Square, CBD & Melbourne Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St. CBD (Mondays only) DATE S : March 26 to April 19 (except April 6) TI M E S : 9.40pm (Sundays 8.40pm, Mondays 7pm) TI C K E TS : $22 - $32

PAGE 51

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ASH BURGESS

DAVE CALLAN

PUNK ROCK POET

A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION 2: A LITTLE MORE LESS CONVERSATION

There was a young man from Nantucket, who was drinking beer from a bucket, his name was called, he gathered his balls, grabbed the mic and said “potato”. Punk Rock Poet takes aim at many things, not the least of which is the state of music today, managing coitus around TV shows, and the all important issue of what the hell you send back to a girl who has sent you a picture of her tits. Expect a poetry reading, expect a punk rock show, and expect a stand-up gig.

Imagine a dirty old pub with carpet so sticky from spilt blood and beer that you just step out of your shoes at the end of the night and walk home in your socks and leave your shoes stuck to the floor.

FRENCHY

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VEN U E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 6 (except Monday) TIM E : 7.45pm TIC K E T S : $20

Dave Callan is doing his dancey bullshit again. This time, there’s even less talk. Dave’s A Little Less Conversation was a must-see last year, a treat for comedy goers after a break from the verbal. Dave is back for 2015 with an all-new hour of dance that’s twice as big, twice as silly and with twice as many backup dancers. Live action and video combine to create a hilarious dancing spectacular for ages 15 and above. Watch Dave dance his way through the alphabet from z to a.

Spoiler: p is pole.

KATHERINE RYAN

LIVE N LANKY

GLAM ROLE MODEL

Raised in the ‘ghettos of Wollongong’, Frenchy has picked up comedy awards including Quest for the Best finalist and RAW Comedy NSW finalist. His YouTube channel, SungaAttack, features the cult series Around Girlfriend Vs Around Mates and has led him to more than a million online fans and tens of millions of views. Frenchy takes his unique, relaxed style to the stage in this hour of laughs with help from his band Sunga Attack (featuring an actual, talented musician). Frenchy covers such topics as speed-dating, crazy girls, wizards, Muggles, Wollongong lyfe, substitute teaching like a boss and more.

With the face of an angel and the sharpest of tongues, Canadianborn Londoner Katherine Ryan brings to Melbourne an hour of quickwitted quips in her Australian premiere, Glam Role Model.

Left by her boyfriend for a ‘glamour’ model, she’s now an ex-Hooters employee and single mum. But Katherine is unsentimental, and unforgiving, as she presents a refreshing and often confronting take on pop culture, 21st century feminism and the absurdity of her life.

Glam Role Model takes a look at the murky world of the beauty industry and examines the role of models that provide its bread and butter. Fresh, often dangerously fierce, pop culture-obsessed lady was unaffected by publicised death threats last year, and survived the world’s first crack smoking mayor. She means business.

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V ENUE: The Tuxedo Cat 17-23, Wills St, CBD DATES: March 25 – April 19 (except Wednesdays bar March 25) T IMES: 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T ICKETS: $15 - $25

ROSE CALLAGHAN

RAY BADRAN

ROSE CALLAGHAN AND MATES 2: RETURN OF THE MATES

RAISED AND CONFUSED

After a run of sold-out shows at Melbourne Comedy Festival 2014, Rose Callaghan and Mates is back. More mates, more stupid stories, more great times. Who is Rose Callaghan? Professional Internet troll? Someone who was almost named ‘Sheila’? Bastard child?

Prolific Internet dating/Twitter user? Founder of a popular hashtag about Ryan Gosling? Female reporter 25 to 35 with one line in a recent Ford commercial? If you answered yes to any/all of these, you’d be correct. Come share a night with Rose and some of the best comics of the festival in this fun split-bill show, which last year featured acts such as David Quirk, Kate McLennan, Rhys Nicholson, Geraldine Hickey, Josh Earl, Joel Creasey, Tom Ballard and lots more.

CASEY TALBOT

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V E N U E : Trades Hall - New Ballroom, Cnr Lygon & Victoria St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $25.50

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Cloak Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 15 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $25.50 - $33.50

He’s done stand-up with Kochie, been the Hoff’s body double and has been investigated by ASIO – no wonder comedian Ray Badran is a confused man. In Ray’s first absurd and inventive show, he explores the bewildering complexities of modern life. This show is a collection of jokes and stories by a lazy man.

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VE N U E : Hugs and Kisses, 22 Sutherland Street, CBD DAT E S : April 6 – 18 (except Sunday) TIM E : 6.45pm TIC K E T S : $12 - $17

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel - Locker Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

SAM CAMPBELL

CAMBO’S ON TOP

A CASE STUDY A Case Study is Casey Talbot’s new story where he tells you the story of a comedian’s life. A Case Study takes you on the journey from his life as an unsuccessful single guy to attracting his opposite, a mediocre résumé of day jobs and scooters, to a Central Park wedding and an off-Broadway performance in New York. Last year, Casey performed his new solo show A Case Study to the 2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Stand-up comedy became Casey’s calling, given his laid back Australian style, witty insights and astounding inability to hold down a regular job.

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Sam Campbell has his own segment on triple j every Friday afternoon, is part of an Internet collective called Skills in Time and was in a web series called Dayne’s World with his friend Dayne Rathbone. The show will be pretty wild, but it doesn’t matter if you’re a young person still learning about the world or a really old person, you can check it out! There’ll be a fair few jokes but also a couple of songs and even videos. If you like stuff like Lano & Woodley, Nathan

VENUE: Highlander Bar, 11a Highlander Lane, CBD DATES: March 25 – April 4 (except Sunday and Monday) TIME: 6pm TICKETS: $10 - $15

DARREN FREAK

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel - Locker Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

SAM SIMMONS

A FREAK BY ANY OTHER NAME

With a slightly over-sized head, ears that stick forward, size 13 feet and growing up in Adelaide, Darren would be a freak by any other name. Returning for his fourth Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this show is a mix of music and stand-up comedy, with a couple of surprises just for fun. Freak, where for art thou Freak?

What light through yonder window freaks? My kingdom for a freak.

There are more freaks in heaven and earth. If music be the food of love, freak on. Such freak as dreams are made on. To freak or not to freak? This is not a Shakespearean show, Freak is his last name. Really!

for You and coming-of-age movies, this might be up your alley.

SPAGHETTI FOR BREAKFAST

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VEN U E : Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston Street, CBD DAT E S : March 25 – April 5 (except Mondays) TIM E : 6pm TIC K E T S : $15 - $20

This is a return to pure, full-throttle stupid from comedy’s bestest little dickhead. Joyous, ridiculous and occasionally terrifying – Sam is our global ambassador of semi-professional bafflement. Fresh off the back of scoring a nomination for the world’s most prestigious comedy award and another sell-out season at London’s Soho Theatre, Sam is swinging back into Melbourne on his way from London to LA, with a brand new hour of comedy so good that people from other countries like it. Sam was the very best Sam he could be in 2014. He was nominated for the top prize at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Foster’s Comedy Award, won the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performance as well as the Festival Director’s Award at the Sydney Comedy Festival. He spent most of 2014 elsewhere but his appearance on Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery was a revealing

and rare insight into Sam’s roots in suburban Adelaide. Now based in LA, he continues to make a name for himself overseas with appearances on Conan and Adam Devine’s House Party. Sam is also starring in an online Blap for the UK’s Channel 4. Don’t miss him on home turf before he disappears onto the international stage for good.

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V E N U E : ACMI – Beyond, Federation Square, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 9.40pm (Sundays 8.40pm) T I C K E T S : $25 - $34

26th MARCH – 5th APRIL 9:45PM* AT TRADES HALL AS SEEN IN

FANFICTION COMEDY @ JOSEPHMOORE1

ONE OF NZ'S BEST YOUNG COMICS MAKES HIS SEMI-MUSICAL, SEMI-NEUROTIC,FULLY SICK AUSTRALIAN SOLO DEBUT. TICKETMASTER 1300 660 013 · COMEDYFESTIVAL.COM.AU *NO SHOW MONDAY, 8:45PM SUNDAY

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

FAT PIZZA VS HOUSOS

ADVENTURES IN HAIR Macau, 1622: the greatest man in the Imperio Portugues is dead, and there is a sudden rush to fill his leaden shoes. From the neverending fracas of princes and reformed pirates, one streetwise urchin will rise to the top where the only rule is that of the sword!

Three actors, 25 characters, one hour. From award-winning sketch comedians Laurence Rosier Staines, Michael Richardson and Ciaran Magee, Adventures in Hair follows the confusing plight of Portuguese swashbuckler Chico de Andrande, insane grand vizier Eugenio and man of science Cezar through paranoia, augury and Dutch invasions in their quest for a new viceroy. Described as a cross between Blackadder and a Pynchonian drug trip, Adventures in Hair is an hour of meticulously-researched historical comedy and rapidly changing hats. This MICF there will be no show like it.

AVENUE Q Winner of the Tony Triple Crown for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, Avenue Q is part flesh, part felt and packed with heart. This Muppets-meet-South Park-via-Broadway show is a laughout-loud, adults-only, Sesame Street parody - and definitely not for the kids. It tells the timeless tale of new college graduate Princeton, with his BA in English, who’s done with university and ready to take on the world. He moves into a shabby New York apartment in the only neighbourhood he can afford: way out on Avenue Q. There, Princeton meets Kate Monster (the girl next door), Rod and Nicky (housemates bearing an uncanny resemblance to Bert and Ernie), Trekkie Monster (a reclusive Internet sexpert), and other colourful neighbours. Together, they cope with their everyday struggles and help Princeton on his voyage to discover his purpose in life

EMILY TAYLOR

You’ve seen the movie, now see the Housos and Fat Pizza go toe-totoe live on stage. You be the judge, and you decide who is the funnier and most staunch. It’s the ultimate clash of the TV comedy titans.

Bigger than Ben Hur and better than finding 20 bucks in your jeans at the end of dole week.

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VE N U E : The Red Violin, 14 McKillop St, CBD DAT E S : April 9 - 18 (except Monday) TIM E S : 9.30pm (Sunday 8.30pm) TIC K E T S : $15 - $20

THE COMEDY CONFESSIONAL

VENU E : Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran DATE S : March 25 - April 2 (except Monday), April 7 - 11 TIME S : 8pm (extra show Saturdays 2pm) TICK E T S : $38.50 - $43.50

SABRINA D’ANGELO

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V E N U E : Tuxedo Cat, 17-23 Wills St, CBD T I M E : 11pm T I C K E T S : $15

Meet Zen. She’s half-pigeon, half-human. Zen has arms instead of wings. She can’t fly, but she can do other cool stuff like play the sitar and do tricks with her marshmallow nun chucks. Zen is on an important mission: to find her lost mum! She must journey up high, into the sea in the sky – kingdom of the cosmic octopus. But how will she get there without wings? Join Zen as she travels through lands of songful soup caves and farting sunflowers, meeting scaredy goats and bummy worms along the way. A seriously silly new actionadventure tale told through physical comedy, clowning, puppetry and music, by Sabrina D’Angelo.

They hoard and devour undeserved treats, have tantrums in traffic and indulge in disgusting habits when they think nobody’s watching.

Sure, they use big words like “antidisestablishmentarianism”, but aren’t adults just big kids playing grownups? A unique, hilarious and revealing celebration of youth from an award-winning writer and performer, Backwards is about the chaos and complexity of childhood: what it is, what it’s for and how much of it we hold onto.

V ENUE: Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DATES: March 26 - April 18 (except Mondays) T IME: 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T ICKETS: $15 - $23

MATTY GREY

SAMEENA ZEHRA

AGE-LESS 3: DREAMWEAVER VS THE NIGHTMARE CHILD

HOMICIDAL PACIFIST

Join us in a flight of fancy in the last instalment of Matty Grey’s Age-Less trilogy. Dreamweaver brings Matty to the stage with the most terifying thing in his life. His imagination! Joined by the living embodiment of his childhood teddy bear. Matt and Teddy get sent to their room for misbehaving. After all, when you have a naughty kid they can’t do anything wrong in their room, can they? Age-Less 3 is a flight of imagination that will have kids laughing and parents horrified at what ideas their kids might be getting. Complete with bed bugs, closet monsters and vomiting bunnies, this show is an ideal way to entertain little monsters during the school holidays.

JUSTIN KENNEDY

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V E N U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : March 28 - April 10 (except Mondays) T I M E : 10.30am T I C K E T S : $15 - $18

It’s time to cull the human race. But how is a lifelong believer in nonviolence to choose? By making a list. A culling list. Be ready to gasp, guffaw and maybe suggest a person or two for the cull. In this new show, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014, Sameena combines the weight of her political opinions with her particular brand of caustic, dark humour, in a playfully demonic show that explores the sublime and the ridiculous, whether there is hope for the human race and how civilisation makes hypocrites of us all.

VEN U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : March 28 - April 2 TIME : 11.30am TICK E T S : $14 - $17

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V E N U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 8.45pm (Sundays 7.45pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

MATTY GREY

GROSSED OUT GAME SHOW

BUCKET’S LIST

Fourth show by acclaimed writer Sarah Collins (CHOIR GIRL, Donna + Damo, Nothing Extraordinary Ever Happens in Toowoomba. Ever.), Justin Kennedy stars in this heartbreakingly hilarious story about love...and buckets. Featuring a live score, lively possum and lifesized bucket dream-girl.

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V E N U E : Tuxedo Cat, 17-23 Wills St, CBD DAT E S : April 3 & 4, 10 & 11 T I M E : 11pm T I C K E T S : $15

E S : April 3 & 4, 10 & 11 ZENDAT THE PIGEON GIRL

BACKWARDS

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Returning to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for its second year running, The Comedy Confessional is back to make you laugh, and cringe. Add the terrifying prospect of performing stand-up comedy to the mortification of confessing something never publicly admitted before, throw in professional comedians telling said tales, and you have a hilariously unique, schadenfreudelicious comedy storytelling experience. With previous confessors including Fiona O’Loughlin, Greg Fleet, Claire Hooper, Brendon Walsh, Wil Sylvince, and countless other national and international stars, part of the excitement is in waiting to discover. Who will dare to bare? No lineup or story repeated!

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V E N U E : Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 25 & 26 T I M E : 9.15pm T I C K E T S : $34 - $40

VEN U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : March 25 - April 5 (except Monday) TIM E S : 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm) TIC K E T S : $20 - $25

Matty Grey’s Grossed Out Game Show is back for its second year. The stand out special event for kids of all ages. It is a live and interactive game show where two celebrity team captains will lead their half of the audience in a battle of physical challenges and trivial absurdities in order to win! The goal: win the challenges to earn litres of slime!

The result: two dripping celebrities and a laughing audience! The team that wins more, slimes more! Hosted by the multi-coloured master of munchkin mayhem, Matty Grey orchestrates this whirlwind of insanity and leads us all on a merry dance towards a green finale that has to be seen to be believed. Finish the school holidays with the show that took the Best Kids Show at the Sydney Fringe in 2013 and sold out its entire season in 10 minutes at MICF in 2014.

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V E N U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote DAT E S : April 11 & 12 T I M E : 10.30am T I C K E T S : $17.50 - $22

C E L E B R I T Y B I K I N I WA X E R R O S A WA XO F F S K I I N

THE PRINCESS OF PLUCKING AND PREENING “The Mistress of Mayhem” Edinburgh Guide

“She has the goods” Barry Humphries

“A force to be reckoned with” The Age

“A true chameleon entertainment” Jacki Weaver

T H E F A M O U S S P I E G E LT E N T (ARTS CENTRE)

APRIL 14 - 18 7PM APRIL 19 6PM BOO K AT TICK E TMASTER MAR N E YM CQ U EEN .CO M

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

ROB LLOYD

ROB LLOYD VS. THE MONSTERS

As a child, Rob was scared of practically everything. To quote his mother: “You were a funny little fellow, you were frightened of lots and lots of things. The dentist…the doctor…injections…going over to other people’s houses…and the dark.” Was it all in his head or was there something really hidden in the dark causing all of this? Today, as an atypical manchild, Rob is still scared and wants to find out why. Assuming the role of host and supernatural investigator, Rob decides to find the truth by going directly to the source...meeting a real monster; Grobnick. Rob Lloyd is bringing his all new solo show to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Co-Devised with Scott McAteer and directed by Gerard

LIVE AND LET SPY

Van Dyck, Rob Lloyd VS. The Monsters takes a closer look at what’s hidden in your wardrobe or under your bed. Rob is guaranteed to make you laugh...and look under your bed when you get home.

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VENU E : Trades Hall – The Evatt Room, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : April 7 - 19 (except Monday) TIM E S : 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) TIC K E T S : $20 - $27

BORIS & SERGEY’S VAUDEVILLIAN ADVENTURE

Following their sell-out smash at the Edinburgh Fringe and hoping to capitalise on their nine-star reviews, puppetry’s Balkan bad boys Boris and Sergey (simply the greatest vaudevillian double act ever conceived for the small stage) present, for your viewing pleasure, a plethora of pleasing plays and skits! Expect riotous exploits, malarkey, molestation, and a mirth of a magnitude of hitherto unseen in Melbourne. This is an improvised crossover cabaret

PACO ERHARD

featuring Bunraku puppetry and character comedy for discerningly twisted adult audiences.

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V E N U E : The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, CBD DATE S : March 25 - April 5 (except Mondays) TI M E S : 8pm (Thursday - Saturday 9pm) TI C K E TS : $25 - $38

WORST. GERMAN. EVER.

each performance, Live and Let Spy is a must-see fully-staged spy send-up.

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VEN U E : Clean Comedy Hub, 488 Swanston Street, Carlton DATE S : April 7 – 11 TIME S : 1.30pm & 6.30pm (Tuesday only 6.30pm) TICKE T S : $15 - $22

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V E NU E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T IME : 9pm T ICK E T S : $18 - $24

ASPY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

DARIEN BROWN

COOL AS ICE

From Comic Genius Productions, the team that brought you last year’s hit Robin Hood: The Untold Story, comes a comedy that will leave you shaken and stirred! Geelong’s favourite comedy team hits Melbourne this April with Live and Let Spy, a hilarious high-energy show for all the family. Can superspy James Blonde and beautiful Russian agent Ivana Holdyurhanski stop the evil Dr. Maybe from destroying the world? Complete with car chases, giant lasers, thrilling action and an opening theme song performed live

Hard-hitting and critically acclaimed German comedian Paco Erhard returns to the Melbourne with his edgiest, most personal show yet.

Candid and hilarious, in Worst. German. Ever. he tells of his travels, sex, drugs, mistakes, tears, adventures and just how much he sucks at being German. 12 years ago, Erhard walked away from the life he knew and the ordinary career that loomed ahead, and hitchhiked out of Germany. Inspired by the philosophy of the Beat Generation and armed only with his dreams of The Road, this would be the decision that turned a German dreamer into an adventurous traveler and comedian. Combining the story of his life with poignant social observational comedy, Erhard jokes about consumerism, media lies, a world governed by greed and marketing and our search for existential experiences and meaning.

MARCH 25-APRIL 19 @ 8.30PM CLEAN COMEDY HUB

488 SWANSTON ST, CARLTON

$20 full price, $15 preview, $12 concession, $10 for TT thru cleancomedy.com.au or the box offce: 03 9017 0104

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

FAMOUS SHARRON

AARON GOCS & ANGUS GORDON

THE FAME GAME

GOLD JACKET COMEDY Gold Jacket Comedy premieres at 2015 MICF as the split-bill standup show presented by Brisbane’s Vegetable Grill. Consisting of Aaron Gocs and Angus Gordon, they’re an exciting prospect combining their cheeky, dry wit to create fresh and funny comedy. MICF will be their second festival appearance together after presenting their Vegetable Grill Comedy Show at 2014 Sydney Fringe Festival.

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Famous Sharron is very, very famous for absolutely nothing. A classic celebrity. Famous Sharron debuts in Melbourne to play The Fame Game with celebrity guests – completely live and improvised!

Get ready for glitz, glamour and scandal as Famous Sharron attempts to skyrocket celebrities and audience members into the Famesphere. Aided by her fabulous ‘Famettes’ (some of Melbourne’s top improvisers – The Big HOO-HAA!) she’ll be throwing her little starlets into all sorts of live improvised famous situations to bring out the A-list in them. Think Whose Line Is It Anyway? with sparkles and Thank God You’re Here in spandex. Audience members and celebrity guests will have no idea what’s coming next!

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V E N UE: Spleen Bar, 41 Bourke St, CBD DAT ES: April 7 – 18 (except Mondays, Fridays & Sundays) T I M E: 7.30pm T I C KETS: $10

BRETT BLAKE

DAMIAN COWELL

V E N U E : The Melba Spiegeltent, 35 Johnston St, Collingwood & The Owl and the Pussycat, 34 Swan Street, Richmond (March 25 - 29 only) DAT E S : March 25 - 29 (except Mondays, Tuesdays & April 16) T I M E S : 8.30pm (Wednesdays 7.30pm, Thursdays 6.30pm & March 25 - 29 8pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

HARA-KARAOKE

THE BARTENDER’S GUIDE TO IDIOTS Brett Blake is an expert on idiots, purely due to the fact that he is one. As his mates would say, “he would be the captain of the stupid ship.” But in a society full of idiots, Brett is left to deal with the worst kind regularly – the drunk ones. Join Brett and watch him get heckled by former customers in an exciting exploration of the stupidity of himself and others in one hilarious hour of stand-up! This is a fun show where, like his life, a lot can go wrong at any moment. The show has been dubbed an impressive bit of improv, and after a soldout run at the Perth Fringe World Festival, and is now here for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival! Come hang out and have a beer or two! Brett is sure you will love the show.

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V E NUE: Hugs and Kisses, 22 Sutherland St, CBD DATES: April 6 - 18 (except Sunday) T I ME: 9.15pm T I C KETS: $10

15,000 people wanted this man to represent Australia at Eurovision.

What were they thinking? Former TISM frontman Damian Cowell commits Hara-Karaoke to his back catalogue, (including his latest – Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine) – intercut with hilarious, surreal anecdotes about his past, present and future, all set to a disco beat.

After a multiple ARIA-winning career as the voice of the unforgettable TISM, Damian Cowell has had his work commissioned for MONA, performed at the 2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival to rave reviews and released his latest album Damian Cowell’s Disco

Machine with a host of star contributors including Shaun Micallef, Tony Martin, Kathy Lette, Julia Zemiro, Sam Pang, Tim Rogers, Kate Miller-Heidke and Liz Stringer.

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V E N U E : Forum Theatre - Ladies’ Lounge & Pizza Room, Cnr Flinders & Russell St, CBD DAT E S : April 7 - 19 (except Monday) T I M E S : 6pm (Sundays 5pm) T I C K E T S : $20 - $25

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL PROUDLY PRESENTS

(QLD)

(QLD)

(VIC)

(NSW)

(WA)

MATT FORD

JACOB LINGARD

MATT STEWART

NINA OYAMA

CIARAN LYONS

DIRECTED BY KATE MCLENNAN MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL

COMEDY

FESTIVAL 25 MAR – 19 APR 2015

TRADES HALL 26 MAR – 19 APR TIX FROM $19.50

TUES – SAT 8.15PM, SUN 7.15PM

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comedyfestival.com.au

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

HECKLE!

THE SOUND OF NAZIS

Have you always wanted to tell that bloke off the telly he’s not funny? Or think you have a better punchline? Heckle! is the brandnew, raucous late night comedy line-up show that throws out the rule book and lets the audience say what they want, when they want.

It’s time comedy got back to what it used to be – fun, spontaneous and live. In an age where stand-up comics now have directors, their shows have scripts and tickets cost $50, Heckle! strips this all back, and separates the actors/performers/artists or whatever they put on their passport, to deliver a show with people who call themselves comedians: people who are funny, think on their feet and can make you laugh, not because they rehearsed it, but because they just thought of it. Brought to you by the producers of Chopper’s Big Fucken Late Show, Heckle! will be hosted by only the funniest and thickest-skinned comics at the Fringe – plus a different lineup of top-name performers to be thrown to the wolves. The performers are going to hate this.

The Sound of Nazis is written by James McCann and based on Die Trappe Familie, written by George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker.

The people who brought you the critically-acclaimed sensation and multi-award winning Wolf Creek the Musical present a show based on the 1956 West German film Die Trappe Familie (and, legally, nothing else). Featuring soon to be classics like Maria, You’re a Terrible Nun and The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Nazis. Don’t miss the next instalment from this team who delivered a sell-out sensation last time. This is sure to become another cult hit. Too soon? Come and see anti-Nazi comedy while it’s still topical at MICF.

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VE N UE : Athenaeum Theatre – Comedy Club, 188 Collins St, CBD DATE S: March 27 - April 18 (Fridays and Saturdays only) TI ME : 10.45pm TI CK E T S: $20

NADINE SPARKS

V E NU E : Trades Hall - Old Council Chambers, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DAT E S : March 26 - April 19 (except Mondays) T IME S : 9.30pm (Sundays 8.30pm) T ICK E T S : $15 - $22

NEW ORDER UK

REHAB Tea. Rain. The Queen. Think you know Britain? This showcase of new UK talent brings a fresh perspective. Relax that stiff upper lip and enjoy a rotating lineup of UK artists you may not have seen before, but you will definitely see again. This is the New Order. Not a crumpet in sight. Featuring Dane Baptiste, Joel Dommett, Lazy Susan and Phil Wang.

Nadine Sparks plays a crew of crazy characters who have ended up in rehab. This facility has a swarm of stories. Meet a clinical director madder than any of the clients. If you liked Celebrity Rehab, you’ll love seeing what a dole cheque gets you! Nadine is a seasoned performer who was the star of the sellout 2014 Dirty Thirties and Here Come the Girls. She has performed to sell-out audiences across the country. You don’t want to miss this show.

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VE N UE : Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure Hotel, 195 Swanston St, CBD DATE S: March 26 – April 5 (except Monday) TI ME : 9.45pm 127.5 x 183mm - Famous Sharron_THE MELBA.pdf TI CK E T S: $15 - $20

1

16/03/2015

1:02:54 PM

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V E NU E : Greek Centre – The Parthenon, 168 Lonsdale St, CBD DAT E : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T IME S : 9.30pm (Sundays 8.30pm) T ICK E T S : $25.50 - $33.50

AS SEEN ON THE

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B E A T ’ S 2 0 1 5 M E L B O U R N E I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O M E D Y F E S T I V DaveCallan_Beatad.indd A L G U I D E B R O U G H T1 T O Y O U B Y G R A V I T Y E S P R E S S O

18/03/15 12:35 AM

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regular/concession

see online for times at timbatt.co.nz MARCH 26TH - APRIL 5TH

COLLINGWOOD 3066

Caz Reitop's Dirty Secrets

Explores the human experience

CRACCUM

Ò A F*CKING SHITSTORM OF LAUGHSÓ

The voice of TISM desecrates his back catalogue

HURRY! LIMITED TICKETS REMAINING T R I F L E T H E AT R E C O M PA N Y P R E S E N T S

BASED ON AN ORIGINAL CONCEPT BY ROBERT LOPEZ & JEFF MARX MUSIC AND LYRICS BY ROBERT LOPEZ & JEFF MARX BOOK BY JEFF WHITTY

SOME SHOWS ALREADY

SOLD OUT!

25 MARCH - 11 APRIL CHAPEL OFF CHAPEL

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NOT FOR KIDS!

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

EMMA J HAWKINS

PAULINE SHERLOCK

I AM NOT A UNICORN!

SPEAKING MY MIND

This show contains a short-statured person defying stereotypes.

Come and get lost down the rabbit hole with Emma J Hawkins, where Alice is probably drunk playing cards with Goldilocks and the three bears. Here you’ll meet a host of quirky characters that inhabit this world, including John the train driver (an average bloke), the wicked queen and the rare horned beast. Experience a whimsical tale about trolls destroying the world, the fine art of eating a banana and finding love in your local IGA. Laugh, cry and everything in between with this giant of a performer, with her bag of tricks bigger than herself!

Pauline Sherlock is an acclaimed procrastinator, and at last, she’s bringing her solo show to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival stage. With a mixture of stand-up, songs and skits, Pauline is speaking her mind about how we never really speak our minds, exploring the bullshit which holds our society together. Pauline exposes us for what we are: a highly evolved species of lying monkeys. With her sharp wit and irreverent attitude, Pauline looks on the lighter side of the traumas of life, getting old…der and dealing with arseholes. She brings an interesting point of view to looking at the human condition. As part of a post graduate research degree, Pauline is exploring the effects of comedy and humour on audiences

PUPPETRY OF THE PENIS

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VE N U E : Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street, Northcote DAT E S : March 31 - April 18 (except Mondays) TIM E S : 7.30pm (Sundays 6.30pm) TIC K E T S : $20 - $30

SNORT

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V E N U E : Club Voltaire, 14 Raglan St, North Melbourne DAT E S : 25 March - 19 April (except Mondays) T I M E : 7pm T I C K E T S : $10 - $20

WITH FRIENDS

Get out and catch the latest offering from the team of testicular twisters in a hilarious vaudeville romp that will leave you in stitches.

As always, expect to see shameless buck-naked men incorporating the latest CGI and live video projection with some funky tunes and new tricks in this brand new genitalia spectacular.

THE IMPROV CONSPIRACY

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VEN U E : Various (see comedyfestival.com.au for venue per night) DAT E S : March 27 & 28, April 2, 4, 10 & 11, 17 & 18.

TIM E : 9pm TIC K E T S : $39

Did you know The Improv Conspiracy runs two great comedy nights every week of the year, even when the festival isn’t on? It’s true!

Chicago Classics is a special Melbourne International Comedy Festival bundle of The Improv Conspiracy’s tried and true weekly ensemble showcases. On Wednesdays, catch 40 different performers tackle the famous Harold improv format in Harold Night from 7.30pm, and stick around for a bloody competitive improv brawl in Cage Match at 10pm. On Sundays there’s a chance for you to get on stage during the free improv jam from 6pm, then the Rotating Tap variety hour at 7pm, and live storytelling blended with improv in The Remix at 8pm. With heaps of special out-of-town guests popping in

DARIEN BROWN

A fast-paced, hilarious improv show based on a New York format, With Friends features a number of New Zealand’s best and good-lookingist professional comedians/actors including Rose Matafeo, Guy Montgomery, Thomas Sainsbury and Eli Matthewson.

They’ll be joined on stage with special guests: some of the top acts of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Snort has become a Friday night cult classic in its hometown of Auckland since beginning in 2013. No games and guaranteed giggles. This is one show you don’t want to miss.

WAYAN KEENAN & VINCENT TSHAKA

CHICAGO CLASSICS

to perform, and a single ticket getting you in all night long, this just might be the best deal in the entire festival.

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VE N U E : The Dan O’Connell Hotel, 225 Canning St, Carlton DAT E S : March 25 - April 19 (Wednesdays and Sundays only) TIM E S : 7.30pm (Sundays 7pm) TIC K E T S : $12 - $14

2 BROWN SUGARS TRYING TO GET IT (WHITE) RIGHT Vincent Tshaka has strict parents, where church, university, and a good job come before all else. Wayan Keenan had to choose his dad(s) and was abandoned by his mother. Together, they tell stories of their lives and bring their sense of humour to discover how they fit into Australian culture, in this debut, one hour, two man show.

Their stories interlace their cross-cultural experiences, attitudes and adjustments, and the hybrid Australian culture they’ve built for

FRINGE

COOL AS ICE

COMEDY WITH BANGS!

Do you ever feel like a loser or a nerd? Well, this show addresses those unfortunate traits. Whoever thought that this red-headed autistic man would go on to achieve great things, such as performing in the US and being an ambassador for DDMA. In the end, despite the fact that he’s changed, he’s still a nerdy man...on the inside.

Autism gifted Darien with two invaluable attributes for stand-up: powerful stage presence, fearlessness of performing and an almostobsessive focus, enabling him to sift and learn from decades of comedy, rapidly progressing from imitation to derivation to writing original material. In the process he’s developed a unique voice, perspective and a wry, left-field world view.

FRINGE: Comedy with Bangs! is a Los Angeles-based weekly live show that showcases international talent (Australian, and others) as they storm Hollywood. The show blends comedy styles from all over the world with talent from Los Angeles’ rapidly expanding alternative comedy scene. Bringing a touch of Hollywood to Melbourne, we are a home away from home for Aussie talent. Here in Melbourne, FRINGE will showcase our favourite Aussies and incorporate the traditions and ideas we’ve gleaned from comedy scenes worldwide.

Past performers include Wil Anderson, Sam Simmons, Felicity Ward, Dave Hughes, Rove McManus, Kyle Kinane, Tig Notaro, Eddie Ifft, Hannibal Buress, Aparna Nancherla, Iliza Shlesinger, Dave Merheje

WONDERLAND CARNIVALE

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VE N U E : Clean Comedy Club, 488 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : March 25 - April 19 (except April 3 & 5) TIM E : 8.30pm TIC K E T S : $10 - $20

THE IMPROV CONSPIRACY

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V E N U E : Portland Hotel – Portland Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) T I M E S : 6pm (Sundays 6.15pm) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

themselves. These views bring out a rib-cracking latte of laughter as they take the audience on a journey of their childhood, current lives in Australia, and working hard on trying to get it (white) right.

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V E N U E : The Downstairs Lounge at The Grand Mercure, 195 Swanston St, CBD DAT E S : April 7 - 19 (except Monday) T I M E : 7.45pm T I C K E T S : $16 - $20

and Dr. Brown (Phil Burgers) and you never know who will visit them this year!

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V E N U E : Tuxedo Cat, 17-23 Wills St, CBD DAT E S : Sporadic (see comedyfestival.com.au for details) T I M E S : Sporadic (see comedyfestival.com.au for details) T I C K E T S : $15 - $20

NOW SHOWING: THE IMPROVISED MOVIE

Wonderland Carnivale is a world-class Australian stand-up comedy headliners and astounding spiegelicious circus live in the exciting and beautiful Salon De Elegance Spiegeltent. Wonderland is the entertainment hub of Docklands, located under the Melbourne Star.

A truly unique carnival theatre experience, with delicious catering, beverages and booth packages.

BEN KNIGHT

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V E N U E : Wonderland Spiegeltent, 120 Pearl River Rd, Harbourtown Docklands DAT E S : March 27 & 28, April 4, 17 & 18 T I M E : 8.30pm T I C K E T S : $25 - $30

What goes into making a successful Hollywood blockbuster movie?

From actors, directors, producers, cinematographers, and even craft services, there are a lot of roles to fill…and in Now Showing: The Improvised Movie, The Improv Conspiracy’s cast will do all of these jobs and more as they create a never-before-seen film out of thin air, based on the audience’s suggestion of a title. Poking fun at various genres and their tropes, this show is recommended for people who love movies enough to laugh at them. As it was recently nominated

DAVE BLOUSTIEN

THE PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEW

for Best Comedy at Perth’s Fringe World Festival 2015, Margaret and David would surely approve.

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V E N U E : The Croft Institute, 21 Croft Alley, CBD DAT E S : April 9 - 11, 14 & 16 - 18 T I M E : 6.30pm T I C K E T S : $14 - $18

THE TINDER PROFILE OF DORIAN GRAY

What is 190cm tall, weighs 110kgs, has a big ginger head and three world’s best teacher mugs to their name? Mr Ben Knight. A brutally honest, musical/stand-up fusion of what teachers really think about you and your kids. It’s classic uncut songs, lessons and rants straight from Mr Knight’s classroom. You’ll never look at teachers the same way again.

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to hopefully master mind control and take over the world. Pauline brings the wisdom of age to the stage…or is it just baggage?

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VE N U E : Loop, 23 Meyers Place, CBD DAT E S : April 5 - 7, 12 - 14 TI M E S : 9pm (Sundays 6pm) TI C K E T S : $15 - $20

Dave Bloustien (writer for Good News Week, Back Seat Drivers) is going through changes. At the age of 39, Dave is broke, has been single for over a year but still lives with his ex. He can’t listen to ‘youth music’, has given up fighting for his right to party, while his sevenyear-old daughter is going through a goth phase. But in other ways, Dave hasn’t aged a day. This is an hour of stand-up comedy (and too much information) about love, ageing, relationships and unusual families from an AWGIE award-winning TV comedy writer. Dave has written jokes for top-rating TV comedy shows, performed for 1,000s

of people at a time (often without a script), and produced and hosted numerous sell-out live comedy events. He’s coming to Melbourne having just been nominated for the grand prize (WA Arts Editor Award) at the 2015 Perth Fringe World.

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V E N U E : Little Sista - The Upstairs Lounge, 240 Little Collins Street, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 5 (except Monday) T I M E : 7.30pm T I C K E T S : $15 - $22

“A ma ste - T r of he tim Ag in e g.”

March 25th - 4Th April 6pm Highlander Bar 11A Highlander Ln Tickets online limited on the door

DAREBIN�ARTS�SPEAKEASY�PRESENTS

» Come and get lost down the rabbit hole with Emma J Hawkins Northcote Town Hall Tues 31st March - Sat 18th April Full $30, Conc $25, Group/Tues $20 Tues-Sat 7.30pm, Sundays 6.30pm Auslan Interpreted Show Wed 15th April

“Equal parts hilar ious, terrifying and arousing” - Karen Pickerin

g, Cherchez la Femme

TICKETS: 9481 9500 or darebinarts.com.au/speakeasy

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

S P E C I A L

E V E N T S Kevin Kropinyeri

COMEDY ZONE ASIA

DEADLY FUNNY

THE GREAT DEBATE

They’ve been perfecting their game for a few years, and now Australia’s finest emerging comics are ready to challenge you with a demo of talent from the next level. Introducing: Matt Ford (QLD) was the winner of the 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Class Clowns competition and graduate of the Festival’s Deadly Funny program. Jacob Lingard (QLD) debuted at MICF in 2013 as part of popular troupe, Horses That Shoot Lasers From Their Eyes, and now is back and flying solo. Ciaran Lyons (WA) has already got some serious comedy cred under his belt, a WA RAW Comedy state finalist, he’s gone on to perform alongside big-name acts such as Sammy J & Randy, Dave O’Neil and Tom Gleeson. Nina Oyama (NSW) was a Class Clowns state finalist three years ago, making a name for herself as a hilarious stand-up and writer. Matt Stewart (VIC) won the RAW Comedy National Grand Final last year, and now taking the next step in The Comedy Zone. Where has he taken that endless potential, monotone voice and glorious ginger beard? There’s only one way to find out.

Now in its ninth year, Deadly Funny is the only dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comedy program for Australia’s traditional owners. Cheeky and loud, black and proud, the competition unearths and recognises bright and bold new talent from all over the country, and it’s back in 2015 with its biggest National Final and Showcase yet, hosted by Andy Saunders (WhiteBLACKatcha). With special guests including Kevin Kropinyeri, Sean Choolburra, Shiralee Hood, Matt Ford, Mia Stanford and featuring a performance by YouTube sensation Djuki Mala. Supported by these deadly guest comedians, five heat winners selected from a series of workshops and heats in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane will compete for a $2,000 cash prize and the coveted title. The country’s favourite Indigenous comedians including Tristan Savage, Kevin Kropinyeri, Shiralee Hood, Mia Stanford and Denise McGuinness have taken the title since the competition began in 2007. With a story-telling culture spanning over 60,000 years, Deadly Funny celebrates the wealth of talent coming from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comics.

The Great Debate features three comedians per team, one in the middle trying to moderate them, an ever-divisive topic and much malarkey. It’s a debate, sure, but just not the one you remember from your high school years. This is the 26th annual Great Debate, a one-off extravaganza where two teams of local and international stars of the comedy scene take the stage at the Melbourne Town Hall to argue, yell, sing, abuse and shamelessly attempt to upstage one another in the name of competitive comedy. Past Great Debates have seen US comedian Rich Hall ride into the Melbourne Town Hall on a camel; UK comedian Paul Foot attempt to launch himself into space from the auditorium; and Australian jokester Greg Fleet pour a carton of milk over his head and shirtless body. After 25 years of antics, we’ve witnessed famously funny people shamefully put their body (and comedic reputation) on the line, with past topics including: ‘ignorance is bliss’, ‘money is the root of all evil’, ‘food is better than sex’ and ‘actions speak louder than words’. This is not an event safe to miss, and it sells out every year. Join us at this annual battle of brains and wit as the world’s loopiest funny people make us laugh and potentially, solve a great debate.

VENUE: Trades Hall – Old Council Chambers, 54 Victoria St, Carlton DATES: March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) TIMES: 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) TICKETS: $19.50 - $24

V E N U E : The Famous Spiegeltent - Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DAT E : April 18 T I M E S : 5pm T I C K E T S : $15 - $23.50

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Lower Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E : April 11 T I M E : 3pm T I C K E T S : $35.50 - $54

Matt Ford

The Comedy Festival Roadshow tours to South East Asia and India each year, and they’ve brought home some friends. Introducing: Jenhan Kuah (Malaysia) has sold out shows in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, is a columnist with Esquire magazine, a radio host and a voiceover artist. Vivek Mahbubani (Hong Kong) was crowned the Funniest Person at the Hong Kong International Comedy Festival in 2007, and in 2008 he won the English category award. Jason Leong (Malaysia) has performed extensively throughout Asia and was the first Malaysian to do a set at Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Joanna Sio (Singapore) is both a stand-up and improvisational comedian, which has taken her all the way to the Netherlands, Joanna is part of the first all female touring comedy troupes based in Singapore, Comedy on Heels. Brian Tan (Malaysia) engages his audiences with a combination of intelligence and self-depreciation, Brian took part in the Festival’s Roadshow Comedy Workshop during its inaugural visit to Kuala Lumpur in 2014. Rohan Desai (India) entered and won RAW Comedy India, resulting in a special guest appearance in the RAW Comedy National Grand Final and a place on the Comedy Festival Roadshow India.

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Regent Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : March 26 – April 19 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 7pm (Sundays 6pm) T I C K E T S: $19.50 - $29

Rich Hall

THE COMEDY ZONE

NATIONAL FINAL & HOWCASE

2014 winner Matt Stewart

RAW COMEDY

NATIONAL GRAND FINAL

ROD QUANTOCK & FIONA SCOTT-NORMAN DRIVETIME WITH TWO LEGGY REDHEADS

Matt Okine

THE JAMESON FESTIVAL CLUB The secret is out. It’s time you knew what all those die-hard comedy fans did when that grand ole dame of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Melbourne Town Hall, locks its doors for the night. They head to The Jameson Festival Club – where it all happens.

The Jameson Festival Club’s thumping spiritual heartland returns to The Hi-Fi basement as the very best local and international acts are hand-picked to create nights of unique comedy, daring one off performances and unscripted genius. Vibrations will be felt all the way up to Swanston St. V E N U E : The Hi-Fi, 125 Swanston Street, CBD DAT E S : March 26 - April 18 (except Mondays) T I M E S : 11.15pm (Sundays 10.15pm) T I C K E T S : $10 - $20

Rod Quantock (national treasure), and Fiona Scott-Norman (chicken wrangler/socialite), are the Two Leggy Redheads. Join them for Drivetime – a rollicking one-stop-try-before-you-buy live guide to the Festival. Featuring a who’s who of MICF favourites, special guests, hot tips, showcases, a quiz, audience reviews, random feuds, prizes, tea and cream buns all in the comfort of The Famous Spiegeltent - what’s not to love? You may know Fiona as a performer, columnist, arts writer or DJ, not to mention a self-described cultural archeologist.

Rod Quantock, of course, is an award-winning writer and pioneer of stand-up comedy for the last five decades; he’s sharp, insightful and fiercely political, lobbing molotov cocktails of mirth at politics and society and arguably one of the reasons that Melbourne is the livecomedy capital of Australia. Together they are Two Leggy Redheads.

VENUE: The Famous Spiegeltent – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD DATE: March 28 – April 19 (Saturday and Sundays only) TIMES: 5.30pm (Sundays 4.30pm and April 18 2pm) TICKETS: $18 - $25

This inaugural address celebrating women in comedy presents one of Australia’s much loved comedians as she exposes the good, the bad and the “fourth-wall-breaking” of stand-up. Mining personal experiences over a 28-year career, what are the ten things Rachel wished she’d known when she started stand-up? There is no security for a comedian, anxiety goes with the territory; it’s the cattle prod towards excellence. So how do you move beyond a string of failed jokes to the big laugh? With three indispensable attributes: motivation, courage and a high tolerance to suffering. Get close and personal with Rachel Berger and still respect yourself in the morning.

They may’ve not climbed Everest, swam with sharks or even parachuted from a plane – but 100s of up-and-coming comics have taken the ultimate leap in 2015 – RAW Comedy. A group of comedy’s most audacious experts have scoured pubs, clubs, theatres, backyards and everywhere in between to uncover the funniest folks itching to compete in Australia’s biggest and most prestigious annual open-mic comedy competition. After surviving heats held in eight states and territories across the country, 12 could-be headliners of the future will make the big jump with their funniest five minutes, and face off against their fears at the RAW Comedy National Grand Final. For these newbies, being crowned this year’s RAW Comedy champion is also a fast-track to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where they’ll be catapulted into the international spotlight to compete in So You Think You’re Funny? in August in 2015. Join a very special host in this two-hour display of hilarity to check out the nation’s most promising funny new faces of comedy. The winner will be announced at the end of the show. A Melbourne International Comedy Festival initiative since 1996, Tom Ballard, Chris Lilley, Josh Thomas, Hannah Gadsby, Ronny Chieng, Matt Okine, Celia Pacquola and countless professional comedians have launched their careers and risen through the RAW Comedy ranks.

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E : April 16 T I M E : 6pm T I C K E T S : $15-19

V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall - Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E : April 12 T I M E : 5pm T I C K E T S : $28 - $35

JEEZ LOUISE ADDRESS RACHEL BERGER

DeAnne Smith

UPFRONT

Makeover

RED HOT SHORTS Presented by Gusto Films in association with Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Red Hot Shorts has again searched high and low for the funniest short films from the world’s film festivals. The collection includes some of Melbourne’s most amusing filmmakers, featuring the award-winning Australia films Makeover and Pint, and, winner of Best Film at Berlin’s Short Cutz Festival, Dutch comedy, Pony Place. Also screening their favourites, Lee Roger’s Op Shop, massive YouTube sensation (in full) Las Palmas and Academy awardwinning short film, the brilliantly dark satire, Logorama. This could be the funniest collection of short films you’ve ever seen.

V E N U E : ACMI, Federation Square, CBD DAT E : April 7 T I M E : 7.30pm T I C K E T S: $14 - $17

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Upfront is celebrating 20 stunning years at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The queens of comedy are poised to bring their A-games for this super special 20th anniversary bash, with oodles of prime material and a special slathering of sass. Those in-theknow know the Upfront ladies are not shy about telling it like it is and – given it’s their party – they’ll do what they want to. Expect expert jokes and a load of laughs, delivered with lashings of lip and wit. Gracing the stage this year, in a sensational all lady lineup of talent, will be hosts Geraldine Quinn’s Spandex Ballet with DeAnne Smith, Luisa Omielan, Fiona O’Loughlin, Urzila Carlson, Em Rusciano, Sara Pascoe, Josie Long, Anne Edmonds, Katherine Ryan, Gillian Cosgriff, Geraldine Hickey, Hannah Gadsby, Cal Wilson, Rebecca De Unamuno, Sarah Kendall, Bev Killick, Lazy Susan plus more.

VENUE: Melbourne Town Hall – Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DATE: April 14 TIMES: 7.30pm TICKETS: $31 - $44

Tom Ballard

SICK HUMOUR When jokes get dark, what’s the line between catharsis, boundarypushing and offence? Comedy aims for laughs, but it’s not all sweetness and light. It can be a way to take control over the dark side of life: for the comedians who write the jokes and the audiences who relish them. But what happens when the intention to be funny goes astray? Not everybody laughs at the same thing. Is it ok for comics to make jokes about mental/physical health or abuse if they are suffering? Not suffering? Comedy needs an audience and audiences need comedy. So who are the offenders when it comes to crossing the comedy line, the audience or the comedian? Join a healthy panel discussion with guest comedians Mark Watson, Sarah Kendall and Lawrence Mooney, moderated by Tom Ballard.

V E N U E : The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale, CBD DAT E : March 30 T I M E : 6.15pm T I C K E T S : Free – first in, best dressed

TRIPLE J’S GOOD AZ FRIDAY triple j and Melbourne International Comedy Festival invite you to spend your Good Friday with triple j brekkie boys Matt and Alex, as they host three hours of unscripted madness and LOL-offs.

Expect stand-up comedy from a bunch of the MICF’s finest. triple j Breakfast’s popular segment Like A Version will be performed live by a Hottest 100-winning artist. And of course, there’ll be top tunes, flying chocolate eggs and the huge Friday dance-off. It’s 100 per cent free, so make sure you get there early to get a seat and soak up the funnies (doors open 11.30am). If you can’t make it along, the whole show will be broadcast live on triple j 107.5FM. V E N U E : Melbourne Town Hall – Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD DAT E S : April 3 T I M E : 12pm T I C K E T S : Free – first in, best dressed

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

Back for Melbourne International Comedy Festival!

‘Brilliant comic timing!’

The Music, MICF 2014

‘Outstanding!’

FringeReview

‘Fantastic!’

What’s on Stage, UK

‘Hilarious!’

This is London

7-19 April 2015 The Aegean,19 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy 3065 interactivetheatre.com.au | 1300 308 193

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

AFTER SOME CHOW WITH YOUR COMEDY? Did you know The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third largest comedy festival in the world? It’s also the biggest cultural event in Australia. We think that’s something to be really proud of.

With 1,000s of locals, tourists and comedians descending on Melbourne over the next three and a half weeks, we thought it would be a good opportunity to showcase the other element of Melbourne culture that makes us globally famous: great food. For the 2015 incarnation, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has partnered up with various restaurants and bars around town, who are offering special deals and discounts to festival patrons. We’ve gathered together a guide to what’s on offer during the festival. other nonalcoholic drinks. They’re also hosting 32 festival shows, making Bella’s Backyard the perfect hive of festival activity.

Bella’s Backyard is open from 5pm to late Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm to 11pm Sunday. Corner Lygon and Victoria Street, Carlton.

DEAL: $1 off for festival pass holders.

BAR AMPÉRE

Hidden behind the bustling…bustle of Melbourne lies Bar Ampére – a totally unconventional eatery where you can dine pretty much whenever you damn well please. There are no rules here. A rib burger at 11am? You got it. Stuffed zucchini flowers at midnight?

Damn right. Bar Ampére also boasts Melbourne’s largest selection of absinthe, an impressive cocktail list and a large selection of European wines.

Bar Ampere is open from 11am to 3am Monday to Friday; 4pm to 3am Saturday and Sunday. 16 Russell Place, CBD. DEAL: Comedy Express meal of two share plates with two glasses of wine for $45.

CABOOSE CANTEEN

BELLA’S BACKYARD (AT TRADES HALL)

Bella’s Backyard is again popping up for Melbourne International Comedy Festival, making it the perfect place to kick off your evening during the festival. Within the historic and iconic Trades Hall, Bella’s Backyard (brought to you by Bella Union) stocks some great brews on tap, as well as a good selection of wine, first class spirits and

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Just a hop, skip and a jump from the Regent and Athenaeum theatres is Caboose Canteen – the perfect pit stop during the festival.

They serve honest, wholesome and simple foods with seasonal ingredients. Their signature dish is steak frites (so hot right now) with two options and two sauces, but also have the Canteen Burger, lamb cutlets and pasta with asparagus, peas, tomato and parmesan.

Simple is good, and Caboose Canteen are top notch.

Caboose Canteen is open from Monday to Friday 7am - 11pm (kitchen closes at 10pm), Saturday to Sunday 8am - 11pm (kitchen closes at 10pm). 4 City Square, CBD. DEAL: On a presentation of a valid Melbourne International Comedy Festival ticket (for the same day) a complimentary glass of house wine with a main dinner meal purchased (over the value of $20). One glass per person per meal per ticket per day.

MEATMAIDEN

TRUNK

Meatmaiden take their meat very seriously, and by seriously, we mean dry-aging meat for 40 days and smoking their Rangers Valley Wagyu brisket for up to 20 hours. If that’s not dedication to the cause, we don’t know what is. Meatmaiden also makes for an excellent underground drinkery, with their bourbon-soaked cocktail bar and commitment to excellent craft beers and ciders. Come for the meat, stay for the meat.

Meatmaiden is open from midday to late, Tuesday to Saturday. The Basement, 165 Little Collins Street, CBD. DEAL: Show your Melbourne International Comedy Festival ticket to our their staff to receive a complimentary cocktail (valid one per day).

Trunk is smack bang in the middle of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival central. There are two different dining environments to choose from: Trunk Restaurant and Bar, and The Diner with the latter open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Diner offers a more casual experience, with menu options such as hot dogs, BBQ pork ribs, nachos and quesadillas. The Restaurant and Bar offers a modern European fare and a selection of pizzas. Trunk also boasts the biggest beer garden in the city, with 14 tapped beers, 24 bottled beers and over a hundred wines. Here, you have access to both menus.

Trunk is open from 7.30am to midnight Monday to Friday; 8am to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.

POLEPOLE

YOUNG AND JACKSON

Sharing is caring at Polepole (pronounced pol-eh pol-eh), Melbourne’s East African-inspired watering hole and restaurant. Their melt-in-your-mouth ribs – of which there are four different types to choose from – are what everyone’s talking about, plus they have an intriguing and stimulating selection of cocktails, African and local beers and ciders, and all-you-can-eat Tuesdays.

Polepole is open from 4pm Monday to Saturday. Level 1, 267 Little Collins Street, CBD. DEALS: Pre-show dinner: enjoy an African beer, wine or cider along with plate of ribs and a side for $30. Post-show cocktail and dessert: indulge in a Mzungu Martini and Chocolate Mousse cake for $20.

Young and Jackson prides itself on being Australia’s most famous pub. Located directly opposite Flinders Street Station, it’s one of the first things visitors to Melbourne’s city centre see and as such, is a central feature during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Enjoy a pre-show meal or a post-show beer at Melbourne’s most iconic establishment.

DEAL: Young and Jackson are offering their pre-theatre menu in Chloe’s Restaurant to all Melbourne International Comedy Festival ticket holders before and after the show. This includes a main meal, glass of wine or pot of a range of beers and cider, a treat-sized dessert and tea or coffee, all for just $34. Corner of Swanston and Flinders St , CBD.

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY ESPRESSO

BEAT’S 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAVITY EsPRESSO

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE

2015

COMEDY COMPASS

2 0 1 5 M E L B O U R N E I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O M E DY F E S T I VA L H U B S March and April in Melbourne is a time of year when us locals hang about in the city after work more than usual, our interstate and international friends join us and there’s a huge buzz in the air. But there are so many things going on this year, it’s totally understandable if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed. Don’t fret. We’ve put together a rundown of the festival’s main hubs to ensure you get the very most out of one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world.

MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

FEDERATION SQUARE MAIN STAGE

As the bright, gleaming epicentre for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Melbourne Town Hall hosts some of the festival’s biggest names. Honorary Australian comedian Arj Barker will be inviting you into his head, Nina Conti’s monkey will be in your face and up to his usual tricks, and Rebecca De Unamuno and her three characters will be open to your suggestions. With the city of Melbourne totally surrounding you, you never know where the night will lead you. You might even see Jimeoin on a skateboard.

What’s better than an entire festival dedicated to tickling one’s funny bone? An entire festival dedicated to tickling one’s funny bone where there are shows for free. This Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Federation Square Main Stage will host indigenous dancers and YouTube sensations Djuki Mala, the hilarious, absurd pantomime of street performer Kano Mami and Jessica Arpin, who displays incredible acrobatic prowess on her bright yellow bicycle.

TRADES HALL

GREEK CENTRE FREE SHUTTLE BUS Running nightly from 6pm between Melbourne Town Hall and Trades Hall via The Greek Centre, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s free shuttle bus will get you to and from the hubs with ease, meaning there’s no need to stand on the curb with your arm in the air for an hour looking like a dickhead.

Trades Hall has been a treasured Melbourne International Comedy Festival hub for 17 years: eight venues, two bars, 33 different shows and over a hundred performances. Dave Callan speaks less and dances more in his show A Little Less Conversation 2: A Little More Less Conversation, Gillian Cosgriff gets weird in Whelmed, and The Narrelles’ (Alan Brough and Casey Bennetto) post-punk-electro-throb will be a Narrelles gig you won’t forget, even if you don’t remember them.

Yasou! The Greek Centre is newest hub added to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, right on the corner of Russell and Lonsdale Streets, and only five minutes from Trades Hall. Here, you’ll be able to catch the likes of New York-based by way of Boston, LA and Jerusalem, Alex Edelman, Greg Behrendt’s fantastic knitwear and Urzila Carlson will teach you how to deal with arseholes. Plus, there’s a rooftop bar to see the night out.

ACMI AT FEDERATION SQUARE

THE FAMOUS SPIEGELTENT

Some of Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s veterans are appearing at ACMI this year. Come on a search with Sam Simmons for the perfect poached egg, empathise with Jeff Green as he battles life’s obstacles and faulty automatic doors in the quest for happiness, and employ the standard grandpa drill (everyone in the cellar) with Joel Creasey’s The Hurricane. Be sure to grab a drink at ACMI’s pop-up bar, before and after the shows.

The Famous, fantabulous Spiegeltent is back for another year at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Packed with a roster of evening shows and kid-friendly gigs, catch Colin Lane (Lano & Woodley) and David Collins (The Umbilical Brothers) in The 3 Mikados, Deadly Funny National Final and Showcase, gossip with Marney McQueen as she regales you with tales from celebrities’ bikini waxing sessions, and witness the hilarious bedlam of ONGALS that bring together beatbox, circus and magic, all rolled into one dynamic package.

BEAT MAGAZINE’S COVERAGE OF THE 2015 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL CONTINUES...

Got a show in the comedy festival this year? Let everyone know through Beat – the proud publisher of The Comic Strip and Comic In The Corner. Advertising packages including free editorials, images, giveaways and more apply all throughout the festival dates (March 25 April 19). For more information please email comedy@beat.com.au or call (03) 9428 3600.

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