0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
30.04.11 : That One Story : Factory Theatre
This one felt more like for a student demographic. I'm going to be a bit lazy and cut the original reviews out and put a pre-comment on them.
Ben Jenkins : Just as good as last time.
10.03.10 : The theme for the night was "Where I went wrong", and as the title suggests it's mistakes people have made, but not normal mistakes but incredibly embarrassing mistakes. Our host was the engaging Ben Jenkins who charmed the large audience straight off the bat by telling the first story, this gave the crowd an idea of how badly things can go wrong. He told a story of young love and his first date, or so he thought. He asked a girl he liked out on a date but because he was embarrassed and he didn't want to be rejected he wasn't that clear in transmitting his intentions so it got misconstrued by the her. We've all done it and it is a little embarrassing but what happen later makes this pale into insignificance. So the next day she turns up but with another boy in tow believing this was just friends getting together rather than a date. So with his heart broken they go to see the movie Looking for Alibrandi, but emotions get the better of Ben and he starts crying, just typing this is making me laugh, but when caught out crying he gives the most embarrassing reason I have ever heard, the collective audience had to say WTF, don't say that you will embarrass yourself. The story is worded so well and delivered so masterly that you can feel the emotions and are captivated just listening to it. You get taken in so much that you hang on every word and ooh, ah and sigh throughout. The crowd loved it and laughed throughout.
James Colley : I purposely did a vague review so it wouldn't spoil it if he did it again, but I'll give you a rough idea how it went because the review doesn't really say much. Basically is about a boy too young to notice when a girl has a crush and is being affectionate toward him, even if it's so obvious, and trust me holding hands is obvious. Oh well, too young to know, but a mistake you still make when your old.
05.05.10 : James Colley beautiful simple tragedy of unrequited love befitting of a Shakespearian classic, if he was writing about Men in Black, was so touching in the end all the girls sighed at it's poignant beauty. Even I let out a tear as I have never been held by the hand, except for that crazy MILF from Newtown.
Steen Raskopoulos : This one isn't designed for big laughs, but was still nice.
02.09.10 : Steen Raskopoulos first Story Club story was a good one and was about him and the adventures with his brother. It was about them receiving Batman and Robin costumes for Christmas and turning the garden shed into a Batcave that morphed all manner of superheroes and villains from different franchises into adventures of their own design. Until one day when they ended up doing what kids do, getting lost in the moment, and climbing a tree and ending up precariously perched on the scarily high roof of the shed, with what seemed like no way down. Things quickly escalated when they were spotted by their parents who were less than pleased, and some might have said over reacted for something that they really didn't know any better of. There was much screaming as their Batman universe crumbled around them after they needed help to extricate themselves for their predicament, and as reward for keeping a watchful eye over Gotham City they received a severe scolding. The story was delightfully written and told, and after watching Raskopoulos's for last 7 years it gave me an insight about them. A very good story that got a strong audience response
Simon Greiner : This one was designed to be spooky, but was nice all the same.
02.09.10 : Simon Greiner childhood imagination ran wild in his spooky tale of the widowed cat lady next door. Her row of 13 flowerpots with dandelions hid the secret of the corpses of 13 dead kittens, and if they were uncovered one year latter would prove the widow was a witch when their bones started dancing in the moonlight. It was a nice story with plenty of spooky undertones.
Dan Ilic : It was quite interesting.
Dan's story was about him gate crashing Hollywood celebrity parties with a professional gate crasher.
Marcel Lucont : This one was his "coming of age" sexual encounter story, and boy was it funny, and the crowd thought so too. Very good
08.05.10 : It wasn't over yet with the last act of the night, Marcel Lucont, pronounced LaCunt, that is portrayed as I kind of arrogant French womaniser. Marcel was super suave and smooth and could charm the undies off any girl, which made his character super funny, and as a stir he crowd surfed his was to the back exit. Unfortunately when he got to the gap in the isle there was no one to support him so he went head first off the edge of the seats, but he did a Maxual Smart impression and quickly got up and brushed himself off giving the ridiculous impression that, that didn't just happen. The late night really brought out the rude and extreme side of the comics and everyone cut loose and push it to the limit making it a super funny show that had us in stitches.
27.04.09 : Marcel Lucont, Sexual Metro
I went for the double and stayed for Marcel. He came out and played the stereotypical arrogant French man brilliantly with subtle jokes that the crowd was slow to come to grips with, even though I got them straight away. He started by saying a French phrase and asked who understood it, 4 people put up their hands and then he said "At least we have 4 educated people in the audience" using the stereotype to the max. He explained that most French aren't arrogant only Parisians are. I though he was good, there was some jokes that didn't work but on the whole I liked it. The mainly girl crowd was a disappointed when he only did ½ an hour and tried to get him to stay longer, I think they were attracted to his Frenchy looks.
Because some of the stories were more interesting than funny - I like the laughing because the room feels more alive - I kind of wonder how the public perceives this show. Because it's late, people might be tired, there was 3 stories that weren't a laugh-centric, and the format isn't as dynamic as say an Ultimate Board Game Unscripted, which can keep you awake, but what I did notice was that the regular audience members were just as loud as they were last year at Hermann's Bar, so it should have provided enough of a laugh track that everyone should have enjoyed it, and one thing for sure was Marcel made sure it finished on a super high.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
29.04.11 : That One Story : Factory Theatre
It's was something that Felicity Ward said when she came on stage, "I feel a little intimated following the last 4 acts", citing that maybe her story might not be crafted as well as the previous ones - it was actually just as funny if not more so, so it shone through in another department -, and that got me thinking. These stories don't have to be funny, but most of them are, and because they are funny, it's like a different type of comedy, more like Smart or Intellectual Comedy. You can say that some of the subject matter may be crude, ie Dr David Cunningham's - wank du jour, and some of it based on quite simple happenings, but it's the construction and writing that actually make them clever - it just seems more for a dinner set type crowd, than a Tahir type crowd.
I'm going to be a bit lazy and cut the original reviews out and put a pre-comment on them.
Ben Jenkins : Maybe it was the delivery, but I wouldn't have thought it possible that this story got better the second time around - because of the fact that I knew what was going to happen - but it did. Very good
30.06.10 Mr Host, Ben Jenkins, started us off with a science based story that linked overly affectionate girls with a parasite in mice called Toxaoplasma Gondii. The parasite gets in the mouses brain and makes it fearless, so when a cat attacks it doesn't run away and so gets eaten, allowing the parasite to move to the next host. It then gets transferred from the cats to girls. I saw a special on this parasite years ago where they showed an experiment of it's effect. They had a tank with some fish in it that they dipped a fake storks head into, and only some fish darted away to escape, but some just stayed put. The ones that didn't flee had the parasite, which was evident by of their swollen gut, so they lost their ability to feel fear. This one they linked mainly to the French, because of their eating of raw meat, and may explain the disproportionate number of French thrill-seekers. Ben went on to assume his fried Kyle has this parasite when he told of a strange encounter with a dangerous looking man late one night. It was a good story with a lot of descriptive elements.
David Cunningham : This one was actually funnier through the led up, but strangely the end didn't have as big a response - maybe it was too shocking, or that most of us remember it too well and knew what was coming, or cuming, as the case may be - The actual total overall resultant was just as good as before, so it gets the score of better than good.
9.03.11 - Excerpt : With David Cunningham following the concurrent house boat theme, he was left to his own devices on a house boat that his parents had just evacuated to fulfil some errands. Unfortunately due to an error in judgement, and a not too sensitive ear, he failed to notice a stowaway viewing his own personal and usually private act - David's concise quote of "Pearly magma" is all you need to derive the picture. Always a delight and quite a descriptive story, if a bit overly so.
Alex Lee : This story sounded familiar, but dammed if I could find a review on it, so I will do it now.
It was about her inner most secrets from her personal diary, which included things told to her by her parents of when she was a baby. Like her funny foot, that was luckily spotted when she was in a baby swap mix up at the hospital. The diary also concealed every embarrassing encounter that she had with boys in her life - that she is now telling to a room full of strangers. She was infatuated with Dave and tried to get his attention for years all through High School - even going to the trouble of writing an embarrassing poem, that was not embarrassing at all, and quite articulate for a 30 year old, yet alone a 12½ year old -. Then the faithful day of the school disco arrived. She was getting along with Dave, talking and dancing, when an awful girl spotted her bra stuffed with tissues. After her embarrassment she returned from the bathroom to find all was lost, when she spotted Dave doing a mouth mambo with the said awful girl. Good
Zoe Norton Lodge : Now I know why I didn't do a very big review of this one, it's just so hard to explain. It's was about her angry grandmother berating her grandfather for doing stupid things. The delivery is a clever construction of repeating base blocks, with different moronic things the grandfather did tacked on to them. Simply put, it is like a song construction, but with the repeating chorus in front of each verse. I don't think I hear that well, because I had trouble keeping up with the pace of this one. On the other hand it did get one of the biggest cheers of the night, and deservedly so, because it had a clever delivery that got faster and faster, and more and more dramatic, making it more of a performance than a reading. I couldn't hear but I think it was very good last time.
26.08.09 Zoe Norton Lodge, who is a playwright, wrote a very clever story about the relationship between her grandparents - generally a hate hate relationship. It was written so well and unusually constructed, that it was very innovative.
Felicity Ward : The main story was a bit out of her Book of Moron show - mainly her Irritable Bowel Syndrome fart story. Followed by 2 from her new Honestly show - one was about having a STD check when she was a virgin, and the other about trimming her pubes. Had me seeing spots.
4.02.10 : Felicity Ward Reads from the Book of Moron : Roxbury Hotel
Excerpt - She rounded up the night with a killer story about her Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which was as cringe worthy as it was funny.
I wonder how the general pubic will perceive this type of show, because it's something they wouldn't have experienced before, so I keep an eye on the first timers. I noticed
a guy in a group of young people was absolutely killing himself, I had trouble reading an older group because my eyesight isn't that good, but I think I saw them smiling.
All up, it was excellent. 4.5
29.04.11 : Hing & Magee - Orientalism : Seymour Centre
I was writing this review in my head even before the show started, because I thought I knew what it was going to be like based on their last hit show. I assumed it was going to be like good psycho chaos, but alas it wasn't what I expected because it ended up hard to understand psycho chaos.
We started with a video from Pat explaining Michael's problems, so as to explain why he is like he is, but that ultimately turned into a very inappropriate video from Pats warped perspective. We were next treated to graphs that were totally unrelated to the show, but instead about Harry Potter thereby giving the audience something to reference. Next was the main story which was the crux to the show, it was that Pat had lost all their money on blue chip 'hair' stocks and magic beans, so the tax dept was chasing them. Pat then came up with a way to make money by using the Wogboy type, 'Slumdog Millionaire' idea from the best attended show at last years SCF, by using ethnicity as the hook for a show. Surmising that Michael was an ethnic, Pat figured he could manipulate him as the basis of a popular ethnic comedy to make money. Unfortunately the very racist pun titles for the show, like 'The Gook, The Bad, and The Ugly' and 'Ching Chonging in the Rain' wasn't to Michael's liking. Michael then came up with titles that were more appropriate by swapping Hing for King, like 'The Lion Hing', and 'The Hing and I', etc. Pat further pushed his point by stating that the Indian Canadian comedian Russell Peters was the best selling comedian in Australia's history, and that his routine is about the differences between Chinese and Indian people. Pat then asks Michael to come up with ethnic Chinese gags from his family, but because they are from Walgett, there isn't any. Pat was prepared and had thought ahead by writing them already, even trialling them at Comedy at the Rox, of which he played the tape for us. Naturally it was racist. - The second half was more like a point and counter point debate, trying to explain both sides of racism in comedy - Pat then put up the argument that if could laugh at the differences between him and other races, he can relate to that race, but then Hing puts it back that if comedians are always making fun of different races, everyone will think it's ok to treat people differently based on their ethnicity. Professor Boffin makes an appearance and tells us about his distorted thoughts on the history of racial relations, and Jews in particular. Michael somewhat panders to Pat's wishes by sarcastically delivering a comedy routine based on Chinese stereotypes. Ironically the president of TV sees it and wants to talk to Michael about a show, but Michael isn't interested so Pat impersonates him and agrees anyway. His Royal Majesty James Blunt the President of TV then appears and gives Michael a TV show, complete with slide show showing the stereotypical characters in it. Ultimately all of Michael's popularity makes Pat jealous that he isn't an ethnic.
The show started promising enough but soon settled down to only chuckles, until the second half where it had this type of debate in it. And it was this comedy/non-comedy debate section that really soured the show for me. The problem I had with this one was that it felt very chaotic - only after writing this review did I understand it - and this confusion might have added to me finding it only mildly funny. But the biggest problem I had was the serious lecturing parts that over shadowed any good impressions I had about the show. It wasn't really the content of the debate that was a problem, it's just that I felt really uncomfortable when it felt like in my head that something wasn't working, and that the audience might think so too. In reality there was only 3 bits that got a bit serious, and they were small compared to the rest of the show, but they made me fell uncomfortable because it felt like the audience didn't like it, and it was that uncomfortable awkward feeling that stuck. If you look at what the show tried to achieve form different perspective you could say it achieved what it set out to do, if your perspectives was that it was more about changing peoples perception of racism in comedy than actually being a funny comedy. I think this was more for the younger people in the audience because I didn't hear that many older people laughing. And even the young people seamed to fall somewhat for the Ardal O'Hanlon effect - a phenomena where the crowd is so pumped to be there that they laugh at anything, but by half way they realise that it isn't as funny as they thought so are pretty quiet the rest of the way. There were good reviews from the young people the next day but for me it would have been a 3.75 if it wasn't for the sour parts. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
29.04.11 : Sarah Quinn - Other People's Problems : Seymour Centre
It might be a bit light on laughs, but I know when I hate something, and I didn't hate this. The only problem I saw was that the audience wasn't big enough - if there were more people in the room, the louder laughing would act as a laugh track, and allow you to laugh more. When things like this happen it exemplifies how this whole comedy festival feels a bit dead, and lacking atmosphere - I think it's too spread out, so there is less people in one area, and therefore less excitement - like if the was at the factory with heaps of other shows, more people might turn up because it's convenient. Either way, I thought the show was nice, and I did overhear some intellectual types say it was good. There was 3 sections in this show - it was like 3 large sketches - 1:An unhinged motivational speaker gives a self-help seminar. 2:A well-meaning teenage videoblogger doles out advice on the internet. 3:Plain Jane attempts to find her mojo via a self-help sex tape. I think it might lean a bit toward a Fringe type show, but with a bigger crowd it would have got a 3.75. Boring Sydney didn't send a big enough crowd, it deserves better. 3.5
28.04.11 : Bulmer's Best of Edinburgh Festival : Factory Theatre
I was not impressed with last years show, scoring it a 3.5, but this year is was so much better. Carl Donnelly was our host, and was good. Tom Allen was a bit subdued in the delivery, but just as good. And Seann Walsh was last, and even funnier. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4,4,4.25 so 4.25
28.04.11 : Felicity Ward - Honestly : Factory Theatre
It's hard for me to tell you how this show is constructed, without cheapening it and making it sound bad, which it's not, so I will expertly skate around it. Felicity started with a big intro for nobody, and then moved on to one of those funny name collecting lists, like David Smiedt collects products with funny names - like a shampoo called Placenta, and Tom Gleeson used to collect nicknames - like Clock, for a guy that had his figures cut off one hand from an accident, and was thus named because he had one big hand and one small hand. We mumbled along to a few songs, and were told of her being discriminated against for being thin and funny looking - causing a medical case of anxiety. There was some beautiful motherly advice, and a cheese grater on sunburn. There was smoking and bogans and heaps of junkies, and crying kids that needed control. Dogs aplenty in suspicious pose,
and porno impressions with virgin STD's. There was crazy App, that when shared didn't go to plan, and a sassy old women with a felching surprise. Misplaced words that don't exist, and Scottish cooks that are foul. All ending on a toilet accident, followed by a song for the Junkie. She was energetic and a lot of fun, and I liked this one better than the last one. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
27.04.11 : John Robertson - Dragon Punch : Seymour Centre
I was hanging around waiting for Mark's show start, when I saw John's flyer. John's name has been popping up a lot recently, but I really didn't know anything about him, so I read it. It said the show was about video games, comics, cartoons, etc, all the popular nerd culture stuff, so being at the venue, and with time to spare, and the extra nerd incentive - be it that I'm from very early nerd demographic - it sounded ok. The basic structure of the show is that he tells a few stories from his life, punctuated with nostalgic stories and facts about video games and animé. It kind of has that Talking About Your Generation effect, where it brings back those long lost memories from your youth, thereby making you feel connected to the show by having something in common with it. The show did suffer that mid week small Sydney crowd problem, but that didn't affect John who pumped it out with gusto. And even though I didn't actually laugh that much, I did find it fascinating - I didn't have to purposely concentrate through this one like I did with Mark's, but I did struggle keeping up with what was being said, because he talks so fast and the joke references were a bit subtle, so you really had to be on the ball in that department. I think this show has a lot of potential, because some of the stuff at the start was clever, like Uni student thinking clever, but it was the nostalgic facts that really intrigued me. Like the old Astro Boy facts which made my jaw drop, because I remember seeing the show, but didn't remember, or understand how twisted and sad the story was that opened the series - It was like one of those tragic video game intro stories that leaves the hero tormented through tragic events early in his life. I actually would have preferred it to go even further toward the historical side of the subject, like, The Complete History of Asian Video Games and Cartoons Transferred to Western culture, but even what we got was still pretty interesting. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
27.04.11 : Mark Watson : Seymour Centre
I think I'm defective, because I should have laughed a lot more than I did based on the audiences reaction. I don't know what it was, because it did look like a good show to me, it's just that I smiled through most of it, rather than laughed. It's like in my head it felt it was like a 4.25, but I only laughed a 3.75. Either way there were some funny bits, be it spaced pretty far apart, that were ridiculously funny, like 5's. The biggest laugh was before the show even started. While everyone was entering the room and finding their seats, Mark sneaks on the darkened stage and sits behind a laptop typing comments about the people pottering around the room. These comments are then displayed on a large screen so that everyone seated could read them easily, except for the people who they were about, who were busy concentrating on finding their seats. So there would be this silence, and then the room would erupt with laughter, totally confusing the pottering people because they didn't know what was going on. If you want a really good laugh make sure your seated as soon as the doors open. He also did the people turning up late joke, that was so complicated in the set up that it was funny even before it got to the punchline. Other than that it was mainly small random humorous stories, that I unfortunately had to purposely concentrate on because my brain probably wasn't working that well on the night. Or it may be that he just talks so fast, it's hypnotic. I just wanted to laugh a lot more, because on paper it looked brilliant, but I just didn't. But I did like it a lot, and at least the audience seemed to enjoy it a lot. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
26.04.11 : Guy Pratt's - Wake Up Call : Factory Theatre
I saw Guy on Spicks and Specks, where he told interesting stories about being the bassist for mega bands and artists, so I thought, even if he isn't funny, the stories should be interesting. Well Guy was fairly enthusiastic and animated, but it felt like most of the stories weren't that interesting. The stories were delivered just like stories you would tell a friend, without any careful construction, but enthusiastically, because you think it's interesting. Most of the stories seemed to be of him getting drunk, and logistics of travelling and living out of hotel rooms, which weren't that attention grabbing. There was some stories of him dealing with famous people like Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc, which was interesting, but he did mention quite a few celebrities that were usually the lesser known members of bands, and lots of people from really old bands - that a younger generation probably won't know -, like Jon Lord from Deep Purple, and the facts about them weren't that meaty, so you still didn't really get an idea what they are like. I think if the stories were more about the nitty-gritty of celebrities, it would be more interesting. But to be fair this show was early in the week, and not that many people turned up - I always try for the end of the week so the larger crowds give a show more atmosphere, but sometimes that's not possible. Gut also played some bass line riffs, which I'm sure are technically brilliant, but they were so overly complicated that I couldn't pick the songs, even though I was told which ones before hand. The sad thing was why he was doing this show, none of the big bands called him to do tours so he was unemployed, and being 49 without any other skill to fall back on, he thought he would try this out to see how it goes. Probably more a show for old rockers than anyone without and interest in music. It was hard to read the audience of 20 people, but I think they were at 3.75, even though they sounded like a 3.5. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
26.04.11 : Arthur - movie
Comedy : A spoilt son has to decide if he should marry for money. I didn't see the original because it didn't look that interesting, but with Russell Brand, I thought it should be, well unfortunately it wasn't. It's not crap, it's just that it's nothing special. Mild laughs, with Helen Mirren being the best part of this film. 3.25
25.04.11 : Heath Franklin's Chopper-In the 2nd Annual Chopper Bonza You Bewdy G'Day Big F**ken ANZAC Show : Metro Theatre
It was good, but it kind of feels like more of the same. When Heath started all I knew about him was that he did Improv, and for the small number of times I saw him in Sydney he was exceptionally fast thinking and good, then he did Ronnie Johns, and then Chopper live. Chopper was a good character on TV, but I figured he wouldn't be that funny live, because how interesting could one character be for 1 hour, so I skipped his first show. The second show was more convenient for me, being at the comedy festival, but I was a bit surprised that he was doing such a large venue, like the Enmore Theatre, and that he sold 2 or 3 shows, so figuring that, that many people can't be wrong, I went. And it was like WOW, he was so funny he just blew me away, and that carried on through for the next 3 shows I saw. Back then he used to really play up Chopper, by doing the tough character that taunted hecklers with very quick and cutting comebacks, and this used to be the trade mark of the show. Through the years Heath's Chopper character has gotten progressively milder - which is understandable because people probably started thinking he was the actual Chopper, and then going over the top, so he probably had to tone down so as to not offend anyone -, unfortunately this has removed the biggest draw card, and was what made him stand out. The aggressive abrupt Chopper character is the one attribute that made him different from the rest, so with that removed, he has gone from something individual and different, to just another conventional stand-up comic. The off shoot of that is he is less reliant on the one dimension Chopper joke, so the actual joke writing is better, but unfortunately I liked the quick, crushing a heckler, ad-lib comebacks. Heath is still very quick, but he isn't as edgy as before, so it's less funny for me. This show's format was similar to the last, with Chopper doing a bit, guest comedians, and then finishing with Chopper again. The last show felt a bit hap hazard, but at least there was a special constructed section in it, like a slide show with commentary, but this time it was just straight stand-up talking. Chopper audiences are renowned for being not very tolerant of guest comedians - but at least they weren't actually hostile toward them like they were last year, especially poor Felicity Ward - but they were still a little stand-offish to Smart Casual. Fortunately they did their best stuff, and the crowd did come around. Steve Hughes, on the other hand, they knew straight away, and cheered before he even got to the stage. It wasn't Steve's tightest set, but the crowd still loved it, and gave him the biggest cheer of the night. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
23.04.11 : Club Central Comedy : Club Central Hurstville
After the show earlier tonight I wanted to be cheered up, so I was heading to Glenn Wool, but I figured if I was still in a bad mood I would be wasting my money, and also from memory I remember him being a bit political, something that I don't find that funny. So I went across town to this free show, and if it was crap at least I could walk out without a hole in my pocket. I got there when Oliver Pohmnavanh was on, I usually like Oliver but tonight the audience was too quite so it didn't feel as funny, but the crowd did give him a big cheer at the end, so I guess they liked it. Dave Smiedt(MC) came off that stage and didn't use the mic, so I couldn't hear that well, and this made it less funny. Rash was last but he had a go at the audience with a wise crack about the audience being loser club types that spend all their lives sitting in this club, which was fine if it was just one joke, but then he just keep hammering the point until it just wasn't funny, so I walked out. 1
23.04.11 : Lou Sanz-Please don't use my flannel for that : Corridor
I hated it, but don't let that put you off, because it's probably just me. I had problems right from the start, firstly the venue, I don't know how these comedy festivals are arranged but this isn't a great venue. I couldn't find the place the night before, and I found out why, it's small and dark, and when they told me it's upstairs, it brought back those bad memories of Madame Fling Flongs, which by coincidence is a few doors down. After doing a sardine impression for ½ hour, and then getting a seat where I couldn't see properly, all the laughs drained out of me - whinging finished. And now starting again -. The show, what can I say, but I left distressed - actually I'm going to say a lot -. The show felt like Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, where some helpless innocent is constantly being screwed and put in peril, but where Lemony Snicket's is a fantasy, this felt too real. I've got this problem with humanity, where I get upset at the lazy greedy selfish bastards on this planet, that exploit innocent people. Like my old aged pensioner neighbour that keeps getting extorted by men pretending to be from the council saying that they have orders to cut her down tree, and she must pay for it. It's like that feeling you get in the movie The Lovely Bones, where you suddenly realise how scared and helpless that young girl must have felt just before she was raped and killed. Or how those backpackers must have felt alone and helpless just before they were murdered by Ivan Milat. I've actually lost all hope for this planet, and it's like that TV series Star Trek-The Next Generation, where Captain Picard is arguing with the Q that humanity should be saved because it is noble and capable of much good, - which was believable back then - , but now after re-watching the series after 24 years, it feels like humanity is not worth saving - did I tell you I'm a downer. Now we return you to regular programming. The show is about her trip to America to oversee her screenplay being turned into a movie, and the adventures that transpired. I will give you a snippet as an example, she nearly ended up being forced into slave prostitution - it's that same story you hear about Australian girls being tricked into prostitution in Asia, but this ones in America. The stories were more shock valve, making you laugh because your nervous, rather then adding any humour to ease the tension. And after that story it was just bad event after another. Being old I could actually see what was coming and the mistakes she was making, it like what you would expect when a naive person walks right into problems. I have seen Lou before, once on TV in Raw, and once in Glebe, where I thought she was good, but this show made me sad, but that could have just been my mood. It was hard to read the crowd because it was small, maybe Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
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22.04.11 : Gabriel Iglesias(USA)-The Fluffy Shop Tour : Enmore Theatre
Even though the jokes were more suited to the general public than Greg Proops, I found the laugh level was about the same. The crowd on the other hand, thought differently, because they went nuts over everything he said, which I soon found out was because every Gabriel Iglesias fan in Sydney turned up. What surprised me was how popular and well known he is here, because all I knew about him was one short clip from TV. When I bought tickets I didn't actually read them to find out which venue he was doing, so assuming he was unknown, I expected a small room at the Factory Theatre, but on the day when I eventually did read the tickets, I was quite surprised to find out he was doing the 1600 seat Enmore Theatre, figuring it would be hard for an unknown to fill. Then when I got inside, I noticed they added more seats to the usual seating plan, and then wondered, how popular is this guy. I was pretty surprised that the place was full, and that so many people knew his stuff so intimately, and it wasn't just me, because even Gabriel was surprised at how popular he is here. He told stories of being recognised in public in Australia, and the crazy audiences he gets over here, which all astounded him. The show was big at 120 minutes, and consisted of 2 comics Gabriel brought from the US doing 10 minutes each, and then him doing a big 100 minute block. Gabriel thought the fans were getting bored with his usual routine so he wrote an entirely new show for this down under tour, but what he didn't realise was that because he hasn't been here before, his old stuff would have been more than enough for this audience - more about this latter -. The new stuff mainly consisted of his touring around the world, now that he is famous and in demand, and because he is young, and has what I assumed to be a sheltered American lifestyle(not really knowing that much about the rest of the world), all the stories had that wide eyed excitement of seeing things for the first time. First up was a big chunk of his Australian experiences, like Melbourne's suicidal Hook Turns, how Asian Sydney feels when you visit the casino, Kings Cross's friendliness, Harry's Café de Wheels and their diarrhoea causing pies(that only seems to effects Americans), lax Australian domestic airport security compared to the US, our football, etc. There was a large section about his trip to the Middle East, where a Saudi Prince paid him to do a tour of the region. He was quite surprised at how different it is over there, with the women and men being segregated so they have to sit on different sides of the room, and how women are totally covered. And again how surprising it is that he is well known over there, with guys asking him to repeat his known gags, and again questioning racism in comedy, when an Arabic guy in the front asked to be made fun off. He soon found out the standing joke to Westerners over there, is they casually let it slip that you are going to get killed by terrorists. The funniest thing was that he is regarded the second funniest comedian in the Middle East, and that Jeff Dunham-Achmed the Dead Terrorist is strangely the most popular. The next section was about his personal experiences, like getting drunk, how he ended up naked on stage, how his size is termed fluffy by the gay community, being stopped in his home state of California by immigration in while doing a tour of US in bus, etc. This was then followed up with a Q&A section, like, how do you feel about being a father to a 13 year old step son, which included stories of the mischief he gets up to, and getting heaps of gifts, like transformer toys and cakes, because they are mentioned in his routine. The biggest shock of all, was the end of the night. All through the night people were shouting out requests for old material, so Gabriel said he would do some at the end, and when he got to the end he expected to do one or two old jokes, thinking they were going to be too old and boring for the crowd, but the crowd had other plans, because they went totally psycho. Every time he told a joke he would ask the crowd if he should do another, to which the crowd were deafening with cheers for more. This joke/ask to continue/and huge cheering, went on for 25 minutes, making it the night 2 shows in one(new and the old together). The last section was so crazy it was a like a huge call and response section, with the audience joining in with Gabriel's well known catch phrases. Like his, well known by the audience, New Car Volkswagen Beetle story. Where he drives to his friend Martin's place, but being so scared to get out of the car because of the bad neighbourhood, that he calls his name from the car, Marr-teen, and this prompted the audience to join in with Marr-teen with such exact timing, that it sounded like everyone in the theatre was saying it at once. Crazy night with probably a once in a life time audience. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPqcTFm2ID8&feature=relmfu
21.04.11 : Thor - movie
Action | Fantasy | Adventure : The arrogant Thor is banished from Asgard and sent to live on earth. There is more to it than that because half the story is about the war between 2 realms. It has action, big effects, an interesting story, and some humour, what's not to like. Heaps better than Clash of the Titans. 4
20.04.11 : Make Way For Ducklings - And this time it's Personal! : Hermann's Bar
Being old and uneducated I was a little out of the loop with some of the references, which is not a problem because it's not designed for me. The show was close to the level of the last show, with the more elaborate sketches, and the ones with relatable references, being the best. On the whole the second half felt better than the first half, and it's what you remember last that counts because it sticks in your head. The show should have been renamed 'And this time it's Musical!', because the opening and closing bits were musical dance numbers. The sketches that I laughed at were, the Mafia Godfather parking cars - the Godfather (I think Edan Lacy) seams to pull off these old authoritative characters really well - , and Batman with the questionable sexual proclivity sketch - it had a well known character doing something unexpected, which is usually always funny, and then topped off with a send up of Christian Bale's deep voice. The amusing ones were, Shakespeare's Shake and Bake Pancake Mix, and the gay chap using cliché comments in inappropriate times. The nice ones were, the inventor of the wheel being overlooked and forgotten, and Carlo's rainbow trout sketch, which he made his own. The audience liked Lenin singing to stop Stalin and Trotsky arguing, because they got the reference. Other mentions were, The girls time of the month being mistaken for the time of the month of a Blue Moon, and being shot as Werewolf, and the School of Hogwarts, where Harry Potter didn't learn the basics, like spelling. What was especially funny for me was the old TV show references, which were so old that no one expect me should even know they existed - because they were all well before anyone in the room was born -, like the 1968 Andy Griffith Show whistle intro, and Carlo's 1954 Tobor reference. Tobor the Great, and Robbie the Robot, were amazing Sci-Fi's in their time, but pretty schlocky now, and it was the stuff we used to live for on a Sat morning - I still remember being scared of robots. The funny thing with Tobor was it had so much imagination, except for it's title, which was Robot spelled backward. Things that I didn't get until I looked them up was, the Black Friday battle, one of the worst during the war, while the Rebecca Black's Friday song was being played, regarded as the worst song ever written. I didn't get all the Shakespeare puns, because that's a public school education for you. And the Prince of Bel-Air was so long ago that it took me a while to remember it, even though the young audience got it straight away. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rdxx5zAOnU&feature=related
19.04.11 : Paul - movie
Action | Comedy : A space alien is on the run from the authorities. I heard Shaun of the dead was good, but missed it, so I saw Hot Fuzz, which I hated because it wasn't funny, and when I finally saw Shaun, it wasn't that funny either, so I kind of went off Simon Pegg. But when I saw the trailer for Paul, it looked too good, so much so that I avoided it, so it wouldn't spoil the movie, and fortunately it worked. This is the first Simon Pegg movie that I liked, because it's actually funny. Watch out for the clever movie references, there funny. Good. 4
17.04.11 : Scared Weird Little Guys-Farewell Tour : Enmore Theatre
Before the Sydney CF, before the Cracker CF, before the Big Laugh CF, someone organised a tiny comedy festival in Glebe, specifically the Valhalla cinema. It was actually so long ago that I don't remember that much, only that I saw one or two male comics(whose names I have forgotten), Holly(Hattie Hayridge) from Red Dwarf(who wasn't that good), and the Scaredies(who were brilliant). And I think Tania Bulma was collecting tickets. Either way, I think the Scaredies were starting out because they said they used to be in an a cappella group where they did some Barber Shop Quartet - They used this as a segue to a song that I never heard them play again, which consisted of them doing a BSQ song with 2 people, by recording the lead and baritone on tape(no Groovebox samplers back then), and then doing a live accompaniment to the tape with tenor and bass - so based on that, and them starting in 1990, I think it may have been early/mid 90's. Back then that show really impressed me, because it was so funny, and after that I always kept an eye out for them, but somehow in all that time never saw them that much - maybe they didn't do that many shows in Sydney - because this is only the 4th time I have seen them. Gee it's been a long time, and a lot has changed, like a lot of new stuff I haven't seen before, but based on my 4 year average viewing time frame, it's understandable. We started with a sweet and sentimental slide show of old pictures, with them when they were kids, promotional shots, some rare back stage shots, and some videos of well wishers saying goodbye, that even included Lano and Woodley together. They started with a medley of known songs with funny lyrics, like the U2/McDonalds song - Sundae, Chocolate, Sundae, Chris Isaak- I ate a Bad Bad Pawn, etc, this part was new to to me and very funny. Next was their well known making fun New Zealand accents song, follow by the reason they are breaking up now after 21 years, to say they outlasted Lano and Woodley, and then their famous Australian promotional song, Come to Australia(you might accidentally get killed). Next was another well known song, the Phone Book song, where they recite peoples surnames faster and faster, and then 2 guys playing one guitar at the same time. Next up was a song that used lyrics from well known 80's songs, and that was followed by heaps of puns based on visiting Orange, like they have a big Navel base in Orange. There was the new Requiem for old food, followed by the the old Melody Pop Whistle song. Next was the excellent Bell ringing Orchestra, where they played songs by giving 8 people bells of different notes, which they rang when touched on the shoulder. Back in the old days they used to play requested songs, but in different general styles, like Stairway to Heaven in a Reggae style, but now they sing one well know song to another well known song, like Stairway to Heaven to Highway to Hell. The best was Old McDonalds Farm over Smells like Teen Spirit. Their Groovebox sampler was next, where they layered tracks together to make a song about Yass. Rusty did his famous lasso work, which was the set up his well known unintelligible American Western Ho-Down calling guy, in a song that John had to ultimately interpret, because no one could understand what he was saying. Their Christmas Day(you never know what they are going to say) song was next, and consisted of them singing a rhyming rude song, but replacing the last supposed swear word with another clean word, like, 'Grandmother keeps water by the clock, and each night she rubs it on Grandfathers corn'. But in the last verse they reversed it, and filled it with swearing. They next did 4 songs at the same time, with similar melodies, consisting of, Grease-Summer Loving, Beatles-Twist and Shout, Richard Berry-Louie Louie, and The Troggs-Wild Thing. And next was their famous Waltzing Matilda done to Eminem-Lose Yourself. The encore had the new Enough Already song, followed by the amazing one word at a time song, where they each sing alternating words, and then finished up with I've been Everywhere Man, first in Australia, then in South East Asia, before doing Australia again, but faster. The show was thoroughly entertaining and ran for 80 minutes, but only felt like 45 minutes. It's a shame there splitting up, but it was a great send off. 4.5
16.04.11 : Greg Proops : Enmore Theatre
He was good, but I was expecting it to be funnier based on his performance on those Montreal Comedy Festival shows we get here. I was so convinced it was going to be exceptional that I bought tickets in January, expecting it was going sell fast. The general feeling was that he talked a lot, and fairly quickly, and that you needed a dictionary in places(I used to know what lugubrious meant), other than that nothing really stood out, and it was more chuckle funny than uproarious funny. He opened with the obvious Australian observations like, 'What's with this country, do you like 10,000 bible seasons in one day', and 'Queensland is so redneck, it's like Arkansas with a beach'. There were some ironic LA observations like, there is no unpaved areas in LA yet everyone drives huge 4 wheel drive assault vehicles, and that everyone wears fur even though it never gets cold enough. Greg had a go at animal rights activists, saying he will support them when they care more about people than animals, stating, 'Have you ever stepped over a homeless person, to pet a dog'. He did a music section that took a swipe at Stevie Nicks, who sounds like Minnie Mouse smoked crack out of a hookah everyday for 15 years. And then backed it up with an impression that turned from Stevie Nicks, to Gholam from LOTR. Heather Mills was roasted because she promotes a charity against land mines, which is ironic because she is 50% less likely to be injured by a land mine. He further pushed the one legged jokes by saying 'If they don't like my jokes what are they going to do, rush the stage in ever decreasing circles'. He covered 50 year old men having kids, and said beating of them is essential, because kids aren't born with morals and would kill you in your sleep for a cookie. Also young people shouldn't blog, but should put their thoughts were they belong, in diaries where no-one will read them. It was good but not as funny as a Danny Bhoy, but heaps funnier than a Stephen K Amos. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
15.04.11 : Reggie Watts - Why Sh*t so Crazy - Metro Theatre
It should be retitled, Why Sh*t so Amazing. I don't remember much(that's why this blog is here), yet I remember Reggies show last year fairly well, and for me to remember it, with this colander type brain, it must be exceptional. Another sign is that the show felt like it went very quickly, which was backed up when I overheard a girl ask her friend if the show ran short, because it felt like only 20 minutes to her. If I have to sum up Reggie, I would say he was beautiful/crazy. Beautiful, in that some of the sounds in the songs are very beautiful, I say sounds because some of it isn't singing, but sounds made up to sound like words. And crazy, because it is. With Reggie's show you have to pay attention to everything, because it's like the movie Flying High with small subtle things going on at times that may seem insignificant, but if you concentrate on them they are very funny. For example when he does these crazy/prop/slap-stick bits, like when he struggles with the mic stand, when it obvious that it shouldn't be that hard, and the audience don't realise he's doing it on purpose until it's been going on for 5 minutes, and it falls to the ground. The first time you hear Reggie do a song live it's like, WOW, because he isn't just a human beat box, but also has this amazing voice that can go so low the room rumbles, and then so high it's delicate and sweet, and then everywhere in-between. If you were in audience of the Good News Week recording at the State Theatre you would have seen it first hand, because the audience was stunned, and then erupted after his song. Nearly all of the songs this year were funny, with only one being just a beautiful song, where as last year he did a few less comical songs, and more beautiful songs. In both years he did a rambling story about ¾ of the way through, but this one was different to last years. Last year it was this crazy story about getting high on Robitussin, with the story going on tangents but mainly staying in logical order, where as this year it was like a abstract conglomeration of weird things based on news stories. Sort of like Project 52 Uni student improv scene, that can go randomly anywhere, but based on Australia's robust economy. It was about ¾ of the way through this that it felt even too crazy for me, this is the only part of the show that felt less than last year, and is why I marked it down 0.5 woofs. In reality this years show was pretty close to last years, and it's really only my pedantic nature that can spot the difference, so it was still excellent. 4.5
14.04.11 : OMG Comedy Tour : Factory Theatre
Even though this was a repeat, last years show was a such a surprise and so much fun, that I figured this one should be ok at worst. And to my surprise, again it turned out better than I thought. This years production wasn't as elaborate as last years variety show with Bollywood dancers, stand-up, impressions, videos, and sketch comedy(in the form of short plays), but was simpler with only had 3 stand-up comics and a Q&A at the end. Tahir was first up and really turned it on tonight - Tahir can be a bit up and down depending on the venue, because if he does a cheap pub gig his set is 90% ad-lib with the audience, and paced quite slow, so it ends up scoring a 3.5, but every time he does these bigger shows he does 90% set material, that really shows how funny he can be, and becomes a 4.5 comic. He started out with his usual questioning to find out the different nationalities in the audience, and then followed each one up with a stereotype joke, to much amusement of the audience and even the races he was poking fun at - it kind of sums up the whole racism in comedy debate, because if you want to be there, or know what to expect, it doesn't seem offensive(more about this latter). Hung Lee was next and has this very relaxed style, like someone that has smoked too much dope. His material is simple at times, and isn't as strong as the other two, but because you never see him in these parts it was still fresh, and still had the first time excitement. I was a bit worried about Anthony Salame, because I had seen him recently, but he always puts his best foot forward in every appearance and at any venue, so he is always consistently good, and tonight was no exception. He also has so much material now that he can mix it up and keep it fresh for repeat viewings. The funniest part of the night was the Q&A, where you could fill in a form to ask the comics a question. The very first question was "Have you ever been threaten because of racist jokes?", and Anthony said he did. The story went that an Italian guy came up to the stage and demanded he tell more Italian stereotype jokes, something opposite to what most people would say is acceptable, and kind of hints that it's all in the eye of the beholder. And the funny thing was that Tahir had the same experience, because a Macedonian guy came up and said "Tell more Macedonian jokes", to which Tahir replied " Where are you on a map". There was one case where Tahir told a joke that the Lebanese should integrate with Australians, by putting Vegemite on Lebanese bread, and this offend one girl because she said "Are you making fun", and he replied "Yes, this is a comedy show". The show ended on a totally unprepared, very impromptu, recreation of an Underbelly story, by making up characters and then acting in a short play based on an audience members made-up scene. It was total chaos, but funny. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
13.04.11 : Full Body Contact No Love Junior Tennis Improv!! : Hermann's Bar
I don't know what happened but the place was packed, but then again it's been the only consistently interesting Improv show in the last 2 years, and can be attested to by having 5 scores over 4 in last years 62 shows(in fact only 15 shows made it over 4) - 5 Full Body Contact No Love Junior Tennis, 2 Theatresports @ Manning, 2 Improv Explosion, 2 Ultimate Board Game Unscripted, 2 Full Body Contact No Love Tennis, 1 Blank the Musical, 1 Amanda and Susie Show, 1 Cranston Cup.
Nick Fischer, Ben Jenkins, James Colley, Pat Magee
Littering, Puppies, Mario : A arsehole enters a pets store and starts littering, but the owner picks it up and feeds it to his trash eating turtle. Meanwhile across town a boss summons James into his office, but James won't sit down. The boss is further annoyed, and then devastated, when James pretends to be a ghost - because his wife had recently died. Back at the pet shop the place is in disarray, and a detective with 40 years on force, 20 in marines, and 2 in jazz, is trying to make sense of what just happened. Unfortunately his partner is of no help and vomits on a rabbit. At the office the boss is wondering why he employed James to operate the conveyor belt, when his only experience was watching the famous conveyor belt scene on the I Love Lucy show. There is a screaming woman in the street that attracts the bosses attention, and he sees the slow moving turtle terrorizing the city, with all bullets just ricocheting off it's shell. Quickly the boss remembers what his dead zoologist wife had told him, that turtles are afraid of ghosts, and even though it pains him he sends James to pretend to be his dead wife's ghost. James confronts the turtle, and it flips over and turtles himself.
This troupe is fairly experienced and used their usual controlled disjointed story style, ie, jumping to absurd happenings, but logically. There was less accents and crazy characters compared to their usual level, so it ended up being good, rather than their usual very good. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
Michael Hing, Ariel Fisher, Phil Roser, I think Edan Lacey(you know who you are)
Ireland, 99 Problems : An Irish framer is tending his farm when his short small daughter arrives with a "Top of the morning to You", and he replies with "Yes it is, it's 11:50am". She has news that she has a new boyfriend, Aussie Jay Philly, but being wise the farmer knows it's trouble and fears she is knocked up by a looser with no money. In Australia in an apartment Phillis is accusing Aussie Jay Philly of eating all his Nutri Grain, so they drive to the shop to buy more. The farmer is not happy about her loser boyfriend, but reasons that, at least he can get rid of her, and then asks how she met him. We flash back to see his unfortunate short daughter being run over while walking down the road, with Aussie Jay emerging from the car and putting her in his harem. Back in Ireland, the farmer questions her how she was run over by an Aussie when they are in Ireland. The farmer shoots Bessy and they fly to Australia, meat in hand, to met her boyfriend. Back in OZ, Aussie Jay and Phillis are preparing for the arrival and try to arrange some food - Michael does some appearance stereotyping(picking the most dominant feature and stating it, or even making fun of it), and sends up poor Phil's moustache with the gap in the middle, that had both of them cracking up. Jay misinterprets Phillis request, and dresses the sheep in Santa hats instead of killing them to eat, but the farmer arrives with Bessy's leg. The inappropriate farmer confronts Jay and demands "Was it you that gotta get it put it in ya!!!", so the short daughter quickly clears her throat to make a speech, but the inappropriate farmer frets, and asks her "what have you got in your throat this time".
This story was more conventional and simple, but because of Edan and Ariel accents and stereotypes it was cuter and more fun, so it was extra good - especially Edan's, Sh*t My Dad Says, old Irish stereotype with embarrassing comments. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4.25
Jeremy Yao, Steve Lynch & Jon Williams
Talk soon, Edwardian Style : The naked Queen is the King cross dressing as the Queen, and is waiting to be dressed by his Lady in Waiting, Lady Rosetta of Monkton - with Jon fitting in the pun "The last time I was in Monkton I got a rash", and Jeremy's reply pun "So you've met my brother". King Edward's adviser enters the court and states "No matter how great your mother was, she was never the King" - this produced the expected response of disapproval from the audience because of the sexist remark - but Steve covered it by saying we can get away with that sexist sh*t back in 1910, and Jon(still in character) taking it further by saying "What's a sexist". King Edward's brother, The Duke of Whales, challenges him for the Crown, and twinges the King's nads, exposing his crown jewels, and prompting the c*ck fight of the century. The King realises that the Duke was always mommy's favourite, because she breast feed him to the age of 27, so Edward concedes the Crown to him. But the Duke doesn't want him to step down and tells him he can wear a dress and become the Queen, so they can procreate and inbreed the whole family line.
Angry Birds Settlers of Catan : An explorer claims a land for himself, because no one came with him, but the Mother Flipping Queen Bird questions his claim, because she already shat on everything in this land, so they go to war. The Queens bird adviser suggests they use the exploding birds against him, but he shoots the bird before it can explode.
Smokie Doo : Jon comes out and sings the Scooby Doo theme song in a low toned voice, while holding a pretend vibrating vocal machine against his throat like cancer patents use. He then plays a throat cancer patient(Smokey Doo) while using a voice that sounds exactly like Scooby Doo's actual voice. Shaggy appears and tells Smokey Doo that they need to go to the haunted house - but by now Jon's Scooby Doo vocal impression is so distorted that we have trouble understanding what he is actually saying, so the whole scene turned into one of those funny misinterpretation sketches with Steve translating what he though he heard, like "Are we looking for scary characters" got translated to"We have heaps of radical cannabis".
You can see the difference between the young players and the older players, because the younger players use more abstract ideas, and the older players think more conventionally, but know more tricks. And it's this knowing more stuff, like jokes and facts, that produces the different style. Like using puns, eg, Jon's Monkton implied STD's gag, which is a known gag, but modified to fit this new situation so it still gets laughs. Also knowing stuff helps, especially stuff that everyone knows but is buried in their brains, like using old Scobby Doo references. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4.25
Steen Raskopoulos, Carlo Ritchie, Bridie Connell, Dan Cordeaux
There was lots of stories in 45 minutes, as you would expect, so I'll be quick.
A man is torn between choosing 2 dogs, so he cuts himself open and sews a dog to his side like a Siamese twin, but this kills the dog.
A man puts a dog in a box as a present for his girlfriend, but drops the box several times. Things get worst when the girl is found to be allergic to dogs, so he has the dog put down.
A Lebanese used car salesman sells an unsuspecting sap Hitler's old tank.
A girl fakes getting a driving license to her parents, and tells them she got the new invisible one.
Santa is drunk and upset that the Mafia Godmother Tooth Fairy has been telling everyone he's not real. She then uses the sugar addicted Easter Bunny, Jerry, to give kids sweets so their teeth will fall out and she can steal them. A tripping Jerry then sees a sad boy that was told Santa wasn't real, and he starts getting ideas. He goes to the Tooth Fairy and comes up with a plan to kill kids and take all their teeth. The Dentist Association gets together to stop the pair, because they keep finding chopped up parts of children, so with tiny mirrors in hand they set out to chase them down. When the dentists find the Tooth Fairy she confuses them with rhyming puns like - What's your rush, Forget to brush - , but she is eventually killed by fluoride poisoning.
A kid see her dad and thinks he's a unicorn, but the horn is actually some guys teeth embedded in his forehead after they were snapped off in a rugby match head clash.
The devil doesn't recycle and is so embarrassed that his face turns red, literally.
John is the King of handball in the school yard, but a teacher that was the Queen of handball reluctantly challenges him. He then finds out she was the Viper, and that all her skills are coming back to her when she slow motions his head off with a killer return.
A principle bans hand ball and shuts it down, and then becomes a real bastard when he starts banning everything, The pupils turn the tables on him by doctoring his Zumba self help tape, and this makes him realise the error of his ways.
Long form improv by it's very nature can have slow points, but this one only had 2 small spots that I can remember, other than that was fun all the way. No one dominated, even though Dan was in most stuff, so everyone was about equal. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4.25
12.04.11 : Gina Yashere(UK) : Factory Theatre
I noticed that the blogs I follow, after a year, turned from enthusiasm to whinge-fests, it's like the enthusiasm was replaced by monotony, and that is where this one is going to start. I was looking at the SCF gig guide to pick shows for this year, and just couldn't find that much that was new, so much so that only 4 out of the 20 shows I'm seeing are new to me. It just looks like a ho-hum year, and that I only bought tickets to repeats to basically kill time - but on the other hand it could just be me because I get around.
I first saw Gina on the last Lenny Henry Show, and I hated her, but when she came to Australia I gave her a shot, and she was brilliant. This is my 3rd viewing, for what I thought was a new show, and thought she would be good again, even though she is a repeat comic for me. Her first show was about 25% ad-lib improvising with the audience, and 75% (new for me because it was my 1st time) material. This show is 10% ad-lib, 30% repeats from that show, and 60% new stuff, so for me it was a little déjà vu, but still good. She started by picking on a girl in the front row for leaving gaps in the seats next to her, so she explained her friend Chris piked on coming out tonight, because he saw Gina last night at the Fringe Bar doing a short 7 minute set. Gina was pretend outraged, and made the girl ring up Chris and put him on speaker phone to find out why she wasn't good enough to see again. Gina called Chris a moron, to which Chris agreed, and garnered much laughter from the crowd - I did notice she was less aggressive this year, and less confronting. Her repeat stuff had a lot about Australia, so was still good, and especially funny to Australians that hadn't seen her before, because of the local references. Last years show was mainly about stupid people doing stupid things that got themselves killed, like the Darwin Awards. But this year it was mainly about her having adventures travelling around the world doing gigs, because she got popular after her Last Comic Standing appearance, and was in demand. Gina tried a lot of action sports as she travelled, like parachuting, and quad biking in Dubai, etc, unfortunately most of them didn't go to plan and they were horrid. A fresh audience will appreciate this show , but it was still good for me. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
08.04.11 : Sucker Punch - movie
Drama | Action | Fantasy : A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather, so she retreats to an alternative reality as a coping strategy - This is a tough one to explain so I just copied the synopsis. It's like a action fantasy video game dream, in a story, in a story. The biggest draw point is the fantasy quest dreams, which are like a middle aged guys schoolgirl wet dream action fight fantasy, that is a WWI/WWII, robot, Clash of the Titans/World of Warcraft, ancient marshal arts, Black Opps, conglomerate. It has an amazing stylised opening background story, and the whole first half is awesome, but it does taper off as you get used to it, and there are some sad moments that put a damper on it. It goes from high excitement to drama as it switches from fantasy to story, so it may feel like it's up and down, but I think it is worth a look just for the amazing visual parts. 4
***SPOILER ALERT*** The young girl is put in an institution where she is treated with a kind of dream/imagine/performance therapy, where she imagines a better reality while performing in a theatre play. While she is in this state she has these exaggerated stylised fantasies depicting the plans she uses to escape. ***END***
06.04.11 : Story Club and Best Intentions : Hermann's Bar
The theme was Best Intentions, but this should be bracketed with (releasing vile emollients from various orifices for fun or profit), due to the large number of stories about uncontrolled bodily projectile leakages. Our usual host(probably on a quest to find a long lost relatives ear) was replaced by the delightful Zoe Norton Lodge, who set the tone of the evening with a very gasp-worthy tale about her father. It started with a simple request to borrow money from him for a simple tampon purchase, but instead opened a can of worms that escalated into a plethora of information that was better left undisturbed. It went along the lines of, robbing an old age pensioner, and then not knowing the difference between a tampon and an incontinence pad. Being old I used to find female toilet humour quite confronting, and a bit off putting, until about 3 years ago when I heard Bev Killick do a set at one of Jimbo's late night rude shows(that eventually just turned into rude contests). She was so gross it was like an epiphany, and now I find female toilet humour very funny. And that's how I found this story, I thought it was the funniest and ultimately the best of the night. Full points
James Colley told the story of what he thought his grandfather did during WWII, based on what he was told by him when he was young. Unfortunately because all wars are dirty, his grandfather wanted to spare his nephew from what was quite brutal acts - a modern western population find war too confronting because they are too far removed from it, as can be seen by the reaction to WikiLeaks video -, so he glossed over the details by saying he twisted his ankle and missed the war. James held this belief for 16 years, until one day when he recounted this story to friends, and realised that the story sounded a bit far fetched, and that maybe his grandfather had not have been that truthful. It was sad and cute and nice.
Edan Lacey came direct from the U.S. in his first appearance at Story Club, with a story that may, or may not have been based on his life. Because he used the audience to pick the characters names, thereby cleverly hiding their true identities for eternity, no one can be sure if it was fiction or fact. Bob had just dumped himself from his first relationship, and found himself walking the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress during the inauguration weekend of Barack Obama. Things turned bad, when promised accommodation didn't eventuate, causing him to lose all hope and attempt to sleep in an alley. But by chance things picked up when a girl called Stacy eventually let him in the building. Things turned bad again when the city is ill equipped to handle such a large influx of pilgrims, forcing Bob and Stacy to eat at the only available restaurant, Ethiopian. Unfortunately this produces butt splatter rockets that has Bob keeling over with cramps. Things pick up again when he and Stacy are given tickets to the front row of the inauguration, but again things turn bad when a generator fails at the security check point and they can't get in. Dejected, they go to a café where Bob confesses his love for Stacy, but that's another story. Nice
Jack Gow was also a first timer, but again he showed that confidence that he showed last week by looking very comfortable on stage, like he's been doing for years. Jack was on a boring trip with his father in China, when he broke free and went an a alcohol filled binge at a local restaurant with a couple of backpacker friends. Unfortunately the mixture of rice spirits and spicy hotpot had him producing oral splatter rockets all over the guests and the food. Lying in the gutter he meets an Asian chap, who is also evacuating the contents of his stomach in the gutter, and is propositioned if he would like to buy some h#sh. Now this might seem innocent back in Australia, but in China they have zero tolerance for drugs, so there is a death penalty associated with this behaviour - I always get nervous when I hear stories like these, because when my brother stays in the North he can hear the firing squads from his hotel, and tells me Russians regularly get shot for trafficking. Luckily after a few close calls things don't turn out too bad, if you call blacking out and waking up in a Chinese Army run hostel with various substances in your pocket and soaked in homeless piss, as nothing too bad. It was written in a very descriptive style, and with a delivery that made it very engaging, so was good.
Zoe gave us a quick tour of the mating habits of ducks, that was again quite funny, and informative.
Matt Watson, another first timer, told his interpretation of the life story of Richard Attenborough and his brother Sir David Attenborough, but from Richard's perspective. David was the favoured son that got all the breaks, making Richard resentful at always playing second fiddle to him. So he sets out to make a name for himself and studies cloning. He then buys an island and starts cloning dinosaurs and makes a theme park. It was a clever linking of points in the Attenborough brothers lives to the part of Dr Hammond in Jurassic Park, played by Richard Attenborough, that produced a great story.
Michael Hing finally elaborated on a statement he made years ago about drugging his mate, with the story of him and his 3 friends travelling through rebel occupied Mexico. One of his friends was a nervous sh*tter, so they were getting the sh*ts that they were limited to only travelling sh*ting distance of the hotel, because that's the only place he would sh*t. He was giving them the sh*ts so they came up with a plan to secretly give him something that would stop him sh*tting, thereby allowing them to cover greater distances. They slipped some anti-sh*tting drugs into his ice cream and gave it to him. They headed out on the 18 hour trip to Cancun, but the drugs had the side effect of putting him in an unconscious coma sleep FOR 18 HOURS. Things worked out because the drugs had the desired effect of him not having to go to the toilet for the entire 18 HOURS, but unfortunately they worked too well because he COULD NOT SH*T for the next 3 days. Luckily, or unluckily, relief was in hand when he ate some salmonella laced food that sent him racing down defecation alley. Unfortunately the others in the group didn't fare that well because they had to use the other orifice to evacuate their stomachs. Better than nice.
Anya Poukchanski gave us the classic tale of when an older generation is out of tune with the younger generation, when they visit from another country. She visited her aunt and uncle in Israel, and was taken to the local sights, like the picturesque minefields of the Golan Heights, complete with the exploded cows, and the beautiful shapes that mortar shells make in the sides of buildings, it was everything a young girl would want to see. Nice
Ben Jenkins told of the time he went to help a small village at base of mountain in Tanzania, by digging a sh*t hole for the villages drop toilet. He got lumbered with a guy that wouldn't eat African food, for fear of food poisoning, so only ate Pringles and Fantales as a stable diet, and strangely ended up with him being the only person to get gastro in the group. Better than nice
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
04.04.11 : The Lincoln Laywer - movie
Crime | Drama : A LA street smart lawyer has to get a rich boy off a alleged crime. This is not a high intensity courtroom drama, nor a action thriller, but something in between - it actually does lean more toward the law side of things so there is only a minimal action, but enough to keep things interesting. This is not normally my thing but I did find it interesting all the way through, so much so that it felt shorter than the 130 minute runtime. 3.75
02.04.11 : Club Central Comedy : Club Central Hurstville
I wanted to check if the new time slot for this show would make it better, but it was about the same as before. But to be fair no comic really grabbed the audience - something that happened occasionally on the Sunday shows -, and for me it felt like everyone was stretching so that the show would run for 3 hours, so this could account for the lower laughs per minute. There were 2 comics I haven't seen before, Ella James and Aaron Counter, and the night finished with Subby Valentine, but it was Sally Kimpton and Peter Miesel that I found the funniest. No comic got that extra loud applause to signify the crowd were really impressed, so the larger than normal crowd were a bit quite, but they still seemed to like it on the whole. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
01.04.11 : April Fools Comedy hosted by Die Roten Punkte : Manning Bar
That was a surprise. Being the eternal pessimist I though the humour would be too puerile, but it was nothing like what I expected because it ended up one of those rare fun nights. Die Roten Punkte are a musical comedy act with songs that don't pretend to be anymore than what they are, simple and silly - unlike a Tim Minchin, Dead Cat Bounce, etc, that try to be clever and funny, and usually neither(But that's just my opinion because a lot of people seem to like them). It's actually not the songs that makes them appealing, but the mucking around between songs, with crazy accents, German youth stereotype references, comments, comical antics, pretend clumsiness, and a bunch of other stuff that make the show fun, and ultimately funny. It's like a German, controlled, ad-lib, audience mucking about show, like Adam Hills does now, but funny. And to top that off they choose a very good format of alternating between songs and comics, so it got away from the 1 hour block of songs and then 1 hour block of comics, and this always keeps your attention because there is always something different happening.
Drum playing Astrid stands out from the beginning, by playing the smart alec clown(like a kind of Abbott and Costello amalgam), but with the cutest German accent. She instigated the ridiculous right from the start of the show, when she noticed that there was more people sitting on one side of the room than the other. So she made people shift to the other side to keep the room in balance(in case it tipped over). Otto then followed it up by showed us his crazy Banana house - does someone actually make those things. They did a couple of songs, and then introduced each individual comic with a musical fan fare(because they were the house band) - it was weird watching the faces of the comics when they received such a big musical intro, something they are not used to.
The line up of comics were mainly regular Project 52'ers that did material from their Raw 2011 set, but because the crowd was more in tune with the material it was funnier. In order:- Carlo Ritchie was good, Cyrus Bezyan was nice, Nick Kraegen was also nice, and professional Matt Okine really impressed and got a huge cheer. Before the break they played an electro pop song called, I am not a Robot I am a Lion, that had a modern, Pop, Kraftwerk, sound and proved very popular with the crowd. The second half started with Astrid's song Second Best Friend, with her doing a very uncoordinated dance, in a kind of Slap Stick style, that was very funny. The comics in this half were James Colley, who was nice. Gen Fricker was good, even with her first song, Cheer Up, being a touch out of tune, and she finished up on the newly Otto tuned guitar with, Take Me to Prom, a well known favourite - is it just me or is that guitar's intonation a bit out because it sounded funny after it was tuned. She also time filled by ad-libbing puns during Otto's tuning, that were also funny . Michael Hing's set was still sounded a little sad, like on Wednesday, but still ok, and Dave Jory rounded up the comedy with a funny set. Die Roten Punkte finished with the Drink Drink, Rock Band, and Super Musician songs, to a crowd that seemed quite familiar with them. Hopefully Jeremiah Yaoenberg will have some pictures up soon. 4.25
31.03.11 : Just Go With It - movie
Romantic-Comedy : A unmarried man picks up women by deceiving them into thinking he is married, by wearing a wedding ring. There is more story than just that, like why he does the pretend married thing, but being an Adam Sandler film it's not the most logical movie, but as long as you leave your brain at the door it is enjoyable. It's like Adam went to a Improv class recently, and actually references it, because there was so many crazy over the top pretend characters. Slightly crude, childish, and does go up and down so it's not a laugh riot, but it is humorous enough. 3.75
30.03.11 : Hermann's Heroes : I'm Genuinely Feeling Vulnerable This Time : Hermann's Bar
Oops, that didn't go to plan - or maybe it did according to the title - but really that's the nature of the beast. This show is a Catch 22 situation, in that, no one can know if their material doesn't work until it's trialled, and this is the place where it gets trialled, so you take the good with the bad and hope that if the entertainment doesn't grab the people at least they can treat this as a social gathering. For me it reminded me of Raw heats, which can be up and down, but on the whole I wasn't bored so It didn't really bother me. Our MC(Michael Hing) seemed a bit down, so the whole night lacked some energy - I guess we don't realise how important his role is, because when he is up, his quick comments after a bad set makes you forget about it very quickly. He did pick up in the second half - you could actually see his brain ticking over faster - and Carlo did help with a comment from the back(something that always helps). To save time I will only mention people that got more than 3.5, The crowd thought Jonathan Lee was good, Zoe Pelbert was better than nice, Seamus McAlary took a while to get going but ended up nice, the crowd liked Scott Brownless and his Uni relevant complaint rant, Jack Gow's material wasn't any better than anybody else's but his delivery was so comfortable on stage that he ended up better than nice, and John Cruckshank sounded like he didn't think he was going that well but because this is his demographic the crowd thought he was good. I think more snappy comments after each set, more comments from the back, and be short if your set isn't working would help. We all have bad days, like a girl is nibbling your ear and asking you to come inside, and you still say no because you can't figure out what she is hinting at. Now that's a loser. 3.5
29.03.11 : Owen Oneill (IRE) : Comedy Store
These days I'm starting to question if this lifestyle is more about not staying at home, rather than wanting to see entertainment, because I wasn't sure if I had seen Owen before, and was too lazy to check my own blog, so I reasoned that I have to go because he is a visitor. I also reasoned that even if I had seen him before, I probably would have forgotten his jokes anyway because he isn't here that often so his material can't saturate my brain, and that's exactly what happened because I only remembered 1 joke. Owen had a lots of Australian material, and that's what I like so I found him quite good, and so did the audience. The one joke I remembered was the one when he first came to Australia a couple of years ago and was called a Ranga, a term that he had never heard before, which culminated in a whole routine about red haired. The surprise of the night for the audience was Rhys Nicholson, and Ray Badran(doing a lot of new stuff) that got the biggest cheer of the night.
Thankfully they opened the doors early tonight, which made it so much more relaxing sitting down rather than standing in that crammed queue for ½ an hour.
29.03.11 : Red Riding Hood - movie
Fantasy | Horror | Mystery : A werewolf has an attraction to a young girl, but when it starts killing the village people must flush it out. It's a medieval Red Riding Hood/werewolf/Salem witch hunt type story. The movie is obviously is trying to ride on the coat tails of Twilight, especially with it's Robert Pattinson double, but it's not even close. Because of the cinematography it's quite visually exciting, yet I was yawning through it. 3
29.03.11 : The Mechanic - movie
Action | Thriller : A hit-man is given a tough assignment. It basically follows the original 1972 movie's story, but each step is achieved differently so it's not an exact copy. The first half is a bit predictable and runs at a 3, but in the second half picks up to a 3.5 when they add new stuff to the story to make it more exciting. 3.5
28.03.11 : Trial Show #2 Complete History of Western Philosophy : Roxbury Hotel
I was wondering why this show was being trialled, because it had been trialled, run, and done, last year, so I figured that because it was more interesting than funny last year, maybe it will be changed so it's interesting AND funny. We were warned that it would be rough, and it was. There was no delivery, so it was more like a lecture with a reading from notes, and this gave any jokes less impact - the delivery was sorted the next day when I saw the joke routine again at the Store. The show wasn't much better than last year, laugh wise, and because it's such a wordy piece, and I had seen it before, I tuned out pretty early on. It was probably me because I couldn't concentrate, but it felt disjointed - I had trouble telling the story from the comments and needed a sign to signify it. This show still doesn't seem that funny, but when you come off a funny show like The Social Contract it's hard to maintain that level. Score N/A because it's not the finished product.
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25.03.11 : SCF Preview Night : Factory Theatre
The 2 previous years Preview Nights were the best show in the Festival, but not this one. This show ended up being a - nothing new/more of the same - show, just like those common everyday Comedy Store Showcase type shows. The biggest name was Steve Hughes, who only did a muck around set. I actually found Michael Workman was the funniest, Steve Hughes second, and Daniel Townes, Matt Okine, Anthony Salame, Chris Wainhouse all being nice. The lower end was Smart Casual, Julia Wilson & Greg Parker, Dead Cat Bounce, being ok, and Amelia Jane Hunter last(I hope the preview wasn't indicative of her show because I have tickets). This show kind of sums up the whole festival, because when I was buying tickets this year it felt like the whole 2011 SCF was just repeats without much new stuff - but that could just be me. Nothing special for me, and even the audience didn't do that extra loud cheer at the end of any performers set to indicate that they were impressed. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
24.03.11 : Matt Iseman (USA) : Laugh Garage CBD
The crowd wasn't that big tonight, but that didn't deter anybody because they were quite vocal and laughing at everything. MC Darren Sanders was funny(as usual) and made something out of nothing when talking to the audience, which he is usually able to do easily. Darren covered some material about living in the old days - which was so long ago that I forgot we did things like that - like back in those days there was no air pollution laws and we used to burn everything, there wasn't even fire bans so people used to rake leaves in piles in street and set it alight and just walk away. And Paul Warnes was nice again and got the laughs. To be truthful I didn't know who Matt Iseman was, so I was quite surprised to find out he's been in General Hospital, Transformers2, Sports Soup, etc, and because of that there was a cheer squad for him that was yucking it up all the way through his set. If I could sum up Matt it would be, a big hyper active kid, and like all kids they sometimes say things they shouldn't(I don't think anyone took offence to it anyway), and some of his stuff can be quite juvenile(but in a good way). His comedy is quite different to the usual stuff because it's somewhat child like, and even though it didn't knock my socks off I still liked it. The show was a bit longer tonight and felt just right, it's like if the comedy is good you need a minimum of 1¼ hours to feel satisfied. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
23.03.11 : Make Way For Ducklings - Make Way For Justice : Hermann's Bar - sketch
I think I have seen too much sketch because I don't look forward to them(damn you Uni revues), so I was quite happy that this one was quite alright. Sorry that I'm such a winger but I get rather pedantic these days (I even get annoyed if the AoA don't include their preamble to the Four Chords song even though nearly everyone knows it, because it's less funny without it and I want them to knock every bodies socks off every time) - sorry I digress. Nearly all the sketches were in that nice area 3.5 to 4
The best ones were :-
Carlo's crazy asking for ice, but meaning the methamphetamine ICE.
Stan Lee using his di*k for inspiration for his super heroes, with him explaining the hulk was a flaccid penis going erect, etc.
Robin Hood, who robs from the rich and gives to the poor, has become rich from robbing the rich, so his merry men question his dictatorship when they discover democratic process and want to rob him.
Steen used his acting skills in the old nose thumb trick and did a home invasion of a couple at gun point looking for his nose, that was stolen by them when he was a child.
Guys dancing erotically with each other when one's girlfriend walks in.
Someone or something, maybe a cat, that pokes itself and howls, and then finds love.
It was very hard to separate them because they were all close but I think the next group were :-
A drunk Queen Victoria being a slut.
Wrongly using the word "the" instead of the word "a" in a conversation. A supreme Court Judge can't remember the Bill of Rights, so another judge sings him a supposedly simple rap song to help him remember it - the song ends up being so massive that even the guy performing it had trouble remembering it.
Trying to select a child's name from quite inappropriate words.
Crying at a James Blunt song at show and tell
Mistaking quiche Lorraine for Keith and Lorraine, complete with egg based puns.
Steen's crazy drunk derro stumbling through the audience asking for money.
A man quoting the Constitution of the United Sates to justify it his demanding of a dinosaur.
A caterer talks about making quiche Lorraine for a party, but the boss mistakes it for him wanting to cook Keith and Lorraine from marketing.
Star Wars and NCIS send ups
A man orders a King fish to eat but is accidentally given the Fish King, which he eats and becomes the King in a brave-heart type speech.
I found it quite alright, and during the show the crowd sounded about the same me, but at the end they did give a big cheer so they probably liked it a lot. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
22.03.11 : Battle : Los Angeles - movie
Action | Thriller | Sci Fi : The earth is attacked by aliens for it's resources. A more serious military version of Independence Day, a bit like Black Hawk Down with aliens, but not as gritty. The annoying part is that it has every predictable cliché scenario that you can think off, like the inexperienced lieutenant in charge of a squad that has the highly experienced war veteran sergeant 2nd in command, etc. It was running at a 3 for the first half, but picked up at the end with the high drama emotional gun-ho stuff. 3.5
22.03.11 : Limitless - movie
Thriller | Sci Fi : A man is given a drug that can increase brain function. I'm already predicting that this will be my favourite movie of the year, excellent. 4.5
21.03.11 : RAW Comedy 2011-NSW State Final : Comedy Store
I used to go to a lot of the RAW shows(Newtown RSL, Basement, Comedy Store), and it just got tedious after a while, especially the heats where you might only get 2 new comics worth seeing a night. I also didn't like how there was so many comics a night, and that if a good comic did a late slot after a bunch of average comics, they did badly because everyone was fatigued from being bored. It just didn't seem good value even with the 2 professional comics(usually the best part of the show), and also I found the judging a bit iffy. So after a long absence I went to this RAW final - I figured that the final is usually worth seeing, and there were some comics that I have seen before but wondered how they would do with a mainstream audience -, and it was about what I expected. The winner was a surprise(as usual), because there was about 4 people that were equally as good. And in fact one guy got more laughs than anybody else, but because he used old style of comedy with fast short jokes he got passed over. Cyrus Bezyan looked comfortable on stage but his new stuff isn't as strong as his old stuff, Alex Lee was nice but rushed, Gen Fricker was also nice and has quite a pretty voice(especially evident in her first song), and Carlo Ritchie went over the audiences head with his Twins routine, by referencing the movie The Prestige(a movie that you should definitely see, but probably not main stream enough for this audience), so they got lost - The funny thing was I laughed the most at Carlo until I noticed I was all alone. Eddie Ifft (USA) and Luke Heggie were good, but for me it was a meh night What a stupid bloody corporate cattle yard of a venue - I shouldn't really complain because they give new comics an opportunity to try their stuff in front of a large conventional mainstream audience - but their policy of cramming 300 people in a small stuffy bar, to try to increase bar sales, is stupid. You would think someone would realise that opening the doors early, when people are queued all the way down stairs to the street, is better, because no one can even get to the bar to spend money, and opening the door earlier would entice people to turn up early and actually start drinking earlier. Then to make matters worse after ½ an hour they turned off the air-con and closed the door on the packed out crowd, making us sit in a stuffy hell hole. Venue : a big fat 0 - Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.25
21.03.11 : The Bloke's Guide To Getting Married-Special Preview Dress Rehearsal : Roxbury Hotel
These days I turn up to shows in zombie mode - like a going through the motions, no thought required, daze. So I was sitting there wondering why I was there, and then I couldn't even remember what the show was about, nor even the title of the show, so I concluded that this is going to be another half baked preview show about something. Then when the cast turned up in suits, I thought, at least they put some effort into this so it might not be that bad, and that's when I remembered it was about getting married. The show started with the wedding march, that quickly turned in to Bohemian Rhapsody but with different lyrics, and not just filler lyrics - like some musical comedy acts - but actual funny lines. And right from the start you think, this is not too bad, and in fact quite good, and right in my demographic - The title of the show might give the impression that it's a bit more orientated toward an older audience, but actually most of it is for a younger audience, like Gen X and Y(but more about that later). The show had small scenes with each having a different comical hook, - this added variety to kept you entertained -, like there was a Monkey Magic song, and Expert Double Figures Theatresports game with Chris North and Nick Foran doing the arms and dialogue for an unsuspecting couple, a bride and groom translator, etc. The first half of the show was really good at about 4.5, but it was too high an intensity to keep up for the entire show so lulled to a 4 in the middle, and unfortunately dropped to a 3 near the end before picking back up to a 4. The only quirk with the show was that it switched target demographic at points, like I laughed at the Monkey Magic song, but the older woman next to me didn't because it was out of her demographic, and conversely there was a section of songs set to old time musicals that didn't appeal to me, but appealed to the woman next to me - I actually hate that style of music, which is my problem, but even the changed lyrics weren't as clever as the earlier stuff they did, so the score dropped for me . 75% of it is clever, and smart, and for a youngish crowd, so I liked most of it, but my personal preference would be if it was all in the youngish demographic, and swap those songs for the modern songs that Nick was hinting to. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
19.03.11 : Jen Brister (UK) : Laugh Garage CBD
We had that type of semi sophisticated crowd that aren't as loud as some, but at least they were loud enough that you could tell they were laughing inside, so really enjoyed it. Danny Grozdich(MC) was a surprise, because he is good now. Jen Brister's set felt like it came and went in a flash - it must have been very interesting to make time fly. She covered her English Spanish background, and told a story about her being asked to test view a lesbian porno, because she is gay, that it was obviously designed for guys. Visitors are always a treat because I like the stories from places that I haven't been too, like other countries, and also I like visitors take on Australian-isms, that are normal to us, but a bit odd to them. Dave Williams did a lot better with the crowd than last time I saw him at Hurstville. And even though he did a big set you also felt like you wanted more - because he was also good. Even though the night felt like it ended too soon, the compact nature of it made the comedy feel more intense, mainly because there just isn't any time for the slow stuff. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
16.03.11 : Full Body Contact Junior Improv Tennis Academy : Hermann's Bar - impro
Pardon if the names are wrong, because I don't know most of the players I will use the posted list, which might be out of date.
1. Michael Richarson, Sam Jenkins, Arghya 'Bookie' Gupta
Bacon - wank : 2 office workers secretly video tape James while he has one hand on the job churning the cheese, and then post it on the social networks. He is then summoned into the bosses office, and instead of being fired, is promoted when he becomes an internet sensation. His popularity grows until he eventually becomes the Wank King.
The scene was a little meandering, in that it wasn't as much of a continuous story as more of an assortment of wank jokes, but really there aren't any rules. Usually the younger players lack experience but have a lot of enthusiasm and ideas, but this scene was a little down on both. From an entertainment stand point the constant self gratification jokes carried it, so it was fine.
2. James Colley, Pat Magee, Nick Fischer, Sertan Saral, Ben Jenkins
Single man - sunlight : A sailor is given the responsibility of unloading the Queen of England from a ships hold. He meets the captain who is surprised by the contents of the shipment, because the Queen had earlier taken his leg - we are given a quick glimpse of the Queen and the leg. Next we are transported to Dr Papsmear's office while he is dictating a confidential memo. Back at the ship the sailor is having difficulty unloading the Queen, and this annoys her so much she warns the sailor to hurry up or his d**k will join the removed leg. We are whisked to 6 months earlier where the Queen is talking to Prince Charles, and she reveals that her powers are derived from drinking the tears of the young, and that the Prince will never become King because she can't be killed by conventional means. Back at Papsmear's office Prince Charles discovers that the doctor has a diploma in killing monarchs, so he gets him to hatch a plan. The doctor tells the sailor to deliver the Queen to the top of Mt Doom, where she is tossed into it's active volcano and killed.
It was silly, quirky, clever, and fun, and everyone put on a silly character. I reckon it was the best scene of the night.
3. Jim Fishwick, Vicente Araullo-Peters, Alistair Magee, Matt Watson
Having kids : I'm not entirely sure what the story was about, but it was something like an unfaithful gambler kills cows to make vegan jelly - and for some reason - had lots of hatstands. Even though the ideas were preposterous and it chopped all over the place, the absurdity made it nice.
4. Michael Hing, Alex Lee, Phil Roser, Genevieve Fricker, Ariel Fisher
Jafar - clambake : The blind magical sorcerer Jafar gives Stacy a book to take to the forest of Red Drink. She meets a lesbian and they go on to look for an evil witch called Flavoured Vodka. Back at Jafar's place King Joesepity arrives looking for his book, but he is told that it is too late and the evil witch is going to destroy it. Joesepity is outraged because that book was on lone, like his Babylon 5 DVDs that were never returned - unfortunately Michael(Joesepity) mustn't have actually watched the DVDs, because he was trying to be authoritative about them, but realised he didn't really know that much about them, like the bad seasons. So he went into his famous QuickThinkingBackPeddlingCoverUp mode, to much laugher - funny how there's a Hingster story every week. At the witches place, Stacy combines with her friend and gains the power to make the blind see again. A magical Fawn, not a Centaur, appears, and is of no help discovering her extra powers. She meets people from the League of People With Extra Powers, like the man with laser feet, and the orgasm woman, but because of her feeble powers she is mocked and rejected. Jafar runs into Stacy again but can't tell who it is, and asks if she is a boring fawn - to which Michael angrily back comments in a voice over, because he played the fawn. Stacy restores Jafar sight and they fall in love, and then blind each other.
This scene was good, and pretty close to team 2.
FourWords - featuring Steen Raskopoulos, Carlo Ritchie, Tom Walker, Bridie Connell
The troupe used projected images of famous objects for inspiration, but because of where I was sitting I couldn't see all of them, and some of the images I didn't even know, which makes it hard for me to explain why some things were going on. Like if I tell you the first scene was about buckets, it doesn't sound that interesting, but if I tell you the Sidney Nolan's painting of Ned Kelly was being projected, it all makes sense.
Sidney Nolan's painting Ned Kelly - had a farm hand unable to find the bucket while milking a cow, and another farm hand wearing it as a hat for a joke.
Edvard Munch painting The Scream - had a couple that scream when they touch, and two brothers that screamed if they don't touch.
Grant Wood painting American Gothic - had a couple that treated their pitch fork like their baby, to the amazement of others
? - a mother wanted to substitute a polar bear for Santa clause on Xmas, but the father wanted to use a hat on his d**k.
A urinal - had I guy trying to pee while a mysterious voice commented.
? - swans in an art gallery had Tom telling bird puns
? - a girl has a water bomb fight with a guy with a real gun
For me the troupe was good and very close to team 4. There was 2 points where I lost interest but that's probably my short attention span, or my over doing of improv so that need something to happen every second to be amused, - and is the reason I still haven't been taken by long from improv - but really that wasn't important because the crowd went nuts at the end and probably thought it was a 5.
Just crunching the numbers it comes out as 3.8 so I will bump it to 4. Crowd : 3.5,4.5,3.5,4,5 so 4.5 - Me : 3,4.5,3,4.25,4 so 4
15.03.11 : Eddie Ifft (USA) and Stephen Grant (UK) : Comedy Store
I haven't seen Stephen Grant before, so there was an incentive to go, and even if he wasn't that good I figured Eddie Ifft should make it worth it. The funny thing was that Stephen wasn't promoted that highly, but if anything was just as good as Eddie if not a touch better. Stephen talks very fast and has a lot of energy, and that just adds to the jokes. His style is what I would term as a joke comic - just simple everyday jokes that are fun and not taxing, unlike political or rhetoric comics - his main hook was his pedantic/looking at the details type jokes. He was mucking around with the front row when they took it the wrong way and started being disruptive by talking during his set, so because English comics are good with hecklers - something they learn fast over there - Stephen turned on his heckler routine that eventually reversed heckled them right out the door.
I first saw Eddie quite a while ago when he first came to Sydney - which wasn't that long after when I saw Arj Barker for the first time doing a pub gig - and I thought to myself this guy is very good and just as funny as Arj. His style back then was cheeky rude, with a touch of crude humour, but that was a long time ago and he has changed into more of an inappropriate crude rude comic - I think he has been hanging with Jim Jefferies too much, because Jim is a inappropriate logical thinking comic - either way he is a lot ruder than before, so you end up cringe laughing more than actual laughing, compared to his early years. You can tell how inappropriate Eddie was, when he complained that girls can't give good hand jobs, which one girl took personally and said it was mutual for girls. But what she didn't realise Eddie was actually having a go at both sexes with his routine, because he is promoting the general unaccepted degrading act of a man masturbating(not that there is actually anything wrong with that), which is even worst than girls not having good wrist technique.
We also had Steve Philp(MC) and Bruce Griffiths, who were both good, as usual. Michael Workman's set was short but also good. Jennifer Wong was nice, but I was trying to remember where I saw her before, and had to go and read my own blog to find out I saw her just 2 weeks prior - great memory champ. And we also had a wedding proposal. I have found the sweet spot of sound so had no complaints, good show. 4
09.03.11 : Story Club and We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat : Hermann's Bar
There was a mix up with the interpretation of tonight's leitmotif that led to a nautical theme, rather than the intended Jaws reference of things being far worst than they seem - it didn't help that it was miss quoted. A similar thing happened on the Get Out Of The Kitchen themed night, proving that interpretation is in the eye of the beholder, either way it made no difference because all the stories were engaging.
Ben Jenkins started us off with a delightful tale of what he did last summer, be it that he was stooped over the helm of the porcelain ship evacuating his internal organs of toxins from a wanton hussy. Bed ridden and reflecting on the recent exploits of his errant tongue, he recounted his Wonder Years of playing sideyard cricket. Unfortunately Ben wasn't blessed with the eye hand gene, something his coordinated siblings had an abundance of, so his numerous times spent at the crease somewhat resembled a flailing tube man that you find at the opening of a new carwash, which resulted with him frequently getting out. His siblings were quite kind - or sick of batting - to the fact that poor Ben wasn't as well endowed with fine motor control skills and used to turn a blind eye to his constant dismissals by giving him an extra chance, or two, or seven. The story had it's usual Ben charm and compellingness-ivity, and even though it might not have had as much laugh-ability, it can be accounted for by poor Ben's dark time of missing all of Xmas. I liked it.
Mark Sutton gave us a guide to big name famous actors and the movies they bombed in, which led to him recounting the harrowing tale of the play that he stared in that turned out to the Worst Play Ever. The director was going to introduce a radical new type of direction that would change face of theatre from now on, called the Doing the Minimal Amount of Work Possible, or the Doing Nothing technique. The director chose the Terry Pratchett novel Jingo to turn into a play, and in a stroke of shear genius he was able to cut costs and labor by not writing a script, but by just coping the pages out of the book verbatim. In another brilliant move to save paper he only gave the individual cast members the pages with their particular lines on it, he deemed it shear extravagance that the actors should even know what the story was about, yet alone what they were playing, or even how they should play their part. The usual first read through(to find glaring problems) was dispensed away with due to it being too much work, and even full rehearsals were shunned (because it was too difficult to organise too many people at one time), so he adopted the small group minimalist rehearsals, which had the odd effect of the cast not even meeting the actors or characters they were playing against until the actual performance night. On preview night the play's length was soon discovered that it couldn't be completed in a normal persons life time, so was abandoned at the 4 hour mark. Only after a well deserved beating by Zoe Norton Lodge and a last minute late night work around, did Zoe and the director cobble together something that would barely pass as a play, unfortunately this new last minute monolithic behemoth still ran for 4 hours with the cast having to relearn the whole play the morning before opening night.
Pat Magee What do you get when you pass an innocent commercial for children through the warped Clockwork Orange-esque mind of Pat Magee, but a horrendous, debauched, mutilating, kiddie fiddling, Captain Birdseye that sails the land locked non existent high seas of Leicestershire. Pat's background story asks the big questions, that don't need to be asked. Nice
Carlo Ritchie did a story about a series of unfortunate events that resulted in murder most foul, or maybe not, all while sailing the high seas of the river in Surfers Paradise on a houseboat during schoolies. Most movies are passive movies, in that you don't do anything but passively sit there and absorb the movie, but there is the rare active participation movie where you have to actually think faster than the movie to try to make sense of it while the information is still unfolding - of which Memento is the best - and that's what Carlo's story was like. It seamed like a simple story slowly unfolding with facts that don't seam to have much initial relevance, but in actual fact it is implanting subtle information in your head without you realising. It travels along like a nice little story, then halfway through when one of Carlo's friends returns late one night to a once teaming with activity houseboat now deserted and dead in that water, that things quickly turn sinister in your mind. Your brain is quickly sent into a frenzy as it tires to match the previous facts with what is about to come. A good brain workout and very funny.
Dom Knight told the story of Noah's Ark but from a bureaucratic point of view. Noah's sons had just returned from university of Persia with the new fangled common sense, facts, and rational reasoning, to harpoon Noah and his crazy Ark idea. A logical approach to a not so logical tale.
David Cunningham's affable puntastic endeavours are recounted when he too recalled his time spent in the afore mentioned play Jingo with Mark Sutton, where they devised food based Shakespearian titles, like such classics as, The Complete Woks of Shakespeare. He also had time to re-debunk Dom's Noah story by visiting the site creationtips.com with it's hilarious rebuttals by the not too logical keepers of the good but questionable book. Tonight, with the help of Queen Victoria, David covered another famous point in history, be it that it was his own just 10 years prior. With him following the concurrent house boat theme, he was left to his own devices on a hose boat that his parents had just evacuated to fulfil some errands. Unfortunately due to an error in judgement, and a not too sensitive ear, he failed to notice a stowaway viewing his own personal, but usually private act - David's concise quote of "Pearly magma" is all you need to derive the picture. Always a delight and quite a descriptive story, if a bit overly so.
Zoe Norton Lodge continued the blueness of the last bracket, and actually made it to the high seas with an ocean cruise. She took us on a depraved journey on the fornication ferry, of teenage Caligulas writhing in a squelchy mass slapfest, resembling worms in a can. She had planed to fall in love, be it for the disgusting wet rubbing act than love it's self, but by the last day things turned sad when she was left alone unable to coerce any males to whisk her off her feet. With all her time wasted on mutual satisfaction ship watching other people having full, hard core intimates right next to her face, and the constant eating and vomiting of David Cunningham and Mark Sutton, she was left quite unsatisfied. The story was written from what you would assume to be a very male way of thinking, because of it's frankness. This is quite acceptable for the now Big Brother generation, but an older generation would have trouble accepting it from little button faced girls. It reminds me of the girls from Gilligan's island, where Ginger played the promiscuous hussy, and Mary Ann played the cute next door type girl. 40 years latter Mary Ann gave some behind the scenes information, she told us that Ginger would get 1 big bag of fan mail every week, of which mainly consisted of quite graphical letters of a very sexual nature, where's she got 2 bags of fan mail, but of a sweet natured marriage proposal type. And even though Mary Ann was twice as popular as Ginger, she was still quite disappointed that she didn't give off a, I want to be ravished vibe, that gets the inappropriate stuff. Maybe Zoe and Mary Ann just don't have the face to project that kind of response - that's my story and I'm sticking to it. A very good story that was funny, and sad, and very groan worthy, but in the good way.
The usual cheer squad isn't as loud as last year so they sounded about the same as I was thinking 4.25
08.03.11 : Hall Pass - movie
Comedy : A married man is granted the opportunity to have an affair by his wife. From the outside it looked dumb, but it wasn't dumb dumb, but silly ridiculous dumb, so it ended up quite fun. It uses that Farrelly Brothers slapstick and crude toilet humour, with a couple of moments that will stick in your head(like the There's Something About Mary hair gel scene). Overall I liked it because it was fun, but don't expect high brow comedy. Make sure you stay for the video after the end credits. 3.75
06.03.11 : Club Central Comedy : Club Central Hurstville
The crowd wasn't very good and quite small so it didn't turn out that good. Paul Hancock(MC) tried hard but was mild, Anthony Salame battled on like nothing was wrong and was quite good, and Clint Patterson was a last minute replacement but had been here before, so he had to ad-lib most of his set so as to not repeat, which didn't work out that well. Crowd : 3,4.5,2.5 - Me : 2.5,4,2.5
05.03.11 : Good News Week - TV recording for 7.03.11 : Fox Studios, Moore Park
Due to a mix up and I ended up at the unusually early 12:30 show(put forward due to the Mardi Gras). The new studio didn't look that good from the outside, it's a big tin shed right out the back of the lot(I don't know what they are going to do when it rains hard on that tin roof, because it usually becomes deafening inside). We were waiting inside the storage area, where you could see all the old props from the show, and this brought back memories as you tried to place which celebrity used it on the show. When we finally entered the studio it all looked as before, but now all the cast enter from the right hand side, which was where I was sitting. The new studio is a digital one(The ABC studio was analogue) so there were idiosyncrasies with it that they are coming to grips with, but in general the new surroundings have invigorated the cast because they were funnier than usual, and in fact this was one of the best, if not the best recording I have seen. Ted Robinson did his usual speech, but kind of resigned himself to not expecting as many laughs at such an early time slot. But he shouldn't have worried because everything about the show was good. The jokes were especially funny, the guests were funny, and the cast were funnier than usual, during, and in-between the tapings.
Before the start of the show they showed some of the attributes of the new editing program they have, by showing some special clips they have made with Paul McDermott being put into other videos that he wasn't actually at, and these were quite funny. Tonight Mikey Robins had Julia Morris(now with black hair) and Colin Lane, and Claire Hooper(in not very flattering balloon pants - she's usually very stylish) had Jason Byrne(Ire) and Erin McNaught. There are certain guest that appear on the show that always make the recordings good, like Wil Anderson, Frank Woodley, Akmal Saleh, etc, so it was extra special to have 3 comedians on at once, and especially Colin and Jason - unfortunately for the TV viewers most of what they said can't go to air, but a least it makes watching the recording extra special. Paul had great gags in his monologue at the start, about cyclists, defecating bacteria, and Ita Buttrose, which I'm sure will translate well to the TV. We started with the usual What's the Story 3 video clips game, but now with only one story and both teams jumping in to answer it - the biggest change lately is the combining of games so both teams have to jump in at the same time. Next was the Strange but True props game - again with only one story and all 6 of them with prop/clues. Followed by the News flash game with random questions - that again any team can answer - and this had Paul running amok by showing a certain bias for one team, to much amusement to everyone. The So you Think you Can Mime was ridiculously funny, because the original story was very rude. They next had a question game, The Name Game, that I don't understand because they ask serious questions to each individual player. Next was Hot Spot with Paul coming into the crowd. And finally the recounting of the Strange but True clues that had Julia and Colin doing a duet at the end, that was done twice with the first one being the funniest but mucked up by Colin. I had a good time and it was quite funny. 4.5
03.03.11 : The Adjustment Bureau - movie
Thriller | Sci-Fi | Romance : A hierarchical bureau adjusts the world physically to a plan. The story is like a mild Matrix, but probably closer to the earlier Dark City(which all have a similar premise), but also mild. Don't expect the action or the larger number of special effects of the above films, but more a subtle thriller type film. It's quite mildly paced, and more of a interesting story than an in your face blockbuster. 3.75
02.03.11 : Hermann's Heroes Triumphantly Returns to Punch you in your Comedy Hole : Hermann's Bar
It's getting increasingly difficult to leave the house these days, even for stand-up, but I reasoned that if we don't support the things we like we will lose them, so I bit the bullet and went anyway, and in the end it turned out surprisingly good. Our host Michael Hing was microdrifting all night - microdrifting is the cognitive cousin of the microsleep. He would be talking, and then drift into thinking out loud, and then snap back to reality when he realised where he was - I think he would make a good theoretical physicist - either way, the reality snap-backs, or justifications to the errant thinking, was what made it funny. Michael just has that ad-lib kind of rambling that you can listen to that all night, but he did back it up with some actual material later on that was new, and quite good. Nice
Jack Wright was very smooth and also nice.
Paul Ayre did some rant comedy about Charlie Sheen that was quite nice, and then followed it up with a long reading from a horoscope that was maybe a touch too long - to be fair it was the most ludicrous horoscope prediction I have ever heard.
Ciaran Magee wasn't as strong as the previous comics - because he's pretty young and quite new to this - but he wasn't far off and was still fine, and better than some I have seen. Better than ok.
Jen Wong was quite clever in the way she twisted things around and gave everything second meanings, it was like lateral cryptic comedy. I especially liked her ringing China for a visa bit, where she used a phonetic alphabet to spell words that got mistaken for others, like when she said "T for Taiwan", she gets from the other end "Oh you meant C for China". Better than just nice.
With Roger Nice I couldn't figure what was going on because he was so silly, he fake trips at the start and starts bleeding. So I'm watching this guy and near the end of his bit I realised his voice sounded like Pat Magee, did I mention I'm a shocker with faces, and that's when it all made sense. OMG ridiculous.
Dan Ilic from Hungry Beast used most of the stuff he did for EVAPOR-AID, and was still good a second time. Better than nice.
The second half is where things usually taper off, but tonight it really picked up.
Nick Kraegen was a big surprise. He was billed as a first timer yet he was funny right off the bat and was very comfortable on stage. His whole set was funny and delivered effortlessly. Good.
Ashleigh Morse mainly did a Jurassic Park dinosaur set, but really all of it was nice.
Ben Ellwood produced angry rant comedy that was good.
Jack Druce really smoothed out his routine and delivered it well, so it was consistently funny - I have seen parts of it in the past and it fluctuated a bit in laugh value, but now it feels very complete. He unfortunately went long, as did nearly everybody, and for some reason that made me anxious, but overall he was also good .
Lastly was Rhys Nicholson who ripped it up. Rhys's material is very inappropriate, and in a room where the crowd has less moral values, like the Comedy Store, he gets instant laughs, but here it was like the audience was thinking, should we be laughing at this because this material is not very PC. But Rhys always had the skill to get a reaction, and the main way he did this was with his ridiculous embellished mimes, like the predator, that can crack anybodies resolve. I haven't seen Rhys for a while and I was seeing spots from laughing - I have less morals than this audience. I think Rhys had a big impression on the crowd because I over heard a girl say that she has never laughed so hard. Kudos to you sir.
Everyone went long tonight, and 2 hours of comedy can be fatiguing, but the second half was so good everyone left on a high, and that's what will keep Project 52 popular. The audience wasn't as screamy as usual but I think they starting at a 4 and finishing at a 5 : Me 3.5 to 5
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