Comedy & Movie Reviews 2011-1

Woof-o-meter :-
0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW

28.2.11 : Big Mommas - Like Father, Like Son - movie
Comedy : FBI agent Malcolm Turner's son see a murder, so he must hide him and solve the case. Don't judge me, my lobotomy kicked in this mourning so I went. The first ½ was amusing, the second ½ turned dull, and the last ½ got a bit boring. The rules with dumb movies is no more than 90 minutes, so I could have done without the extra 10 minutes. It was looking like a 2 but it faded as it went. There were some young people in the cinema laughing, so it's probably for teens and people that don't know about the Big Momma franchise. 1.5

27.02.11 : Joe Rogan Live : Laugh Garage CBD
It was all a last minute thing, this show was only advertised during the day of the show, and since Sunday is a bit of a boring day for me I though I better turn up to make up the numbers in-case there wasn't enough people - have to support the local haunts - but I shouldn't have worried because even with the last minute notice the place ended up full.
Joe Rogan came on the PA and asked who was at the Rooty Hill show last night, and there was a cheer from the crowd, and then came back with "Sorry, same jokes bitches", but in actual fact it wasn't really. Everything was so changed around and added to, that it was like a totally new show. He introduced Ari Shaffir who came out with a bang and did a totally new start that was a lot better than last night. He did revert back to his routine for a short slot in the middle, which unfortunately got the same response as last night, but then told a new story at the end that picked things back up to were they were at the start - I found him a lot better tonight. Joe was next and he did a massive set running for 2 hours. The first 1½ hours the audience was yucking it up all the way, with them quietening down in the last ½ hour because they just couldn't keep up for that long, and it's not like Joe's material waning, because it was equally entertaining for the whole 2 hours. And would you believe he added so much new stuff that he didn't even cover all the material from last night, like his cougar story. In the end it turned out to be a very good night and a better show than the early show he did last night. Crowd : 4,4.5 - Me : 4,4.25

26.02.11 : Joe Rogan Live : Rooty Hill RSL
Damn you Mick Meredith, Rooty Hill wasn't as bad as you made it out to be - the actual RSL was quite nice -, but then again it might just be an oasis in a bucket of swill. We opened with Ari Shaffir who was utter filth. Only kidding, his stylings is that rude, crude, disgusting style of comedy, like Westy construction worker speak. And because his comedy is more shock comedy than laugh comedy the audience was a bit quiet during his routine - it's hard to laugh when you are cringing with disgust. He mainly regaled us with depraved experiences that might have surprised the audience somewhat with it's frankness. For me it wasn't that shocking because I have heard a story or two, like the guy that goes to prostitutes and has to be wanked off with the cellophane wrapper of a new packet of certain brand of pantihose - WTF, wouldn't the actual pantihose be softer - or the guy with Infantilism that would go home, strip-off, put on a nappy, sit on the couch and watch TV while drinking a beer, and then sh*t himself and squirm in his own steaming excrement while his girlfriend cooks dinner in the kitchen, and that about sums up the level of Ari's material. His set routine was more crude than funny so he didn't have as much laugh value as I would have liked, but he was still ok.
To be truthful I didn't know anything about Joe Rogan, so I watched 30 seconds of a video and decided that he was worth a look. Joe also uses Bloke speak like Ari, but less crude and with more actual jokes, so that makes him more accessible to the general public and funnier. He did a big routine at 1 hour 20 minutes and has that cruisey style of comedy, like talking to a mate that has just come from overseas with amazing stories to tell. The thing that surprised me was inordinate number of oral manipulations of the male member stories he had, and in particular the large number of hypothetical scenarios that would question a man's own morality about doing the act on another male. Like his friend that lost everything in his divorce settlement because of greedy lawyers - in the US if your wife can't afford a lawyer the husband has to pay for both lawyers - and when asked if he would suck c**k to go back in time, he said he would - something that probably most males would do also. He covered things from his life like Fear Factory, UFC, and the odd things about life in America. He did a long slot about the usual male self gratification material - but it wasn't off putting like some comics that go to far -, and in particular his endorsement of the Fleshlight, which ended up sounding more like an anti-advertisement. He did a big section about having children - that was probably more for an older demographic than was present on this night - but again he weaved it around so it was interesting. He did some material in the very risky area of kiddy fiddling, which is usually certain death, but because it wasn't directly about it, but instead carefully weaved around it, it was fine. Overall I though he was good and there were even 2 spots where I went light headed, so there is nothing to complain about, but I do think he is more suited to a Westy crowd, and that probably explains why they picked Rooty Hill. Crowd : 3.75,4.5 - Me : 3.5,4

26.02.11 : White Bay Power Station Open Day : Rozelle - other
200 nutters and I turned up early to see this old rusty bit of crap, and that's exactly what it was, crap. The funny thing was that nearly all the nutters were young, I would have expected a larger number of the old trainspotter types(real trainspotters, not the movie). We were told that the tours were booked out but you can walk around and have a look. Unfortunately everyone thought you could walk around everywhere, but in reality you could only walk around the outside, and this wasn't much more than you could see from the street. There was a ray of hope in that you could see the inside from the Victoria St entrance, but all that was was a window overlooking the Turbine Room. Unfortunately the plant has been decommissioned and stripped so all you saw was a 3 story room with big pits in the ground. If you ask me why I went all I can say was, because it was there, but in reality I have a mild interest in large constructions because that's been my background since I was a teen. I have even been to Eraring Power Station during it's construction and have seen inside the Turbo generators were a guy from Toshiba was fitting the huge fan inside it, and spinning it with his fingers. I knew this power station wasn't going to be as good as the huge 4 boiler 7 story Eraring Power Station, but really without a tour guide it was a waste of time. Probably more for for kids and newbies. 1
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1755080750606&set=a.1755080510600&type=3&theater

25.02.11 : The Powderfinger Show : Engadine Tavern - music
I can't really recommend them because I think they need more work, or at least a good sound engineer. The best part about the original Powderfinger was the vocals, but tonight the band was so loud that it drowned him out, so much so that I had trouble even picking the songs. The soft slow songs were good because you could hear the words and what the singer was like, and he does sound a little like Bernard Fanning, but not exactly, and not all the time. The vocals are always tricky to get exactly right and is what separates cover bands from tribute bands - tribute bands try to be an exact copy of the original, even the vocals, where as cover bands just cover the songs regardless of accuracy. Look I really should have given them more of a shot, but the area had a bit of a bad vibe, like an affluent Blacktown, in that there were delinquents roaming the streets, and because I look odd(like a druggie) I always seamed to get picked out in odd areas. It's probably just my paranoia from the Cronulla riots because I have been to far worst places, like Fairfield RSL in the old days where I nearly ended up in punch ups both times I went there, but that's another story, or 3. The show didn't really grab me but I'm only a minor fan with a few CD's, so I really need a Powderfinger expert to see what they think. I want them to be good, because I don't mind a bit of Powderfinger, so I would probably give them another shot, hopefully at a better venue. 2

23.02.11 : Mardi Ha : Comedy Store
These days I always feel trepidation about going to see stand up, because I've seen so much of it that I'm afraid it might end up being tedious. So tonight I wasn't that keen on going because the line up didn't look that strong, but it did have a few comics that I haven't seen before, so I figured that I might as well give it a go, and thankfully it didn't turn out to be a drag.
Amelia Jane Hunter(MC) was on fire and was the funniest part of the show. David Emery(WA) was what I call a one joke wonder, because he only used one type of joke, the gay stereotype. I suppose you go with what you know, but the world is bigger than just that, either way it was tedious for me but thankfully short, and the crowd though he was ok anyway. Daniel Ryan Spaulding(CANADA) was another one joke wonder with Oprah and being gay material, again the crowd though he was fine. Matt Okine was as good as usual and came up with a new routine about whales that I hadn't heard before, so the crowd and I liked it a lot. Cody Reynolds was another one joke wonder, so not really that appealing for me, but again the crowd though he was ok. The big surprise was Joel Creasey, who was crap the first time I saw him, but tonight he was rather good. Obviously from reading this you can see that I have seen too much comedy, because one joke stereotypes have worn quite thin with me and become passé, but it wasn't just me because the crowd didn't applaud as loudly for them either. And if you look a Joel he mixed it up and didn't take the one joke stereotype option, but added everyday jokes with a wider appeal which put him ahead of the rest. To be fair David and Cody are pretty new to this so they can be excused, and their sets were short so they were tolerable. Crowd : 4.5,3.5,4,3.5,3.5,3.75 so 4 - Me : 4.5,2,2,4,2,3.5 so 3.5

22.02.11 : Unknown - movie
Mystery | Thriller | Drama : A man awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity, and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. I found it hard to get involved at the start, but that's probably due to the movie trying to give a sense of mystery. It did slowly come around when you were given some more information, even though you could have sensed where it was going. There was a twist at the end and a big finish so it finished ok. 3.5

20.02.11 : Hannah Gadsby - Mrs Chuckles : Belvoir Theatre
When I used to see live music I noticed an attraction factor. I only noticed it when I went to see a singer, whose songs I liked, that changed her hairstyle, and after that I didn't like her songs anymore. Even though at the time I thought her songs were good, it was actually her face that I liked. This phenomena also seems to drift over to comedy, because when I see Arj Barker or Hannah Gadsby I get the impression that they will be good, even though I know that they probably won't be. And that's what happened tonight. The laugh level was the same as her last show, just a few chuckles, and unfortunately it wasn't enough for me to get off, but I was kind of expecting that anyway. The show is like a very mild self deprecating type of routine, with her recounting embarrassing moments in her life. Most of the stories were about her being awkward around people, especially during conversations, even though the overlying theme was about her last words when she dies. It didn't have the continuous theme of her last show, about her walking across England, but more just random stories in her life that related to her awkwardness. The show was ok but these days if it isn't funny enough for me to laugh I doesn't really grab my attention. The final applause wasn't that loud but I think there was enough chuckles that no one was disappointed. On a side note, I haven't seen that many girl couples since I was at that Bluehouse gig with 300 of them in one room, and only 4 guys. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3

18.02.11 : I Am Number Four - movie
Action | Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Drama : Only 9 people survive the annihilation of their plant by the Mogs. The 9 are then hunted down because they are special. It kind of reminds me of a Sci-Fi version of Twilight, but crappy. It's not too bad, but I did find it a bit slow in places. The big finish was good, but hopefully the hinted sequel doesn't get made, or it's better. It's ok 3.5

15.02.11 : No Strings Attached - movie
Rom-Com : A woman has trouble being intimate outside a sex buddy relationship when he wants to take it further. A lot of beautiful people constantly having sex, what's not too like. What is this, amazing eyebrow week, first with Princess Peach and now with Natalie Portman, I think I have a fetish. No real substance, like every Rom-Com, but a lot of fun that took me to that happy place. I loved it, but it's probably one for the girls. 4.5

15.02.11 : Hereafter - movie
Drama : Three people are haunted by mortality in different ways with one of them having a special connection to the afterlife. I saw the trailer so long ago that I barely remembered it, all I remember was that Matt Damon was in it and it had some physic twist to it, which is enough for me. It had a big opening which was very impressive, but even the 3 concurrent stories were quite interesting(actually more compelling for me). Most of the film was probably a bit slow but I didn't notice it at all. Not remembering the trailer was a blessing so I think I will avoid all of them from now on, like David Stratton. Probably not enough action for a young audience but I liked it. 4

13.02.11 : Rob Schneider Live : Enmore Theatre
I was so not expecting that. When I saw Deuce Bigalow - Male Gigolo I thought it was silly and crude, but fun, so from then on I went to see all his movies, and in reality I'm kind of a minor fan, in that I know the movies aren't going to be great, and even some of them are going to be bad, like the latter stuff and especially Big Stan, but he has enough stage presence that most are still amusing enough for me to pass the time. All that aside, when I saw it advertised that Rob was doing a show here I was quite surprised, because I thought he only did movies, and when the ticket price was just under my self imposed price limit of $50(budget restraints) I thought I would go just for the novelty value, no matter how bad it might be. In all honesty I didn't have much hope for this show, and why would anyone based on his movies, and I didn't even know that he did stand-up, so you can kind of work out my mind set. I was wondering what the show was going to be like, and if it was going to be something crap like an actor trying to be comedian, and when he started with 5 minutes of repeating the "You Can Do It" line from his movies, it kind of justified my thinking that this might not be a comedy show but more a talk show of slightly interesting facts. But that all turned around right after he went into his routine. Boy was I was surprised, he's actually a very good comedian that looks very comfortable on stage, like he's been doing this for years and knows his routine is going to be funny. His whole persona is more like a confidant veteran of comedy than any character you have seen him play in the movies. The show was 1¼ hours of fun with no dead spots and a good laugh level all the way through.
His hook that sets him apart is all the comedic accents that he can do, and comedic characters, and then even more in the form of impressions. He did an English accent by reading a very funny comic proclamation from King George about people being deported to Australia, an Australian accent, an Aboriginal accent(that sounded a bit Indian), probably about 12 American accents, 2 or 3 Middle East accents, 3 Mexican accents(mainly sending up his Mexican fiancé), an African-American woman, Filipino, Chinese, Chinese with Australian, a dog, his teenage daughter, a couple of women, and great Christopher Walken and Adam Sandler impressions. And with all these accents, most had different characters attached. His comedy styling are old school, in that he does the not too serious subjects that make the comedy fun. He did a Australian section in his very funny local reference routine that quickly won the crowd over, a self deprecation section that even ribbed the quality of his own movies, bad American happenings, ie guns, their dollar, etc, being recognized in public, budget air travel, over medicated Americans that listen to drug companies advertising, his half Jewish and Filipino family, dogs, dating, relationships, women and how they think(like modern day wife jokes), making love, and a medley of characters with their lines from his movies.
Sure some of Rob's stuff wasn't PC, but no more than any other comic, and definitely less than in his movies. Everyone probably has a preconceived notion of what Rob is like from his movies, but live he is a totally different person, and given a chance he can change your opinion. I would rate Rob Schneider along side with Danny Bhoy and Jason Byrne as shows that you should see because they won't disappoint, but only if you have an open mind because he is very different to what you might expect. I liked it a lot and it made me happy, and I'm actually tempted to go again tomorrow night. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5 Chris Radburn 3.75
***SPOILER ALERT*** The "You Can Do It" line was a joke that Adam Sandler played on Rob. When they were doing Saturday Night Live Rob did this funny character, The Copy Machine Guy, that had a catch phrase. The phrase got so popular that when they were in public people used to come up to him and repeat that line ad nauseam, and this pisses off Rob. So when Adam was doing The Waterboy he rings up Rob and tells him to fly out and do one line for the movie. So Rob asks, what's the line, and Adam says, I don't know, we'll work it out when you get here, just fly out. And that, we probably won't even use it, but who gives a shit because the studio is paying for it. So he flies out and does nothing on the first day, and gets bored by the second day, and asks Adam, what do you want me to do, and he says, just say "You Can Do It" 300 different ways. Rob asks, what does it mean, and Adam replies, it doesn't matter what it means, and we probably won't even use it, but who cares, the studio is paying for it. So he flies out and does nothing on the first day, and gets bored by the second day, and asks Adam, what do you want me to do, and he says, just say "You Can Do It" 300 different ways. Rob asks, what does it mean, and Adam replies, it doesn't matter what it means, and we probably won't even use it, but who cares, the studio is paying for it. So he does it and flies back and thinks, that was a waste of time. A couple months latter Adam rings with him laughing and repeating the line "You Can Do It", and says when The Waterboy comes out you are going to be screwed for the next 10 years, and that's exactly what happen. Rob actually can't go out in public without people repeating the line to him, much to his annoyance, and that's why he repeated it so many times at the start of the show, so he could get it out of peoples systems so they won't interrupt the show. ***END***..

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12.02.11 : Sanctum 3D - movie
Action | Adventure | Drama : Some guys get lost in some caves. Back in the 70's we called this a disaster movie, ie a disaster happens, people get trapped, and then they try to escape, and it looks like this one should have stayed in the 70's. When they said the dialogue was lame they weren't kidding, it's excruciating, and no one mentioned how ridiculous the exaggerated characters and acting was. Now I know why it was in 3D, because it tries to blur the lame sets that look fake. Bomb, and hard to watch in places. 1

11.02.11 : The Fleetwood Mac Show - Running in the Shadows : Souths Juniors - music
Well it was either Led Zep again, or something new, so I picked this. I'm not a fan, but I guessed that I will know a lot of songs. Well the whole show is in chronological order and is a bit like a biography, because they had very brief explanations of what happened in the history of Fleetwood Mac at the times when the songs were released. They formed in 1967, and I can see why I didn't know any of this early stuff, because it's pretty uninteresting. It looks like only after Lindsey Buckingham joined in 1973 that it triggered mainly Christine McVie, and to a lesser degree Stevie Nicks, to write something decent, but even with the better songs the sound still has that meandering no direction slow 60bpm sound, really only the last 2 songs of the night were a bit faster and slightly more exciting. Now I know why I never followed the group, they are just not that exciting, and even with them playing all their hits I only knew just over half of them. 2

10.02.11 : Rupert Jones Gets To Kiss A Real-Life Girl : Cellar Theatre Sydney Uni
I was sent a personal message to come see this show and I quickly thought, I hope it's not in some sort of official capacity as an expert, because I know squat about plays. I can't really tell you if the story is good, or the actors are good, all I can really tell you is if I liked it , what I thought about it, and the level of humour in it. Firstly when I read synopsis, which I tend to do very quickly because Twitter has made me a detail skipper, I got the impression this was going to be some sort of sad Failure To Launch piece. Boy was I surprised when right off the bat it was a comedy, and continued to be all the way, which is really the only thing I look for. Plays are never going to be an all out riot, like a stand-up routine, so I found the show to be mainly humorous, delightful, and charming. The audience on the other hand disagreed because they were yucking it up all they way. Punctuated all through the show was this kind of backhanded comment/joke, ie, one character would make a comment and the other would quickly reply with a jibe/zinger as a comeback, and this always got a laugh.
The down trodden Rupert Jones is 23 years old and still living at home with an annoying and overly loving mother, an annoying but practical father, and an annoying and not too helpful younger brother. His only passion is DVD box-sets, playing video games and dreaming about kissing the girl in his dreams. Rupert gets a lot of advice on how to run his life, mainly on how to find a girl, but this proves to be not very helpful.
***SPOILER ALERT*** The show proved to be very popular and don't know if it is going to be run again, so I will give you the option of knowing the twist or not. Rupert takes the initiative and invites himself to tag along with his brother in the hope of meeting the older sister of one of his friends. He has a lucky break and goes on a date with her where he finally spills the beans that he wants to kiss the girl in his dreams. She mistakenly thinks that Rupert only wants a kiss, when he explains that he actually wants to kiss a girl IN his dreams. The 2 put on dream helmets and are transported into a video game, and in particular the Mario games franchise, where Rupert has to complete a task before he can get the kiss of his dreams from the Princess Peach. ***END***
The show was fun and had a lot of video game references, of which some I didn't get because we had computers at our place so early on(we had to write our own simple games at the start) that we had lost interest in games by the time consoles came out, either way I worked out most of the references so it wasn't a real problem. I liked Cyrus Bezyan because he does this exaggerated stiff/pompous comedic character that I found naturally funny, but really everyone was fine and there wasn't anything in the show that annoyed me, so I found it quite enjoyable. The actual content in the story isn't going to change the world but it will give you a chance to escape the world. I think the show is demographic specific, because it written by students for students, so it will mainly appeal to them, but on the other hand I'm not in that demographic and I liked it. It was fun, and the crowd made it more so. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4

10.02.11 : The Next Three Days - movie
Crime | Drama | Romance : When a man has exhausted all legal avenues of releasing his wrongly arrested wife, he grapples with the dark side to try and break her out. I liked it, and the last ½ hour is quite exciting. The first 1½ isn't as fast paced, but you don't really notice that at all. 3.5

09.02.11 : Black Swan - movie
Drama | Mystery | Thriller : Psychological thriller involving a sheltered ballerina that plays the white swan perfectly, but has trouble finding the evil inside to make the black swan come alive. Every second person is talking about this film so I forced myself to see it, and it ended up being alright. I got mixed up between the hallucinations and reality, but that's probably what they intended anyhow. Something different that is entertaining all the way, even though I don't understand all the fetishes with fingernails. 3.5

08.02.11 : Catfish - movie
Documentary : One day a girl sends a photographer a request to be his Facebook friend. It looks like their advertising department was on overdrive because I got sucked into all the hype about the unexpected secret at the end, but overall this little movie turned out quite alright, and probably closer to good. This bit isn't going to make sense unless you see the movie, but it's what people do to cope when things don't work out, and they feel their situation is hopeless. It's a bit poignant and sad at the end, when you realise why it happened, and except for the end it's not a sad film. 3.75

08.02.11 : Faster - movie
Action | Crime | Drama : An ex-con is released from prison and goes on a spree of revenge killings. I thought this was going to be a mindless shoot fest of a story, boy was I surprised when it had a normal story, and even the action didn't break the laws of physics, so it was all quite believable. Action drama with a not too bad story that's not too taxing. I liked it. 3.75

06.02.11 : Club Central Comedy : Club Central Hurstville
A good sized crowd turned up last time, but this time so many people turned up that they ran out of chairs. Even Daniel Townes(MC) was surprised at the attendance, because there was only 7 people the first time he came here. Daniel did a very good job, which couldn't be said for the rest of the acts in the first half. The first comic was an ex New Yorker(Cal Russo?), that wasn't much chop, and he was followed by Ride the Wombat. Ride the Wombat are the musical comedy duo of Mick Meredith & Jonothan Lee Jones, in case you didn't already know, and all their songs have that wordy style of comedy. The songs that Mick sings have that Mick sense of humour, and sound like he wrote them, but Jono's stuff isn't as good and doesn't really appeal to me, either way they are a bit mild. Luckily the first half didn't put anybody off and the crowd stuck around for the second half, which is where things really took off. Daniel stepped it up and told his U.S. Customs story, which killed, and then Trevor Crook went even better and had everyone laughing all the way through his set, which is something this crowd don't usually do because they can be pretty quite. It's hard to read this crowd because of the lack of reaction, but, Crowd : 4,2,3,4.5 - Me : 4,2,2,4.5

05.02.11 : The Axis of Awesome - Songs in the Key of Awesome : Sydney Opera House
I've been kind of dead inside for the last 6 months and was really looking forward for a pick me up, so I was pretty keen to see this show and would have even bet money on it being exceptional, like most of their previous ones, but it just didn't happen for me. They started with their Laser song, so I quickly thought back to try and remember what it was about(I've only heard it once before). So I was sitting there trying to remember it, but all I could remember was that it was funny, so I concentrated really hard to hear what it was about, and that's when I realised I couldn't hear most of the words. Now if someone said to me you wouldn't be able to hear the words from the PA in the Sydney Opera House I would have said that's impossible, because it's the second best sound system for clarity that I have ever heard, but that's exactly  what happened. The vocals sounded murky and a bit drowned out, and it's very possibly just me because of my hearing problems, but the middle aged guy next to me didn't react when he heard the first chorus of the song, Can You Hear The F**ken Music Coming Outta My Car, but he did laugh at the second repeat chorus, it was like he didn't hear it properly the first time around. His kids did laugh first time, probably because they have better ears. The show felt a bit stiff at the start, like a DVD recording where no one wants to make a mistake, but it did loosen up after Jordan got heckled by a 7 year old. You can usually tell what type of audience the AoA get by the amount of laughs they get in the 4 chord song, because the people that are new to it laugh at all the different songs that fit the 4 chord pattern, but all the regulars don't laugh because they find it more beautiful than funny, and tonight it sounded like about 25% laughed, so about 75% must have been regulars, or have seen their videos lately - That's why I'm not a fan of knowing too much because it spoils the surprise. In fact most of the CD's I own I have seen the bands play live more that have actually played their CD's.
This is my interpretation of the loudness of the applause, remember a crowd that is familiar with the material(which is what this audience sounded like) isn't going to be as loud as a new crowd, so add 0.5 points for a fresh crowd. Set list(abbreviated names so the jokes aren't spoiled) and score :-
Laser song - 3.75
Internet song - 3.75
Boy Band - 4.5
1 in 3 - 3.75
Hotel California - 2.5. I think everyone knows that I don't really like their Hotel California song, and definitely after 5 listens it's not fun for me anymore, but the funny thing was that the audience was a bit reluctant to even start applauding, and the volume wasn't that loud either, maybe there not that fond of it either. If you look at the facts no one can come up with a third show of only pure hits - but in really this isn't a new song and they do have other old songs that are brilliant.
God & the Holy Trinity - 3.5
Touch your Ass - 3.75
Old Man - 3.75
Sexual Harassment - 4
Can You Hear the F**ken Music - 4.25
4 chords - 5. The explanation to the 4 chord song is essential, even though most people have heard it, or the gag would work. But I like how Benny now plays the annoyed character that is forced to go through the well worn explanation, while Jordan plays the straight character that pretends to be surprised. They have added even more new songs since last time, which I unfortunately don't know because I don't listen to the radio, but the young people loved the new stuff and cheered when they heard them.
KFC song - 4.5
Look the show was actually bad it's just I'm comparing it to their amazingly large number of shows that have scored a 5, and in really it was only the sound that disappointed me, but either way even if I didn't have a great time I don't think the audience had a problem. On a side note when I was leaving I overheard some young guys saying how great the KFC and the Can You Hear songs were, which is more their demographic. I still liked their banter between song and found that the funniest. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5

04.02.11 : Arj Barker: Keeper or Crapper :  Old Fitzroy Hotel
You have probably read that I not a big fan anymore, not $50 State Theatre fan that's for sure, but for a $25 preview show I will give it another crack. We started with Arj doing a song on the harmonica, which is what he used to separate the 3 sections of the show, and I was sitting there wondering what's going on, because he was actually funny. I was thinking to myself, is this really Arj telling jokes that were short fast and funny, it's been so long since he did the fast stuff that I forgot that he used to do it. Things were looking up because this section was great, and scored a 4. Then after another song the jokes got longer, and less funny, and the whole show slowed down back to the style that I don't like, and from the sound of the audience they agreed. His most popular jokes tonight was his modern type computer/video game stuff, but the 2 jokes I didn't like were the "He died doing what he loved" and the "Kills 99.9% of all germs", because they are variations of jokes that other people tell, but I'm the only one that is going to know that so it doesn't really apply. I think my biggest peeve with Arj is that he is built up as the headliner, so you get really enthusiastic, and then he just isn't that funny, or at least the jokes are so far apart that it feels that way, - he uses very long setups for jokes. Even Arj put in a self deprecating joke about how his jokes are so long before the punchline(see it's not just me), to which I was the only one who laughed, because I noticed the problem a while ago. I used to be Arj's biggest fan after that pub gig when he first came to Aust, so I was super keen to see his Ego, No Amigo show, but on the night it was like a totally different person, because of the sparse laughs due to the long setups for the jokes. I brushed it off and thought it was just this show, but then all the following shows were the same. At least tonight was a preview show, so my expectations weren't very high, so I wasn't disappointed and didn't mind it at all. If you don't see many shows this one is still fine, but for me the show started at 4 and tapered to 3. Crowd : 3.75 Me : 3.25

03.02.11 : Good News Week - TV recording for 7.02.11 : State Theatre
It looks like GNW wanted to start this year with a bang so they moved to the 2000 seat State Theatre for a one off show. This proved to be quite popular with the fans because the tickets sold so fast that I ended up at the back in the nose bleed section(It reminded me of when I first came here to see Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon in 74, because I was nearly in the same seat).
The overall feel was that the show wasn't as tight as usual, but that was probably due to an unfamiliar venue and all the big stunt setups tonight, either way there was long delays that Paul and Mikey had problems trying to fill, remember they also have to amuse us to keep the vibe. The venue isn't that great because it's an old theatre that has quite hard seats, that probably weren't designed for 4 hours sitting, and a air-con that doesn't have enough capacity, so it was a bit too hot. There was a lot more mistakes than usual so they had to re-record quite a few bits, the dialogue ones weren't too bad but the song ones took a fair amount of time. But even with all these problems the crowd were super tolerant, and quite hyper, so I don't think anyone minded.
We started with Ted Robinson's usual speech to gee up the crowd, which is essential in the usual recordings, and he got to the bit where he asks the crowd to cheer as loud as possible, which the crowd are usually crap at the first time around, but not tonight, because the 2000 strong hyper audience nearly knocked him over because they were so loud (he actually stepped back at the volume).
*** SPOILER ALERT*** Paul McDermott started with his opening news stories monologue, of which only about 25% was funny, but it was extra long so they will edit that latter. To make this show bigger Mikey Robins and Claire Hooper had 2 teams each, which would alternate between games. Mikey's 1st team was Cal Wilson & Tom Gleeson, and 2nd team was Kitty Flanagan & Randy(Sammy J & Randy). Claire had Matt Preston & Fiona O'Loughlin, and Akmal Saleh & Josh Thomas, respectively. The Strange But True with the 3 props had Kasey Chambers doing the song for Mikey, and Reggie Watts for Clair(which had to be done twice). Next was 1000 Words, making tags up for funny pictures, and then Kasey doing a single off her latest album. Followed by So You Think You Can Mime, but with a twist. The twist was that Cal and Matt(from opposing teams) did the mime together, and the first team to work it out wins. There was some weird bit where they talked about news stories(mainly about Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban's baby), that I'm not sure was recorded or just banter for us. The running gag at the start was that the audience wanted Paul to sing songs to fill the gaps, and as usual Paul refused, which made one girl screamed out Good!, because she doesn't like him singing, but it was all a ruse because did Paul did come out and sing, and jokingly put her down in the process. The funny thing was when Paul called for a guitarist, he got Flacco, who did a very short but funny bit. I think Paul wrote the song, and for me he is one of those artists that sings beautifully but can't write well, so it wasn't anything special. The song had 2 false starts so they had 4 attempts at re-recording it, with 2 of those full recordings. It was getting late so Akmal stood up between breaks and did a little bit of his routine about his worse gigs, which was quite good. Next was Hot Spot with Paul coming right to the top balcony in the isle next to me to ask the questions. Poor Paul thought it was hot on stage in a suit, but when he came up here where all the hot air was accumulating he freaked out at the heat, you could see the sweet rolling off his face. The Last game was Buzzers of Death, which is getting a bit lame because everyone keeps pressing the buzzers willy nilly, but tonight they restrained themselves, and Randy was super funny, so it was very good. They returned to Strange But True with Kasey and Reggie doing longer versions of their appointed songs, of which Reggie fluffed his first attempt at doing the song slowly and soulfully so he got the shits and and came back with a high energy kick ass version that killed the room. ***END***
Everyone on my level was acting like they were getting fatigued at the end, but hardly anyone left before the end so I don't think anyone was annoyed. Paul and Mikey apologised because it was a long show and probably not that entertaining all the time, but we knew it was going to be a big show, and really the only thing that made it a bit of an endurance test was the lack of air-con(if we were cool it wouldn't have felt as long). This year the recordings are moving to Fox Studios, so I might see how they go there. Crowd : 3.75 Me : 3.5

01.02.11 : True Grit - movie
Adventure | Drama | Western : A young girl wants to avenge the murder of her father but has to hire an  ornery Marshal to chase him down when the authorities fail to do so. I hate Westerns, because there was heaps around in my time and they were all moronic - no wonder we were attracted to intelligent Sci-Fi - but these days the modern made Westerns are quite alright, and so was this.  Unforgiven was the first and is a better movie, because it's more gritty, but this one travels along nicely(3.5-3.75) and finishes on a high(4). Unfortunately it has one of those 25 years latter endings that spoil the end. 3.75

01.02.11 : How Do You Know - movie
Comedy | Drama | Romance : A girl experiences a life changing hurtle. I can't say any more or it will spoil it, but there is heaps of story that travels very well, so you are never bored. It was more nice than sweet, because the only touching bit happened right at the end, and even nice is too light a term, so I would say it was delightful. Even though it is a Rom-Com you don't laugh that much, but it is light and charming. The characters and the actors all felt right, unlike some movies like Killers, where it just looks wrong. This one ended suddenly and left you wanting to know what happened in the future. As you can tell by my pick for best movie last year this type of film appeals to me but is probably more for the ladies. 4

29.01.11 : Invisible Atom : Seymour Centre
All week I've been annoyed with myself that I bought tickets for this show, because of my policy this year that I wouldn't see anything iffy, and on reflection it looks like I only bought tickets because of the science based name. So I was sitting there dreading being there and wanted it all over as quick as possible, but the story slowly got under my skin and I found myself actually turning. I can't say it's edge of the seat compelling listening but it does travel along nicely so that you don't notice that time is moving along, which probably indicates that it does draw you in. Anthony Black delivers the show as a one-man, story/play, in that he tells the story of a character called Atom, and as he meets people he plays all the characters in the conversation between them using accents and mannerisms of the characters. The story is fiction but delivered as fact, so it's feels like a real life story and a bit serious, so if you are looking for comedy this really isn't it. Anthony also uses the miniature man technique, by using fingers walking on the stage like that in Alvin Sputnik, to give a different perspective to the scenes, and all this is peppered with sound effects during the show. This is the brief :-
Atom has everything. He’s a bright, up-and-coming stockbroker with a gorgeous girlfriend and a beautiful new child – a real success story. But when he falls victim to a catastrophic reversal of his destiny, he finds himself suspended in a very precise moment in space and time. This is where Atom tells his story.
*** SPOILER ALERT*** This is the full story so be warned it will ruin the show if you read it. Atom is an investment broker that makes money for his customers by investing in profitable shares. He has everything, but is the usual urban professional living beyond his means, in that all his over the top opulent possessions are actually owned by credit companies. He starts questioning all the excesses that he doesn't really need, and how it exploits people in third world countries, when his companies building is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing all the employees except him and his boss who were away at the time. Now with no job and debts rising he goes into depression, until one day when his wife fears for his health and asks him if he has a history of heart problems in his family. Atom isn't sure, because he was adopted, and goes to the adoption agency to get his parents medical records. But when the opportunity arises he steals the whole adoption file and goes to England to find his only living parent, his father. His father is also an investment broker and the 75th most wealthy person on the planet, and a real bastard(figuratively and literally) and kicks Atom out of his office. Back at home he finds out everyone on his family tree have been adopted, when one day his father calls and gives him a sure fire tip for certain wealth, if he invests in a certain share. Atom sells everything in the house for a hundredth of it's value and is about to invest in the stock when he finds out the business less than moral. ***END***
In the end I think Alvin Sputnik made me reticent to come to this show, because there wasn't much in that one, but this had a lot more substance so it held your attention all the way, making it nice. My score may sound low but my life is like this Shakespeare quote "If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.", and that's what all these shows are getting for me. And even though I don't laugh much these days at least if I chuckle a bit it feels like more value to me. And because this show doesn't have may chuckles it's not really going to grab me that much, but either way I though there was nothing wrong with it and Anthony was quite good and quite dynamic so I don't think anyone will be disappointed. The odd thing was the crowds applause, because I don't think they gave as much as it deserved. Crowd : 3.75 Me : 3.5

28.01.11 : Rattle and Hum - The Doors Experience : Revesby Workers - music
What do you do when you have seen everything a hundred times, I wouldn't have a clue, and that's how I ended up here. At least it was something different and only $5. The Doors were before my time, in fact they were before everybody's time(1965-1971), and I'm not really a fan, but through the years their songs get absorbed subliminally so it's all going to sound familiar anyway. Actually this tribute band probably has advantages over the original band in some respects, because you don't have to put up with Jim's randomness, it's only the good songs, and the fidelity is probably better than the sound back then, and with this middle aged crowd they are probably over all the mysticism stuff and just want the songs anyway. The singer sounds close to Jim and they are quite good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHgw2-58y4&feature=player_embedded
You know what your going to get with Rattle and Hum, because they have been around ages, and tonight was business as usual. These guys usually do 2 sets, because U2 has so many hits, but because they were sharing the bill they only did 1 set with only the best stuff. I'm also not a fan but your going to know the stuff anyway so it's quite good. The funny part is the names they use to replace Bono and the The Edge, because they use Bonox and The Wedge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJWZVTh7mHc
This room can be a bit emotionless, and too loud, but Jim and Bono got they crowd involved so at least it had emotion tonight. Me : 3.75,4

27.01.11 : Jeff Green : Laugh Garage CBD
Our host Phil Cornwall was new to me and was quite nice. I have heard a joke or two in my time so for me some of his jokes were modernised versions of jokes that I have heard before, but this just gave them more impact. He is also a magician and did a card trick that was simple but quite good. Paul Warnes is the Price of the Pause, and is still funny after all these years, in fact he is probably the only person capable of using timing to increase the effect of a joke. I was hoping to go and see Jeff Green on the weekend, because he is a must see, but I had already bought tickets months ago for some other stupid show, so I had to make it tonight. A fair sized crowd turned up and they had that very relaxed feel that they are having fun but taking it easy, until Jeff turned up. With in 30 seconds your laughing so hard it's painful, luckily for us he slowed down for the lazy Thur crowd, and we got our breath back. In the end it was better that I went on a Thur because I think he will pound the crowd into a bloody pulp on the weekend, and I don't think my ticker could take it. Tonight I was glad they put a break in the comedy, so we could relax and take it easy, but Jeff's set was so good it seemed to go past in the blink of and eye. And I'm sure we could have easily taken another hour of it, and with the amount of material he has he could easily do it, but in the end it all finished too soon. On a side note I saw some shows he did in England a few years back, on the TV, and it's like a totally different person because his routine is so much better now, it's just relentless, and faster, and so much more funny now. I'm sure the weekend will be a 5, but on take it easy Thur 4.5. Crowd : 3.5,4.25,4 so 4.25. Me : 3,3.75,4.5 so 4.5

26.01.11 : Australia Day-Festival of the Voice : The Rocks - music
Early start today with Robyn Loau at 11:00 o'clock. She has been around for what seems like ages, but this was the first time I have seen her, and she was great. She started with Kate Bush's - Wuthering Heights, and it was amazing because she sounded exactly like Kate. She followed up with her hit Sick With Love which was also great. I'm not a fan of her Biggest Loser song Never Let You Down, but she did finish with her new single that was very good. I researched some of the bands playing today and Microwave Jenny sounded ok, but when I heard them they were better than that, in fact they were quite good. They turned up with the whole band and have an alternative twist on the jazz and pop genres, and even throwing in some blues influence, which results in a kind of energetic pop sound. Tessa Nuku has a great voice, she can sing softly, and them crack into really loud powerful vocals at the drop of a hat. Brendon Boney also has a good voice, so there is something for the girls. They did a medley of songs, like the AoA - 4 Chord song, that the crowd loved because it was so beautiful. I just made it back to catch Dead Letter Chorus - Down in Your Valley, and it was amazing live. I really liked Gabrielle Huber voice because it's so sweet and nice. Cameron Potts didn't do as many songs but he was quite good too, especially his travelling around the east coast of Canada song, because it was so dynamic. Overall I though they were very good, and to finish on a high all the members of the band dropped their instruments and grabbed the drummers drums and sticks and all joined in a powerful rhythmic drumming finish, which impressed the crowd. 4

25.01.11 : The Fighter - movie
Biography | Drama | Sport : A boxer has to decide to get rid of the dead weight dragging him down, or retire. This movie is more about relationships than boxing, so it's more a study of how people behave when they are given a free ride on an opportunity, but in poor parts of town that is usually all they have. It's not that confrontational so it's not upsetting, and it moves along quite nicely. People applauded at the end of this movie, but it didn't affect me as much. Crowd : 5. Me : 3

25.01.11 : The Green Hornet - movie
Action | Comedy | Crime : A man inherits a newspaper business when his father dies and finds a mysterious but very clever mechanic that services his dad's cars. It's an action comedy similar to a buddy cop film, but with vigilantes looking for adventure, either way it's light hearted and quite watchable. No complaints. 3

22.01.11 : The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer : Seymour Centre
The show is a fantasy adventure story that is designed to be cute and lovable, unfortunately because of this it does lack substance, which is pretty evident by the lack of dialogue. Really there is only dialogue at the start to set up the story, and then the majority of the rest of the show is just cute effects. Based of this lack of substantial happenings after the start I would say it's more for children rather than adults, even though he does mention death 3 times which may be a bit much for the really young.
*** SPOILER ALERT*** The story goes that the love of Alvin life dies, and then water level of the earth rises leaving no land to live on. Alvin sets out on a mission and enters a water filled volcano and travels down to a huge underground cavern, meeting things on the way. He finds a large bit of the earth and deploys the device in his underwater suit that clamps on to the new land and sends out an xonic force that breaks it free and drags it up to the surface for people to live on. *** END***
The main way the show is transferred to us is in the form of a video projected on a large round screen in the middle of the stage, using simple animation(nearly stick figure like), of Alvin as he travels on his adventure. There are parts where he momentarily swims off the screen and then becomes a puppet, where we are given a little live puppet adventure, and then he swims back on the screen where the video takes over again. There are other effect like shadow puppets, live drawing on the screen, a little bit of acting, live glowing puppet creatures, etc. Really all the meaty stuff happens at the start and the rest is just Alvin swimming around bumping into things. It's all charming and nice but I have seen similar stuff that is geared more toward adults, that is naturally going to be more fun for me, but either way it was still ok, and really it could just be me, because I forgot to bring glasses and couldn't see some stuff that the rest of the audience laughed at. Crowd : 4.25. Me : 2

21.01.11 : Lee Camp(USA) : Laugh Garage CBD
What a weird crowd, it was like they were regulars but drunk, because they were having conversations with Chris North, be it unintelligible ones, and even interrupting. Luckily Chris was the only one doing the audience thing so no one else was having problems. Chris was mainly using the banter to set up his jokes, but some got murdered, because of the interruptions, so he got a bit reluctant to keep talking to them. Comedy wise Chris was good, Umit Bali was better than last time but was a bit scattered. It was like he is getting sick of repeating his set material and wanted to mix it up, either way his new Facebook stuff killed. Sally Kimpton only did a short spot, and was nice. Lee Camp is one of new wave young angry American political comics, like a Jamie Kilstein, but his material is more accessible for the general public, so it's not a preachy. In fact there was only one small section that you didn't laugh, other than that he is chuckley all the way. There was a bit where Lee was complaining that news services are now shovelling out crap news, like superfluous celebrity happenings rather than real news, and he was blaming the news services for it, but if you think about it, the pubic were actually driving it. The channels realised news was big money so they devoted more time to it, but unfortunately there wasn't enough news to fill the extra time so they started filling it with not very news worthy stuff, and all this was driven by the population, by watching it and raising the rating figures. And that's my problem with political comedy, I'm too busy thinking and analysing statements to laugh as much. Because I'm  old, and it's too late to change, I like the fun, superfluous, not too serious, stuff, it's just totally unadulterated and pure entertainment, with it's only mission is to make you laugh. Overall the comics were good and the night was good. Crowd : 4/3.75/3.5/4.25 so 4.25. Me : 3.5/3.5/3.25/3.5 so 4

20.01.11 : Unstoppable - movie
Action | Thriller : A runaway train has to be stopped. The director was worth every cent in this one, because he made a ridiculous premise very exciting and quite believable, using camera angles and tricks that really conveyed the enormity of the situation. The technical accuracy was total BS, but it wouldn't work otherwise. You could practically say it is a Speed remake, because the story is somewhat similar, it has a lot of action, and it defies logic in places. The difference with Speed was that this feels more gritty, and more visually powerful, and more believable. Being from mechanical engineering background I found the incorrect facts irritating, but no one else is going to notice that. Exciting if you accept what your given. 3.5

19.01.11 : WiseCracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
My other show got sold out, so because I was no where near this venue, I went. Only kidding, but is was ½ hour in the opposite direction from where I started. You can understand that I wasn't that keen on going, because the last show was such a bomb, but the Facebook event said that Tahir will be there and it will probably be a sell out. Well Facebook was right, and the room was full, but I was still wondering why I was even there, because I has seen him a couple months before. Well the line up was nearly the same as 2 months ago, with Dolores Lorette and Tahir, with the only difference being Arthur Writus as host. I haven't seen Arther for ages and he was always good with that quick delivery short gag stuff, unfortunately he has slowed down his routine, so it's not as good as before, but he was still fine. Dolores used the same routine, and the crowd liked her. Tahir unfortunately used the same routine as before, delivered at the same average pace, so it was nothing new for me, but the crowd like him. There was a higher level of comedy, so it wasn't too bad. Crowd : 4/3.75/4.5 so 4.25. Me : 3/3/3 so 3

18.01.11 : Faster Lady Godiva Faster : The Old Fitzroy Theatre - other
I have to score myself a big fat ZERO, for going against my own decision. I have this problem that I just don't laugh anymore, and it's getting me down, so I said to myself I was going to cut a lot of shows out this year, starting with anything iffy. Well this one was iffy, yet I still went. But in my defence this is what I read
"Faster Lady Godiva Faster! is contemporary take on an old complex myth. It’s a physical comedy about weakness, weaponry and what happens when one person speaks out. It’s new, rude and has wooed audiences at Brisbane’s 2high Festival and Newcastle’s Crack Theatre Festival. Now it’s time for Sydney to feel the G forces on horses."
Based on that it sounded like it had substance, and to kill 2 birds with one stone I could get Arj Barker tickets while I was there, which was also a conundrum because I don't really like him anymore, but at least I'm not paying the big bucks of a State Theatre show. Well the thought of a continuous story with substance quickly went out the window, and it ended up just random bizarre scenes.
*** SPOILER ALERT*** We started with the girls doing a finishing pose contest, like the finishing pose a circus performer does at the end of a stunt, to tell the audience it's time to applaud. There was a bottle water and cabbage fight scene. The girls then sat down at a table and had a conversation but every few seconds struck unusual poses. Then they would start moving the chairs and table, while still sitting and continuing their conversation, at ever increasing increments until they were doing laps of the stage. There was an argument and one girl left while the other did a stomp and tap dancing accompaniment with the song Blue Monday by New Order. She collapses prostrate on the table from exhaustion after 8 minutes of stomping, and starts a self help motivation seminar about the power of YES. She gets a guy form the audience and questions him about his life while she orders him to take her shoes and jewellery off. She lastly asks him to untie the top of her dress where she promptly stands up to expose her breasts, in some type of contest if he would look at her face or her chest. She then starts flirting with him while topless(little did she know he was here with his boyfriend, so it didn't have any effect on him). To go one better, the guy strikes a pose from the start of the show to signal applause for him, which produced the biggest laughs of the night. There was a screaming fest and then one of the girls told a story of how she saw a man walking a horse late one night, after which she picked up all the props and furniture by herself and put them on her back and took them all out with her in one go. ***END***
It wasn't for me but the crowd sounded happy. Crowd : 4. Me : 0

18.01.11 : The Dilemma - movie
Comedy | Drama : A man catches his best friends wife having an affair and doesn't know how to tell him. This movie doesn't know what it is, is it a drama, is it a comedy, and what would you expect when you have Ron Howard directing comedians. The automotive engineering background filler story is totally ludicrous. No one is going to like this film, tedious and unfunny 1

16.01.11 : EVAPOR-AID : Live Comedy Fundraiser for the QLD Floods : Comedy Store
It was a big show with 3 hours of fun, that I will have to abbreviate because of the shear volume of happenings. Sorry if this report feels like random sentences with no fluidity. In order of appearance:- Our MC tonight was Dan Ilic(Hungry Beast, Ronnie Johns) who just seems to switch on in front of large audiences, because he was on fire tonight with quick quips and jokes. Eddie Perfect(Offspring, Warnie) did a nice little routine(I think from his new show, Misanthropology) about animals, complete with a very inappropriate song with lines like "I want to lick a Koala's vagina". The Fully Sick Rapper(YouTube) was new to me live, and did a song about a bogan surfie girl he meet in Surfers, that was surprisingly good, after which he got auctioned off as a topless waiter for the winner. Desh(The Footy Show) was next, and is a regular here, but this audience probably hadn't seen him before because he killed more than usual. There was a laugh contest for the most unusual laugh, with the winner getting a box of Tasmanian Rain bottled water. I haven't seen Luke Heggie(Raw Comedy Winner) that often, so his routine was pretty fresh for me, and this newness just makes it funnier. Penny McNamee(Wicked) did a song from her show with accompaniment from Benny Davis(The Axis of Awesome). Robby McGregor(SBS, Roy & HG) read out alternative names for Brisbane, in that sexy voice of his. Bec De Unamuno(Comedy Inc) and some improvisers did a Film Noir about The Case of the Missing Fridge, with the crowd loving the wacky stereotypes and their funny voices. There was a raffle for an entertainment pack, or Pluck-a-Duck(what's in the box), that the winner wrongly picked and ended up with a ShamWow. Dan then did an Oprah and divulged that we were all to receive one, through the usual under the seat trick. I was a bit miffed that I didn't find out about Danny Boy's preview shows this month, until it was too late, so I was pleasantly surprised when he turned up and did a extra long set from it, that ended up very good. At least the preview shows are only trial material shows, and based on tonight's performance the finished show will be a must see, and hopefully in the SCF2011. I knew things were going to go astray when they placed a large carpet over the floor before the start of the show, and my premonition came true when Steen and Carlo reprised their Champagne skit to riotous laugher. And then to go one further Dan poured a bottle of Tasmanian Rain on his head, to even more laughter. I think when they first did this sketch they tried to say "Champagne" while the champagne was running down their faces, so it looked like they were spraying spit on each other, and then at the end they tried to stay in their cool characters, so as to not spoil the effect, they were reaching out blindly and fumbling for each others faces because of the champagne in their eyes, and this just made it funnier than the original gag, and made it last longer too. In comedy it's kind of funny how such small differences can make something so much more funny, I should write a paper on How to Sustain an Endorphin Response in Cognitive Mammals of the Homo Sapien Variety During the Visual Repeat Performance of the Gaseous Wine in the Optic Nerve Sketch. Daniel Moore(WTF) did a strong set and finished with a rebuttal to his application being rejected by the all girl dance troupe called Physical Culture, by doing a sexy dance with his newly formed dance group Man Phys. Lawrence Leung(Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure) solved the Rubik cube from his TV series and gave it away to someone from QLD. Michael Hing(Make Way For Ducklings) did a very good job tonight. Alice Fraser(Banjo Goddess) did her Robot song and was quite nice, unfortunately she has a very quiet voice and didn't leave long enough pauses between gags in her song, so I missed some of the words, but she still went well. Robby McGregor reappeared and gave us alternative words for evaporate. Allsopp & Henderson(Portholes Into The Minds Of The Vanquished) didn't really click with me, but the crowd thought they were ok. Matt Okine(The Future Machine), another regular here, killed it with what is a fresh crowd for him. Even though Sam Simmons(Triple J) doesn't click with me, the crowd seems to love him. As a treat Mike Birbiglia(My Girlfriend's Boyfriend) turned up and did a nice little section from his show about Lisa Fizzetti, and his first kiss, that was really well received and rewarded with good applause. The improvisers returned with their tribute song for Meischak(with a silent K), using words they got at intermission, and delivered it in Band-Aid style . There was a final big thank you to all the people that contributed, and we were told that a total of $7000 was raised for the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal. Also there should be a big thank you to the audience who were a lot better than the usual crowd that turns up here, because they laughed at everything and made the night better than it was already. For me it was a bit painful for my Tinnitus, because the PA was so loud, so I give a 4, but what mattered was the crowd that were at 5. Crowd : 5. Me : 4

15.01.11 : Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend : Seymour Centre
We all have the disaster stories about trying to attract the opposite sex. So using this premise Mike's charming and affable demeanour sends us on a spellbinding journey of mistake after mistake in his coming of age story. Mike's show is about halfway between a story and a stand-up routine, in that it's not just jokes, and not just story, but the comfortable squishy cuddly middle ground that is compelling, yet funny enough to make it very enjoyable. He started with a little phone etiquette routine, and the trepidation of coming to Australia and fearing that no one would come to his show, which was probably the most laugh out loud part. The story started with Mike's car being T-boned by a drunk driver, spinning him around and leaving him in a state of shock on the side of the road, as the other car drove away. The story quickly shifts away to his state of mind about relationships, in that he doesn't believe in marriage, and right from the get-go you can tell that Mike is a very left hemisphere logical thinking person, which puts him very out of step with what is required for relationships. We move on Grade 7 with his not too successful attempts to get his first kiss from Lisa Bizzetti, culminating with him ending up being the only person in the Haven't Been Kissed Club. Then on to Sandra at the local High School dance, that expected a lot, but got a disaster. In life this scenario seems to be pretty common that girls expect every guy to have a lot of experience, even if the guy is pretty plain looking. Next was the bad girl Amanda, that made him the odd man out in a three sided relationship while still at school. When situations got similar, these stories were punctuated with stories about his now current girlfriend Jenny, like Jenny wasn't really that into him, and she also has him as the third spoke in a wheel. But there's some underlining attraction that keeps them together, but in an odd way because he is always recanting stories about them arguing, which contradicts his mild likeable on stage appearance. It was after one of these big arguments, when things went wrong on the way to a gig, which is where we returned to the drunk driver story.
 ***SPOILER ALERT***, Don't read further if you are going to see this show. This was unfortunately the part of the show that I didn't like, because being old I get upset when I think things aren't fair. But he went on to recounted the story of the accident and got to the point when the Police Officer pressed him to sign some paper, and that's when I knew exactly what was going to happen next. Did I tell you the story about how a guy I knew that was pressed into signing a report when he thought he was innocent, and then ultimately getting charged for it, well that's exactly what happened here. This is a trap for the young players and your alarm bells should be ringing when you are pushed into signing stuff when the cop is not clearly saying that it's not your fault. If in doubt don't sign anything unless you are 100% sure you have read and totally understand what's going on.***END***
On the way home I started thinking logically, because there were bits that just didn't add up, like why did the cop still expect Mike to pay the $12,000 even after it was explained that his report had errors, and why did Mike eventually pay if he was in the right, unless he was technically in the wrong. I think he did say that he was coming out of a side street, so technically maybe he was in the wrong, even if morally he was in the right because the drunk driver had caused the accident and even tried to flee. Maybe over there the law is different but in Australia if the driver is proved to be drunk, even if they are in the right, it's the drunk that gets charged. Did I ever tell you the story about the drunk Bikie, that a guy I know knocked down. Sorry about my old person rambling but it's kind of funny how the small bad bits stick more than the large good bits. Either way the crowd felt like they were around 4.25, and even though that last bit put me off somewhat I still liked it. Crowd : 4.25. Me : 4

11.01.11 : The Trophy Room - TV recording : ABC studios Ultimo
The first thing I noticed was the difference between this show and the slick and efficient Good News Week recordings. The setups between segments in GNW are done so quickly and efficiently that there are less dead spots, which keeps the entertainment level higher for the audience, and coupled with the higher number, and quality of the jokes, you can actually treat GNW as a comedy show for a nights entertainment. To give an example, GNW is a 3 hour recording for a 1½ hour show, and this one is a 2 hour recording for a ½ hour show. This recording is exactly what I expected and is similar to the Greun Transfer, with one comedian hosting and a lot of non-comedians trying to be comedians. This is always going to make it mild with a few chuckles compared to GNW with 2 comedians on each team and a bank of joke writers to ensure the laughs. The other problem was that they got Tommy Dean doing warm-ups, and he has kind of lost it doing the ad-lib stuff so not much excitement was gained, but they can fix that in post production. The big hoopla for tonight was that Adam Gilchrist was supposed to turn up, not that I know who he is, but because of the usual blah blah excuse he didn't appear, so Amanda Shalala got Nathan Bracken(another cricketer) and Scott Dooley(some radio announcer/comic with Merrick Watts), and Adam Spencer got Sandy Brondello(basketball player) and Fergus Murphy(international tennis umpire), see what I mean about lack of comedians. In fact Peter Helliar was the funniest and the only one consistently getting laughs, even though the other did crack some chuckles. They did the intro and then the question segment at the start, and then did Adam's special game where his team had to put 5 balls in order of the speed they travel in their games, ie cricket ball, tennis ball, etc. Amanda's team had to guess the sports-person in the kangaroo suit. There was the usual physical test with Scott and Furgus facing off in a rowing comp, and then the final quick questions. The end of the recording is for correcting of mistakes and extras, which unfortunately had them redo the whole start of the show with all the Adam Gilchrist jokes taken out, giving them 2 intro's to choose from in post, and this added to the length of the show. GNW doesn't really do this whole large scale re-recording, and usually cut out what they don't want in post. This is a fairly new show, so probably when they get in more of a routine things will go faster and be more fun for an audience, but even though it's not a super great comedy show it is still novel to go and see just for the experience. 3

11.01.11 : Morning Glory -  movie
Comedy | Drama | Romance : A young executive producer goes to the big city to try and turn around a failing morning news program. The best bit about the movie was Rachel McAdams, who was bubbly exciting and really played the part, and that face doesn't hurt her appeal either. Diane Keaton was also good, but Harrison Ford's character was was so annoying it was a tedious, and it also seems like he has lost some acting skills because he looked wooden. I didn't like the first 1 hour(score of 2), but the last ½ hour was good (3.5). People that don't watch movies that much will probably like it, but for me I give it a generous 3.

08.01.11 : Ben Darsow : Laugh Garage CBD
A new year and a new format. Tonight we had a jazz band playing first with the comedy pushed back ½ hour, then a solid block of comedy running for 1¼ hours, and then back to the band. The solid block of intense comedy done by pro's with no dead spots gets to the point, and actually suits me better currently because I'm a bit burnt out, because it allows me to get in and out and home a touch earlier. The problem is, I don't know if the rest of the crowd will share this view, because even though you actually only get 1¼ hours of material in a comedy show, the old 2 breaks makes it feel like you are getting more comedy than you actually are. But you can sense the crowd wants more entertainment after a good show by their reluctance to leave, so at least now they have something to do, and you never know this may be a jazz demographic crowd anyway. Me on the other hand has had enough live music because of the approximately 1000 band sets I have seen.
A big crowd turned up that felt like half were regulars and half were newbies, because you could hear loud laughing from certain spots. Darren Sanders(MC) and Jacques Barrett were all class with strong sets, with Darren probably getting a touch more laughs. I mainly came to see Ben Darsow, because this year I'm only targeting people I haven't seen before. What I didn't realise was I had seen him before, but only in a very short set, and because there was only 3 repeat jokes it still felt like it was all new for me anyway. Ben isn't as strong as the other 2 but because his routine is new to me it was still good. Crowd : 4.5. Me : 4

05.01.11 : WiseCracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
After going out all the time it feels odd not going out for 3 days, so I ended up here. The background of this room is that the comedy has been going on here for probably 10 years(I remember seeing Mr Methane when he first came to Australia, and about when this room first opened, but not the specific date). The hotel is isolated but the hot spot of the area so the events are well supported, but unfortunately the audience ends up being only regular locals. And because the comedy has been going on for so long every comic in the world(an exaggeration that's not that far off because even Arj Barker has been here) has preformed here, numerous times. This puts the audience in somewhat the same boat as me, with them having heard it all before, and results in less than enthusiastic responses to jokes. Even the good comics with set material would struggle doing 2 shows here in one year, because they would get no laughs the second time even if it was done 6 months latter. Most of the good comics abandon their set material and just improvise their whole set, just to try to get a response. Tonight a big crowd turned up, but because Richard Brophy(MC) and Ash Jattan were repeats and fairly young they weren't that strong at trying to mix it up, making the first half one big drag, to which the audience concurred with with less than enthusiastic clapping. Only Garry Who in the second half got the crowd laughing, but that was probably because he hasn't played this room in a while and the crowd has forgot his jokes. He used all of his set material and got the laughs and ended up being quite good. Garry saved this show and raised the score, but the first half dragged it down. Crowd : 2/2/4 so 4. Me : 1/1/3 so 2.5

02.01.11 : Club Central Comedy : Club Central Hurstville
And I though I was going to retire this year because I just don't enjoy myself anymore, but I got bored and the itchy feet lead me here again. Firstly I have to describe what the audience is like, because I don't really laugh at the jokes anymore but more the audiences reactions to the jokes. The audience is not huge and are mainly regular locals, and because this is a fairly new room there hasn't been that many repeat comics, so the audience isn't jaded yet like an Oatley audience(more about this latter). They are a wise cracking bunch that are a bit subdued, but enthusiastic. By that I mean they give good applause(accounting for their small number) if they are entertained, but during the actual show only a few laugh loudly, so the comic may think they aren't going that well when in fact they actually are. You have to hand it to the comics that turn up here because they don't get discouraged by the crowd size and always put out a decent set. The in-joke of this crowd is that they are always trying to trick the comics with there response to questions, but in a good natured way that makes it funnier. Even though I wasn't that keen to be there a fairly decent crowd turned up, probably a record for this room. And with the first half of Simon Kennedy & Seamus McAlery being nice(3.5), it made it feel like it was worth turning up. Unfortunately I don't know what happened in the second half because Dave Williams didn't click as well as the comics in the first half, which is strange because he is usually good, but it did feel like his timing was a touch off tonight. He battled on and was still OK even though he didn't get as many laughs as the others. The show got me a bit down because it didn't end as high as the first half, but at least the audience liked it more than me. Crowd : 3.75/3.75/3 so 3.75. Me : 3.25/3.25/2.75 so 3

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