0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
31.05.12 : Theatresports Old School Vs New School : Manning Bar - impro
Tom Walker was full of beans as Capt Excitement, and coupled with Badda Boom Bridie Connell, the energy was kept high. Old School showed too much detail all night and were hard to beat. It's always going to be difficult for the New School because they haven't had as much practice, they can't go anywhere to see old school detailed impro, and there probably isn't any old school detailed instructors left, so they really only have speed and imagination to fill in the gaps. Even though they were down on experience, New School held up well all night and didn't corpse a scene, but when you look at it, it was always going to be a big ask to compete with such precise impro from Old School. Right from the start the Old School added all the little details that make impro clever, and even though they have performed these details a thousand times before - and I have seen it hundreds of times before -, it's still impressive. The 1st round was 2 to 3's, which is usual, but from then on nearly every scene was 3 to 4's. Most of the stand out scenes were done by Old School, and they were :- Two scraggly American women from the South (1 white, 1 black) arguing about the other stealing their man when they are interrupted by the sound of a magpie calling, which is the sound their man makes when he's having sex. A jazz singer telling a story in song while the 2 other players act it out. A Film Noir. And a musical about termites. Next best was new Old School with a scene about a man going to Coles with a huge mega gun, and a Conversation between two men on a sinking ship. Other mentions was a the New School T-shirt ballet, that had crazy lifting people stunts. Old School were good, but they weren't mega brilliant like the old days, but because most of the audience isn't used to that level of impro, they were very impressive by their skill - which was evident when they gave them a standing ovation in one scene. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
31.05.12 : What to Expect When You're Expecting - movie
Drama | Comedy : A look at love through the eyes of five interconnected couples experiencing the thrills and surprises of having a baby. I didn't like it. I found it uninteresting - my pregnancy was -, and I would say that it's only going to appeal to mothers - they were the only ones laughing -. I felt a bit like that horrible Valentine's Day movie, in that it had separate stories, that by coincidence, overlapped with each other at the end - it's getting annoying rather than surprising these days -. It's more real life than a comedy, with the only amusing parts being the fathers group giving advice - maybe 10 minutes total in the whole film -. 2
30.05.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
I was a bit surprised to see that Ben Darsow was repeating here after only 4 months, but I had time to spare so I went anyway. I think everyone remembered MC Sarah Levett, so it was what you would expect, but her ad-lib audience did make some funnies, so she was fine in the end. The rest of the first half was good with short slots from Clint Patterson, Muj Ahmed, and a longer slot from the self deprecating Alistair Bates. Because of the repeat Ben wasn't as good as the others, but he wasn't that far behind, and his mucking around with some troublesome audience members made him funnier - it's like new material -. 3.75
29.05.12 : The Woman in Black - movie
Drama | Horror : A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers a ghost. I'm not into horror - the loud noise with the shock image is so annoying, that this cliché trick pisses me off -, and I was pretty distracted by other things at the time, so I didn't pay it that much attention, but it felt predictable at the start, but got mildly interesting around halfway. I shouldn't be scoring this, because it was only a time filler, but I guess it's about a 2.75
MySpace Views (610)
28.05.12 : Monorail : Sydney
26.05.12 : Ronny Chieng - The Ron Way : Comedy Store
After seeing 03.05.11 : Ronny Chieng - Is selling Out Fast : Yalumba Wine Bar, I decided that he was too mild and sparse to ever see again. But when he smoked it in the 23.03.12 : SCF - Preview Night : Factory Theatre, and coupled to a good report that I read, I decided to take another chance. The chance kind of paid off, because Ron was good, but the problem was that the audience was a bit off. When I entered I wasn't that impressed to find out that this was a DVD recording - recordings usually stifle the performer, because they are making sure they don't make mistakes -, but this didn't affect Ronny at all, because he was totally natural. The only grip I have is that the audience weren't loud enough for the quality of the show - louder laugh tracks elevate the show -. Ronny was a total professional and belted it out, with what turned out to be a lot of material - no sparse show here -. Definitely good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
25.05.12 : The Australian Nirvana Tribute : Engadine Tavern - music
I'm not a Nirvana fan, but I do like the popular stuff. The first acoustic half was good, I knew most of the songs, and they sounded like the real thing. The second half was electrified, and they didn't sound as close. They played 5 Nirvana songs at the start, but I only knew one, then they switched to random covers mode where they played various non Nirvana songs. They were ok - the crowded liked them -, but I wanted to hear how good their Nirvana stuff was, so after ½ hour of no Nirvana, I left. 3
25.05.12 : Men in Black III - movie
Action | Sci-Fi | Comedy : Agent J travels back in time to stop an alien. As you would expect this is more of the same, but it has an interesting story, so there are no complaints from me. The usual big Hollywood blockbuster good. 4
24.05.12 : Yve Blake - Am I Good Friend : Studio One (UNSW)
It was like a psychopath Energizer Bunny on speed. The laughs weren't sonic, but that not why it's so good, it's Yve's crazy, quirky, unpredictable, high energy performance. There was just so much exaggerated emotion in her character, it was amazing. That rubbery face could go from happy to sad, and everywhere in between, in an instant - it was like a bi-polar mental patient -. The actual construction of the show is good, because something weird is happening all the time, but it's Yve's remarkable performance that stepped it up another notch.
The gist of the show is that it's a scientific look at the points that make good friend you. Every point has some weird stunt to proved it - actually not prove it, but more disprove every thing she says -. Even though it's a touch down on Keira Daley's - Lady Nerd, and Zoe Norton Lodge's - This Is Not a Possum, it so close, and I liked it so much, that I'm going to bump it up to equal them. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.5
http://www.facebook.com/events/278261552266007/
23.05.12 : Project 52 - The Improv Den : Hermann's' Bar
The quality of the new teams has been surprising this year. Out of the 12 appearances of new teams this year - 4 shows, 3 teams a night -, there have only been 3 average scenes - actually 2 of them were still ok -, which is a big step up from last years 50-50 average/good rating.
1) Eric Kelly, Angela Fieldhouse, Alistair Magee, Janek Gonsalkorale
Disneyland : This team went with random little skits, which can't be fully covered here. The highlights were, the scene where the 2 main social networks are talking to each other, and poor old MySpace buts in. And the Captain of a ship wants to have his way with the mast head. Also, after what seams like a decade, we finally saw an old style impro kiss where one person puts their hand over the others players mouth during the kiss, so there is no actual contact. On the whole they were very nice.
2) Harry Milas, Rob Johnson, Patrick Byrnes and Luke Martin
Bus : Johnson and Friends returned to their usual form tonight. Last time they weren't that good, and probably didn't deserve the win, this week I thought they were the best, but they didn't win. I guess it's that Yin and Yang phenomena. Even though I'm probably bias toward the continuous story, I thought JnF were the best on the night. James arrives at the the bus stop, but is annoyed to find out the bus was early. Marcos then arrives and is also annoyed by the early bus, but then suddenly realises that they both think alike, and that they may be psychic. At the school the Principle warns James' father about Marcos intent, so the father confronts them in the basement. There Marcos tries tries to sear the father's mind with insinuation mind thoughts. The next day the boys meet at the bus stop, but again the bus is early. But while they are waiting, a dishevelled and bleeding man appears screaming that the 9:30 bus has crashed, and that everybody is dead, including himself. After being told the facts, Marcos sees that the 9:30 bus will crash, and then claims his psychic powers has saved them. Meanwhile in 1800 London, nothing happens. Back at James' house his Father has a talks to him, and thats when he discovers he is clinically insane, and that Marcos is just a nurse, and that the Principle is really his psychiatrist. Good
3) Ciaran Magee, Tom Walker, Michael Richardson, Jim Fishwick
Giraffe : These guys went with the same type of random scenes as team 1, but they were based on 4 stories told by the players at the start. There was giraffes head fighting, pink bellies, the World Bank challenging God himself, which included a small made-up song that the audience loved - rhyming on the fly always impresses -, robot guns, and a guy dumping a girl. For me they were just like team 1 but slightly more skilled, but the audience liked them the most, and voted them the winners. Very nice.
The Bear Pack - Steen Raskopoulos, Carlo Ritchie
Train station | Saber : A Stance Instructor - yes I said stance - is testing people by pushing them over. He finds an unlikely fellow and pushes him over, while shouting "BE PREPARED". He then explains that he is a Stance Instructor, and that the Fellow is not prepared and will never have a good stance. When the Fellow questions him, the Mentor reminisces about a young boy he mentored. Back in the past he pushed over a young boy, who then introduces himself as Tim Roberson(Carlo) - with his usual long convoluted introduction that waffled to much amusement -. He goes to see his mother Julie Robinson, or just Mrs Robinson(Carlo) - again with another crazy wafting conversation -, to take Tim as his Squire. His father Robert Robinsone - with a silent e - (Carlo) enters and gives his approval. The Mentor trains Tim in the way of the stance, by constantly pushing him over and repeating "You never know when a stranger is going to push you in the back". But the dullard never really gets the hang of it, and dies with a caved in back. Back in the present the Fellow is moved by the story, and becomes the Mentors Squire, but finds it as difficult as Tim did. He suffers scoliosis of the spine but slowly gets the hang of it, and finally keeps his stance on a very aggressive final shove.
Just when you think Carlo's old grizzled western character is the best, he brings out a plethora of crazy kooks. Good
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
23.05.12 : Safe - movie
Crime | Action : An cage fighter has to save a young girl from gangsters. There is more to it than that, and this is the 2nd Jason Statham movie that punches above it's weight. It's not as good as Killer Elite, but it's closer to it than the amateurish early stuff. This one looks like it had a good director, because it always looked interesting even when the simple things were going on. The camera was a touch close in the fight scenes - so you couldn't quite see everything -, and they used shaky cam, but that wasn't a deal breaker, and it did make it look more flurried. 3.75
22.05.12 : Iron Sky - movie
Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi : The Nazis set up a secret base on the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018. It looks good, but the story is a bit weak. It starts of well when they establish the ridiculous concepts - there are gags if you know your history -, but the the story falls over in the middle - not much funnies here -, and then it picks up again with a very elaborate CGI battle - the action covers up the story line -. This is like Steam Punk (everything is still powered by steam in the future), but instead is Mechanical Punk, where things are powered by WWI and WWII mechanics - it has the biggest chain drive I have ever seen -. This is like Danger 5 in concept, but more elaborate and realistic, and set in the future - corniness and cheap model effects are replaced by realism and big spectacular CGI -. Shame about the slow middle, but it's ok. 3.25
22.05.12 : The Dictator - movie
Comedy : A moron dictator comes to America to stick it to them. This is the funniest thing I have seen in years. Definitely not PC, and very inappropriate, but that's why it's so very funny. As in indication as to how much thought was put into the gags, the background music is Western songs, but sung in Arabic. Some gags were so long and so elaborate, it was like they were sketch comedy - you could see they looked at every angle for laughs -. I'm thinking of going again because there was so many subtle nuances - which a lot of the audience didn't get -. Ridiculous and very funny, and with a lot of gags. 4.75
19.05.12 : TheatreSports National Championships : Enmore Theatre - impro
No one walked out of the Enmore disappointed - which is essential for a show to continue -, because the cast bought quality and skills. It wasn't ballistic clever like the old days, but the skill level was good, and that made it good to watch. They must still practice short form in other states, because everyone showed good technical skill, and it's the skill to work around the limitation of a game, that makes short form clever. I have a hate hate relation with Theatresports at the Enmore - out of the shows I have seen here, there has been a 80% dud rating -, and that seams to be due to the cast's nerves stifling their thinking. Thankfully no one had that problem tonight, because there was never a point that I felt that the cast went into one of those dead, awkward, lost, fumbling spots, that is synonymous with nerves. There was one game that didn't work out technically, where each progressive character lowers their status - it's too technical a skill level for today's players -, but the cast covered up their lack of knowledge about status changes, and just filled in. All the games were completed technically correct and with skill, and even the scoring by the judges was correct and fair - only one mild boo from the audience -.
Right from the start it looked like it was going to be a battle between Victoria and Queensland, and that's how it went with OLD coming 1st, and Vic 2nd - the distance from 1st to 5th wasn't that far, so everyone should be happy with their performance -. Ex Sydney, but now Brisbane's, Tom Dunstan was always about the details, and it looks like it rubbed off on the rest of his team, because they were just as detailed. This was evident in their very first game, because Natalie Bochenski - playing a giraffe - lopped across the stage in a type of skipping trot, that had the audience erupting with laughter because she put so much detail in to such a simple character. It was fun, it was good, and it was a surprise for me that they got it so right on the night. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
18.05.12 : Catcall : Oxford Art Factory - music
17.05.12 : Sydney Comedy Festival Encore Showcases : Comedy Store
This seamed like a lot of effort just to see Anne Edmonds do 15 minutes - I'm still waiting for her to bring her show to Sydney -, but it was all worth it when the whole night ended up being rather good. It started off well with Davy Jory doing some good audience work, and then Jason Chong and Ray Badran. But then it slumped, and I thought this was going to be another one of those nights. Luckily the second half took off again with the non regulars of Anne Edmonds and Shayne Hunter, and the regular of Anthony Salame - he has so much material that each appearance seams fresh -. This place has the quality comics, but when you have so many comics a night, it soon gets to the point that most of the audience would have seen them before, and it's the repeats that lower the energy. Anne was good, and Shayne was very good, and coupled to them not being regulars, the surprise value makes them even funnier. Unfortunately comedy isn't like music, so you can't see the same thing over and over again as you know the surprise, and it's the repeats that make comedy an occasional thing, rather than a fan thing, and that was evident by the regular attending audience's half hearted applause tonight. I think cheap Thur attracts more regulars, because they don't want to pay the high weekend price for something they have seen before. Overall it was still a good night. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.75
16.05.12 : P52: Make Way For Ducklings! Still not a cage-fighting exhibition : Hermann's Bar - sketch
There wasn't anything spectacular, but thankfully no sketch was below a 3 - which is totally acceptable for this kind of thing -. It's hard finding any mentions when nearly every skit was a 3, but a couple of the Jon William's ones grabbed me, because they were elaborate in acting and ideas :- The Ribena berry kingdom, where they kill their own people to make juice - clever and funny -. The man with the dying wish, which forced his son to kill the Queen - elaborate -. Previous failed attempts for a Sorting Hat at Hogwarts - clever and funny -. Clever ones were :- Sertan's only getting sexually aroused when doing a monologue in front of a Project 52 audience, which was what he was doing at the time. A girl that wanting to move in to Superman's Fortress of Solitude, with Superman arguing that solitude means that it's only for one person - the cast went in to laughing fits -. The Back to the Future Reboot movie gag, that sent up the scene where Marty plays the Chuck Berry song - a song that is famous in his time, but before the audiences' time -. But because this new movie is set in the future, the song would come from now, like Skrillex - Bangarang - I had to look that one up, because I'm before it's time -. Other mentions were :- Movie night with the Brendan Fraser fan, were man mountain Pat Byrnes - he's really strong - picked up one of the cast like a rag doll, and shook him to death. The arguing couple that just bought a zoo, were she dissed him by saying "Lick out my vagina" - which caused laughing fits with the cast -. The Vaudeville 'Straight Man and Gay Straight Man' were the GSM told the SM that "I can suck a mean d!ck". The Fantasy Football, because they got in a 2 girls one cup reference - 1 Asian, 1 Latino. LOL -. The guy getting cancer, and then realising it was only because of Karma. Only 7 of the 25 skits were higher in score (3.5), but it was still fine none the less. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.
15.05.12 : Dark Shadows - movie
Drama : A vampire is put to sleep for 200 years, and awakes in 1972. This is nothing like the trailer, it's more like Gothic comedy - just imagine a humorous Tim Burton -. Johnny Depp really plays the part, which is a big part of the film, and coupled with an interesting story that was executed well, it was fun. A lot more than I was expecting. 4
15.05.12 : The Lucky One - movie
Drama : A Marine travels to Louisiana after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war. If you look past what is a premise with holes in it, it's nice 3.5
14.05.12 : A Rational Fear LIVE: 3.0 : FBI Social - Kings Cross Hotel
Again this was not political satire, but comedy using news items as premises. We have all seen political satire on TV, and it's rarely more than mildly humorous, but this is way more funny, and ultimately, much more enjoyable. Even though this has Hungry Beasts' Dan Ilic hosting, it is nothing like Hungry Beast, because it's practically a comedy show. Other guests tonight were, Lewis Hobba, Chris Taylor (Chaser), Heath Franklin (Randling, Chopper), Sophie Braham, Scott Abbot, DJ Tom Loud, comedy firestorm Desh, and Australia Of The Year and scientist Tim Flannery.
It looks like people have cottoned on to how good this show is, because the crowd nearly doubled since last time. I won't go into detail, as there is a Podcast, but there was Claire Hooper (Good news week) making a special appearance, by doing a little warm up/stand-up before the show. The other surprise was the YouTube Bondi Hipsters turning up, after hearing that they were dissed by Dan at the start as reprise for their dissing FBi radio on their videos. And there was a guy - I think Jazz - that did an amazing live Stephen Hawking impersonation. . A good night. It makes you wonder why a youth station like JJJ doesn't pick it up, as something like this is their key demographic. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF3x1EzZPds&feature=youtu.be
http://soundcloud.com/arationalfear/0003-may-14-2012-a-rational
13.05.12 : Heath Franklin's Chopper - A Hard Bastard's Guide to Life(or how to be less of a fucktard) : Harbord Diggers
There isn't much to say, except it was one of those quiet nights. The crowd was happy to be there, and they were happy to see Chopper, it's just that they weren't that loud, and that reduces the level when there isn't a laugh track. Chopper is getting milder with the years. When he started he was brilliant, but has now slowly morphed from Chopper, to Heath Franklin. Gone is the over exaggerated, self important, abusive, Chopper character, and all of Chopper's stereotypical mannerisms, and that has reduced the impact of the show. I suppose it's hard portraying such a violent person, because if you act like him, morons will think it's real, and not just a show. That has to get very tiring after a while, because of the fear of violence, and would explain why things have toned down. Or maybe the material is running out. I have seen parts of this show work, in small compressed doses, but with this long 1 hour 40 minute show, you should expect that not all of the material will be funny. It was fine, but I think seeing him in bigger venues would be better. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
12.05.12 : 60 In 60 : Factory Theatre
It was a surprise how the quality had dropped since the last show I saw 2 years ago (27.04.10 : 60 in 60 : Factory Theatre). In that one there was, 15 very good, 15 good, 20 nice, and 10 bad. In this one there was, 1 very good, 9 good, 40 ok to average, and 10 bad. It's the same scenario as last time, 1 minute per comic then the lights are turned off. The 1 minute is obvious, but the lights being turned off isn't, so when Seizure didn't explain it at the start, for the new people, it started the show awkwardly. A couple times the comics went with the time filling gag, like reading out the performer list, but that stuff is amusing for about 10 seconds, and to carry it on for another 50 seconds, it gets awkward. This year they didn't have as many known comics, but went with new young comics instead - half I had never seen before -, so the quality was down. It may be due to this being the last show of the festival - the last week doesn't have as many good comics -, or the logistics of the show. If you think about having to pay 60 performers, the best they could expect is travelling money, and that wouldn't attract many pro comics, but would attract up and comers. Overall it was ok, just not as good as the first, but I did hear people say they liked it. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
11.05.12 : The Bear Pack- Improvises with Friends : Factory Theatre - impro
The show started "Inception style", with a story, in a story, in a story. It took a lot of mental ability to keep things in order and justify everything by the end, but it was accomplished correctly - even though some of the cast had to be reminded of their characters -, in what was a crazy but complete story. Mystery guests this week were Rob Carlton (Actor), and Axis of Awesome's Jordan Raskopoulos, and Lee Naimo. The Bear Pack's Steen Raskopoulos and Carlo Ritchie were in form, and romped away with it at the start, but the out of practice veterans soon caught up to the stupidity. Carlo reprised his best character, the mid west American character that always produces that sharp, unexpected, killer line, that gets the big laughs. Jordan took the rude approach, which is acceptable with the late night audience, and added much unexpected smut. There was actually so many players tonight that some couldn't develop their characters that well, but that wasn't that much of a problem.
Bar | Skirt : A man looking for Patterson forgets to left turn at Albuquerque, and drives straight at the T intersection to wind up lost, and in a bar. The Barman, who's name is Barman - go the aptronym -, or Keeper to his friends, greats him. We then discover the lost man is Paterson's son, and he ask Keeper if he knows where Patterson is. Keeper then recalls that 60 years ago another lost stranger entered the bar looking for Patterson. We cut to 60 years ago, and we find out the stranger is a private eye that Patterson's son had sent find Patterson. Keeper then recalls to the private eye, that 1 year prior that, another stranger entered. We again are whisked back 1 year to find out the stranger was Patterson himself. Patterson was in the bar when Lucille threw a snake at him, but Patterson grabbed the snake and bite it to death. Thankfully the snake wasn't venomous, but unfortunately it was poisonous, so he dies. When Lucille leaves to masturbate the pigs, Keeper stuffs Patterson and uses him as a floor mat. Back at the future, Patterson's son reveals that Patterson had a secret, and he needs the missing papers. Keeper then reveals that back then, a crazy man was coerced by a voice to burn down Patterson's textile factory, and steal the papers. When questioned as to how he knew that, it is revealed that Keeper is a wooden doll that was made out of tree that was near the textile factory, so he saw everything.
Back at the present, Keeper then reveals that the crazy man tried to sell the papers to some stinking, arrogant, smoking, French men. And again when question as to how he knew that, he said that some of his wood was made into the paper that was stolen. Patterson then stirs from the floor, only being unconscious for the last 61 years, and pulls the missing papers from his arse. He then reveals that he tracked the French guys down and took the papers, and that the papers where a revolutionary new design for a pencil skirt.
It was really good. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.25
11.05.12 : Daniel Townes - Judge Me Schmudge Me : Enmore Theatre
I originally wanted to see Michael Workman. But after walking the distance between venues, I realised that the 2 shows were too close together to for me to make my second show. So to fill time, I went to this one. This show is packed with a lot of material. Daniel spoke rather quickly, so he covered a lot of stuff. And I reckon he did all the material he has - at least all the stuff from the last couple years -, except his travel stories to South Africa and America. I knew there would be repeats, so for me, this is in that same boat as Cam Knight. I remembered about 90% of the stuff, but the story of how he got busted with drugs was so old, and only heard once before, that it was like it was new again. And coupled to his new Winnie the pooh section, it was all still good. Again my score is low because of the repeats, so it's a mute point, and again the crowd enjoyed it a lot. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.5
10.05.12 : Cam Knight - Just Another Misfit : Factory Theatre
I have seen Cam heaps times, and didn't know if this show would have repeats in it, so I was a bit reluctant to go. Unfortunately my reticence was justified, because for me, it was 75% repeats. Cam is always very animated, and talks pretty fast, so you get a lot of material in a show. And because this show ran long, you got even more for your money, so tonight's large crowd loved him, and gave him big applause at the end. I don't know what's going on, but this is the second show Ray Badran opened for. The Jon Dore audience was a bit stand-offish, because they were there only for Jon, but Ray quickly turned them round with one aptronym joke, and had them all laughing by the end. In this one the crowd already knew him, so he did well again. My score is low because of the dreaded repeats, so you can ignore it, but the crowd enjoyed it a lot. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 3.5
10.05.12 : Axis of Awesome - AoA World Tour 2006 : Factory Theatre
After buying this ticket, I thought that I must be clinically insane for going to a show that I saw here just a couple of months ago. But thankfully the one thing that AoA have going for them, is that they are always good. Even thought I had just seen them, and knew most of the stuff, there was something special about tonight, and that made it all worth while. Most people think it's the humour in the songs that makes them funny, but when you analyse it, the comedic banter between songs adds so much to the show - it's like stand-up type stuff -, that it is an integral part, and is makes the whole show great. You could actually see it in action, because yet again a microphone failed at this venue, and instead of detracting from the show, it added to it, because they always come up with hilarious banter to fill the time. There were the usual favourites, like, Can You Hear the Fu*king Music Coming Out of My Car, Sh!tty Love Song, The Language of Love, and of course, The 4 Chord song - that has been changed around to make it fresh again, and add even more laughs -. There were also some new songs like, Good at Dancing - the young peoples favourite -, Hold Your Applause, an Elton John song about Benny, Face is so Familiar, and Smoking is cool - it's supposed to be ironic -, which had me worrying about the kids in the audience because it may be interpreted as pro smoking - maybe switch it to sarcastic -. There was also relative new songs like, Floppy Guys, The Holly Ghost, and Lee's KFC song - a much better vehicle for Lee's talents than the Hotel California song -. I usually can't handle loud music, but with my earplugs I could hear every word. And that makes me realise how important that the words get to the audience - unlike that SOH show that sounded distorted -, because I got every gag. A special night that was better than the recent show they did here. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.5
09.05.12 : Project 52 - Comedy For Mad Dawgz And Also Regular Dawgz : Hermann's Bar
It was nearly a full line-up of comics from the Sydney Comedy festival, so the quality was high, but it was a shame that the room was only a half full, because the comics deserved more laugh feedback. What can you say, except that a lot of people missed out on a good night.
Michael Hing(MC) - told us what he's been up to lately, like his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. As you would expect, it was over analysed bad things that happened. Like being mistaken for another more successful young Asian comedian, finding out racists have an open mind, and not being called a fagot while in Melb. Interesting/good.
Josh Pearse - was the only new comic, and he was quite alright. He did a lot of religious stuff - mainly against -, that had me wondering if the outside world may take it badly. Luckily the people in this room can think, so it wasn't a problem. Interesting/nice
Jennifer Wong - was better than she was in her preview, so she was quite nice. I should really skip the previews and only see the finished show, but this years SCF timetable wouldn't allow me to see the finished product. Delightfully cute.
Tom Ballard - did his usual 'purposely being offensive for comedic effect' gags, which are always funny, if offensive. Things like doing Asian insults, when the host is Asian - similar to how the Black youth in America call each other the "N" word -. Or doing Uni student jokes, in front of Uni students. He did part of his current show, which is superfluous parts about politics, and other stupid things he's seen. I find Tom can be up or down, but he's always up here, so he was good.
Genevieve Fricker - was another one I couldn't make the connection to go see at the SCF, so I don't know how see does in a long set, but all her short sets with songs have been good. Tonight there were no songs, so it was all stand-up, but overall it was still fine. Nice
Jack Druce - is pretty solid in short sets, so he was very nice tonight.
Shane Matheson - was so close to being brilliant. He made up this incredible interpretation of some innocuous painting, that was ridiculously funny. Unfortunately it didn't have as strong an ending as the build up, so the laughs tapered - it had believable ridiculousness at the start, which is funny, but finished on unbelievable ridiculousness, which is less funny -. At least it finished on a punchline, so it did recover. His weird cleverness still has a lot of potential, so we will have to see if he can make the connection to consistent laughs. Good
Luke Heggie - didn't do the usual acclimatization of his character at the start, so it took some time for the audience to get comfortable with his style of his humour. After the initial awkwardness, the crowd did get it, and they started laughing. This was another act I couldn't make the SCF timetable connection, so it was good to see a small section. Good
Idiots of Ants - say it a couple of times very fast, and you will get what it means -, got the biggest applause of the night. They did 3 sketches. One was a Hens night party where they woke up the next day after getting drunk sex change operations. There was training new fathers, to act like old fathers, by forcing them to constantly tell Dad jokes. And the angry bee. Similar effect with this audience as the one last night, because there were only chuckles, but a lot of applause. Good
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
08.05.12 : Idiots of Ants(UK) : Factory Theatre - sketch
The feeling is had to explain, because it's a dichotomy. One one hand you probably won't laugh that hard, but on the other hand you will like it a lot. There hasn't been good sketch comedy for ages but these guys are giving it a go, and it came out not too bad at all. The first sketch was that stepping through the forth wall stuff - which you never know how to react to -, so it wasn't that appealing to me - it did have nice WWII characters, so it wasn't that bad -. After that one, all the rest were quite appealing, so it ended up a good show. It's hard to separate the 17 sketches, because they were all a 3.74 - 4 skits - except for the first one -, but the ones that stand out as being funnier were :- The husbands with the hand puppet wives, going to a wife swapping party. And the real life Mortal Kombat fighters. There was also a funny audience participation skit that had them singing a song to Ella, which had call backs latter. It might not be super laughs, but it was always interesting and quite different, so it's quite enjoyable. I laughed about 3.5, but I liked it like a 4. I did overhear some girls saying it was very good. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
08.05.12 : The Five-Year Engagement - movie
Humour | Romance : A couple postpone their marriage when unexpected events keep tripping them up. The movie is exactly like the premise of the story line. Just imagine a 5 year engagement. It's like the euphoria is stretched over a long period of time, so it's less euphoric, which is like the movie. It ended up being a nice cruise, without many startling events. Very mild humour, but I still enjoyed it. 3.5
07.05.12 : The Darren Sanders Show - Ep 9-11 recording : Laugh Garage Sydney
Special Guests: Rob Carlton (Actor) - who was quite funny -, Christian Marchegiani (Fitness Expert) - was very fat at 19, but worked it all off -, Michael O'Loghlin (AFL-Swans 300 gamer), Desiree Hurwood (Model), Peter Berner (Comedian), Peter Byrne (Neil Diamond impersonator). I don't know most celebrities from a bar of soap, and only knew 2, but the others were still interesting. There were some loud/drunk women that made things weird, but you could actually do another episode just on their bloopers, so it wasn't a problem for me. The TV audience probably won't see the mucking around, but on the night, it was fun. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.75
05.05.12 : 4th Annual Yo Mama Battle : Factory Theatre
It had ups and downs, but was still good. This show is a competition as to who can make up the best "Your Mama" jokes on the spot. Tonight's contest started with 8 comics, who battled 2 at a time, trading Yo Mama insults until they accumulated 3 strikes. The 3 strikes were :- 1) telling a joke that isn't funny - voted by the crowd -. 2) Getting stumped, or taking too long. 3) Repeating a joke. The 4 winners then move on to battle in the semis, with those 2 winners proceeding on to the final to find this year's winner. All suggestions come from the audience, and are used one at a time, except the final, where the competitors get 3 audience suggestions that they can randomly switch between.
Basically none of tonight comics are professional Yo Mama competitors, so there was pauses and duds due to them only thinking as fast as their untrained brains could propel them - hence the ups and downs -. What I did notice was, younger people, and people that have been doing a lot of thinking recently, usually came up with better, and quicker responses. People like Uni students, and people that come up with gags for TV shows, seam to do better, and that explained why James Colley, and Peter Green where the best. By some stroke of luck, these two were pitted against each other. With one being the quick thinking, young, smart arse, and the other the competitive, smarter, older person. Peter is pretty competitive. Once in a Freak of the Week competition, Peter hid inside a garbage bag, on the stage, with his head wrapped in bubble wrap, and then further wrapped in aluminium foil, not moving, for 2 hours, just so he could jump up and surprise everyone when he did his stand-up routine - Yes, he won the competition -. These 2 traded insults for 15 minutes - miles longer than any other pair -, in what was the best part of the night. James was a touch quicker than Peter, so won, but he didn't make the make it to the final, even though he was the best on the night. The only other mention on the night was 3rd best Mikey Mileos, who eventually went on to win. The crowd was young, so they don't applaud much, and this made it difficult to gauge the response by volume. But as an overall impression, I think they thought it was good. My score may also seam low, but I would definitely go see next years show . Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.75
05.05.12 : Felicity Ward - The Hedgehog Dilemma : Factory Theatre
Felicity's best constructed show to date. I found all her previous shows good, but scattered. The other shows felt like a bunch of random stories and stunts, like 10 minutes of drunk stories, then a game with an audience member, then 10 minutes of sex stories, etc, but this is the first that has had a common tread, by having a continuous story running it's full length, that she has done. This show is a lot more thought-out and constructed than previous stuff, and ultimately more engaging. There are related tangents in the story, but the show always keeps it's flow in one direction. It's basically the story of her failed relationship/marriage, and the relationships that followed, which is something everyone can relate to. It's a neat package, with the laughs about the same as her previous shows. But because it's more complete, it's more compelling. Good. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
04.05.12 : Mercedes Benz Awkwardly : Factory Theatre
I knew this was going to be the iffiest show that I picked. I was hoping it would be like Meshel Laurie's The Whore Whisperer, where she told funny stories about the stupid things the punters did at the brothel she worked at. Unfortunately it wasn't that, but actually the story of what it's like being a stripper, with it's rare highs and frequent lows. I know strip shows are BS, and are just business were you pay for a service. But there are some people that are so stupid, that they think they are the centre of attention, and that the girls are only there for them, and it's these morons that become the main subject matter of the show. The show covered, the awkwardness when you first start, the high of making good money, the euphoria of being the centre of attention, the realisation that it's fake attention, recognizing that you can't have a normal life, the acknowledgement that your popularity fades, and that it eventually turns into just another job. You can actually see how mechanical it is working as a stripper, as she explains the many fake techniques that they use to earn a living. Sooner or latter the derogatory remarks of the morons, that don't realise that this is just a job, wear you down as they treat you like second class citizen. The general feel of that show is that all of these facts, make this more a truth show, than a comedy. I'm not really the person to judge this show, because I know too much about the industry, and I already knew all the surprises that were revealed. My friend used to be a door spruiker in King's Cross, and we used to go up to see him a couple times a week. We had to wait for him to finish work, so he used to get us inside to watch the show, just to pass the time. It didn't take long before that got boring - you can only stand so many girls grabbing your shlong thinking you're a customer -, so we went outside to talk to people that worked there - which was far more interesting -, and that's when you realise, that it's nothing more than just another job. The show is more interesting, especially for people out of the loop, but still not high in humour, so for me, it's more a good Fringe show, rather than an outright comedy. Most of the audience applauded quite a lot at the end, so it looked like they had no problem with it, and must have enjoyed it quite a lot. If you want to know the nitty and gritty, with mild humour thrown in, then this is for you. Crowd : 4. - Me : NA
04.05.12 : Lawrence Leung - Beginning, Middle, End : Factory Theatre
I initially thought his last show Lawrence Leung Wants a Jet Pack was better. But when I analysed them both together, I realised that both have the same amount of laughs, and both were just as interesting as each other, so they were equally good, and it was only the engineering aspect of the last show that appealed to me more. The idea for this show could of come from an idea he came up with on Agony Uncles (ABC show where guys were asked to give advice about relationships). In the out-takes of the final show, Lawrence told the producer that maybe he should interview girls as to what they wanted, because guys were clueless. And that tied into this show, because it was about him having a crush on a girl in his Uni class, that was only interested in him as a friend and not lover, and he couldn't figure out why, considering that they got along so well. He then summated that he was unlovable, but when analysed all the possibilities, he came up with the fact that this can't be true, because a someone wrote some Fan Fiction about him having a relationship with Toadfish from Neighbours. Typical Lawrence, very well thought out, and very intricate. It's analysed so completely for laughs, that it's like science. The cleverest show at the festival, if not the funniest. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4.75
03.05.12 : Glenn Wool(CAN) - No Lands Man : Factory Theatre
It's been so long since I last saw Glenn, that it even pre-dates my blog's 2008 starting date. After such a long period of time, and no blog reference to jerk my memory, I don't really remember that much about it. What I do remember, is the feeling I got from it, and that I didn't like it. I remember his face initially giving me the impression that he was one of those good time comics that do the superfluous funny stuff - basically not PC -, but after seeing the show, I felt he was too political for me.
Fast forwarding half a decade, I thought I better give him a second chance, to see if my attitude changed. Well I can report, that it definitely changed for the better that night. The main premise of the show is dealing with the pocket Hitlers at airport security - which he has to frequent often -, and how looking as unusual as Glenn does, doesn't make things that easy. This guy is genuinely funny, because he crafts his jokes for maximum effect by using cleverness and his acting skills to gain even more humour from them. This time Glenn was exactly what I envisioned all those years ago, and was very funny, not just for me, but for everyone in the audience. It's has some toilet humour, and material that initially sounds non-PC , but is actually PC due to some of Glenn's clever skirting the rules. Just good time, all out, unadulterated comedy, but not the simplistic stuff, but more the clever funny stuff. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
03.05.12 : Matt Okine - The Voyager Record : Factory Theatre
Even though I know Matt is good, and kills it every time, I am always going to be a special case, because I see him so many times a year. This watching Matt perform practically every month, is inevitability going to make me familiar with some of the material as it's being formed, but what I didn't account for was, the possibility that the audience would be stacked with Matt fans that were in the same boat as me. What I'm trying to say is, the laughing was good, but not as loud as he usually gets, and this makes me think they knew some of the stuff. There were pockets of laughing at a volume that the material deserves, it's just that the rest of the room should have been there also. Matt went with the Voyager spacecraft angle, by linking significant points in it's journey to other subject matter. Like, Voyager passed Saturn in 1981, Saturn has rings, you give a ring to your partner, and this lead to a section about the differences between men and women. For me the show was about 50% material that he has been trailing around the clubs in the last 6 months, and 50% new stuff. But even with my familiarity with the jokes, it is still a good show, and I don't have any complaints. Matt is always high quality, with this show being equal to this first effort at the festival a couple of years back. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
02.05.12 : Story Club - Everything's Coming Up Milhouse : Hermann's Bar
We roughly had a 60% crowd - the rest were probably at the comedy festival -, so we were a bit down on actual backing track laughter volume during the stories. But the still sizable crowd did rally at the end of each story, to give it the correct amount of applause, in what was another night of high quality stories. You would think after so many years, and so many stories, that they would be running out of good stuff. But yet again the stories were fresh, engaging, and still surprising. Again there were occurrences and happenings that you couldn't predict, and coupled with good writing, to further exemplify them, it was nearly a clean sweep of good stories. The quality was so good, that it would be mandatory to hear the podcast, where ever it is, and if it's still running it.
After abusing the audience, and not in a good way, Capt Crash 'n' Burn Ben Jenkins told us an epic tale of Alcatrazian escapology. Dick Dastardly, and his chip lined McDonalds paper bag of evil, lay a trap for plucky Penelope P Pigeon. She trustingly entered, and was soon trapped. Unfortunately Dick didn't account for the "Thigh of Power", because her errant chicken foot kicked herself free, thereby allowing her to peck the eyes out of her assailant. Good
Mark Sutton - The theme of the night was bad situations that become good in the end. Unfortunately this story didn't follow that, because this was a bunch of bad situations, that ended a less bad situation. Things it included were, running out of money, being robbed, getting to work late, being robbed, getting fired, being robbed, being chased by railway ticket inspectors, being robbed, and then finally, not being robbed. Good
Alice Fraser - You needed a law degree to get all the nuances at the start of this one, but after it was simplified for me, we found it was about Plucky Paul Pus, of the octo variety. Cephalopods aren't nice, but the world's most famous one, was. Paul the Octopus was gaining a reputation as a football expert. In 2008 he predicted the winner in 4 out of 6 Euro 2008 matches. Then things got crazy. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup he predicted 8 winners out of 8 matches, and became famous overnight. The pressure of celebrity had got to him by end of 2011, so he hatched a cunning plan to fake his death. The next day was found stiff as a board by the distraught Stefan Porwoll(aquarium manager), who gave him a burial at sea. He sprung to life upon hitting the water, and frolicked in the ocean again. But not before waving Stefan goodbye, and saying "Thanks for all the fish". Nice
Patrick Lenton - You may think working as an undertaker is bad, but that's nothing compared to working in retirement home. When the human body is pushed to the limits of it's design, parts of that body go haywire, like their brains - no food for zombies here -. The oldies get up to all manner of craziness, like constantly humping each other, being angry and nasty, defecating in their pants, and generally leaking all their bodily fluids over the furniture. Now plonk Patrick into the middle of all this, and as you would imagine, it didn't take long before he couldn't take it. By the end of the first week, Plucky Pessimistic Patrick was think that death was better than having to go there again. And in a stroke of luck, a spider bit him, and he died. Thereby releasing him from ever to having to go there again - LOL -. Good
Eddie Sharp - Plucky Peddie Pharp told 2 stories that didn't seam to have anything in common. But when you analyzed both, he ended up becoming the thing he initially despised. In the first he was the innocent fool to a callous prankster, but in the second he unwittingly became the prankster most fowl. Now you might think that these minor stories wouldn't be that significant, but when the second story had him putting down David Malouf, on prime time TV, the appeal of being the c!nt becomes all too apparent. Good
Zoe Norton Lodge - This story also involved old people, along with all their squelchy mess. Her Uncle had to stay at her parents house for medical reasons, because if he stayed at his house with his wife, she would have certainly turned off the machine. Colostomy bags and catheters up the urethra, soon had nasty stains turning up, and this had Plucky Palliative Papa hand cleaning 80 year-old anuses. Good.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
01.05.12 : Frank Woodley - Bemusement Park : Seymour Centre
Since Frank and Colin split up everything Frank has done has been gold, that is until Woodley. I found The TV show so predictable, and dull, that I only got halfway through the second episode before I stopped watching it - I usually tolerate the whole series before I give up - . When this show turned up I was a bit worried that it might be like Woodley, but I figured that even though the TV show wasn't good, he has always been very good live, so I made a point to see it. Tonight's performance held true to the live mantra, because it was also very good. The show is like the last show that he and Colin did together, in that it's various small skits. Frank does what Frank does, so there were jokes, a couple songs, expert miming, and slapstick, but not the predictable slapstick from Woodley. The show travelled fairly briskly, and seemed shorter than the actual 1½ hour run time - a sure sign it's good -, with something always happening to keep you amused. Even though I laughed about 4.25, I liked it more, with the crowd liking it even more when they gave it a big cheer at the end. Just unadulterated Frank fun. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.5
01.05.12 : The Avengers - movie
Action | Sci-Fi | Fantasy : Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army. It's good, but it is a bit weird that a modern day Superhero movie is mixed with Norse mythology - it's like electricity mixed with magic -. 4
30.04.12 : Danny Bhoy - Messenger (Please Don't Shoot) Extended : Enmore Theatre
You probably know that I'm not fond of the repeats at this years festival. And even though this is essentially just another repeat, with small bits added, Danny Bhoy is also one of those performers that is a guaranteed laugh - so long as it's only once a year -. The other offset for being a repeat, is that it's a very big show, that practically ran for 2 hours - it had to have an intermission -. For the review see, 02.05.11 : Danny Bhoy(SCO) - Messenger (Please Do Not Shoot) : Enmore Theatre -. As you would expect, because I remembered half the stuff, my score is down on last years. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
29.04.12 : Jason Byrne - People's Puppeteer : Enmore Theatre
For me it feels like this festival is just a bunch of repeats, and you could ask, why am I going to what is essentially just another repeat. Well the reason is, Jason is a guaranteed LOL act - it's as sure as houses -, and it was proved tonight, because that is exactly what happened. Jason signature stunt is getting people on stage to embarrass them, but oddly enough, there was less this year. Initially I hated the stunts, because it seamed like simplistic slap-stick to fill time, but now I love it, and was actually disappointed that there wasn't more. Stunts this year included, getting an indifferent man to come on stage after he arrived late, only to have his wife mortified to see him on stage after she entered even latter. There was also a sword fight with an usher, using mic stands, with the indifferent man umpiring. And a big Riverdance finale, using 2 guys from the crowd. What there was this year, was a lot more stand-up - which usually isn't as funny as his stunts section -, but the difference this year was, that he brought stronger/funnier material. This year Jason went with the same subject matter as Deanne Smith, and that was about sex - which is why it was so funny -, and that included having sex with, and without, a partner. There was also the instantly relatable Australian stuff, that always gets a good response, and things that has happened to him recently, like travelling stories, and being on TV. Always funny. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
28.04.12 : Jon Dore : Enmore Theatre
Jon is like the Edward de Bono of comedy, because it's kind-of lateral thinking comedy. What I mean is, that instead of his jokes travelling in a straight line to the punchline, they turn sharply at 90º at the end, thereby making the punchline very unexpected. It's like his take on the question "Would you go back in time to kill Hitler?", where with Jon's logic, you wouldn't be able to kill him as a adult, because he was always guarded, thereby making the real question, "Would you go back in time to kill baby Hitler?". And it's that sideways thinking that made his comedy interesting. The jokes don't come at a frantic pace, like an old style comic that has gag after gag, but more at a cruisey pace, but it's the cleverness of the stuff that makes it good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
28.04.12 : Lou Sanz - Neverending Storage : Factory Theatre
I don't think Lou's shows are ever going to be a big laugh-fests, based on previous stuff, but there is just something sweet about them, even though they are usually all filth. This is another show about her failed relationships, but they are all tied together in chronological order - making if more flowing -, with the basis being that after each failed relationship, she would store the remnants of it in a storage unit, thereby accumulating failure. The first time I saw Lou, I loved her short stand-up slot. The second time was her experiences in America, which I didn't like because I found too harrowing. Her third was good again, and was her short perverted failed relationship stories - somewhat similar subject matter to this one -. Even though this was is a touch down on the last one - I liked the shock value of that one -, and was practically 80% of the same stories, but with more detail, I liked this show better than Deanne Smith's show last night, even though Deanne's is actually funnier. More storytelling than laughs. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
27.04.12 : The Bear Pack- Improvises with Friends : Factory Theatre - impro
The mystery friend tonight, was the very welcomed Toby Truslove. There is just something instantly appealing about Toby, and it was good to see him after such a long time.
Barber - Basset : The story started when a man came in for a hair cut. Soon another man entered, and after a while, they recognise him as Pedro. The Barber forces him to cut his hair, and that's when they discover he is an expert with the razor. They then reminisce about how he got the ability, and the Yarn starts. We are whisked to 1415 Agincourt, where we find out that they were on opposing armies, with the man getting the haircut being English, and Pedro being French. First they are enemies, but then they become respectful of each other, and ultimately friends. Years latter, the Englishman has been traumatized by the war, and has to stab people in the face if they dance a jig.
There were technical inconsistencies. Like characters from the barbershop became different characters in Agincourt - they changed accents -, even though they were supposed to be the same people. That wasn't a problem, because you had no trouble following the story regardless, and the added accents just make it so much better, even if they are racist. But the problem I had, that was a little confusing, was that when a player got tapped out, I couldn't tell if the new player was containing the same character - which is convention -, or if they were a totally new character. It's only a slight point, but it did take precious seconds to work out. There were some very funny spots, just not all the time. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
27.04.12 : Deanne Smith - Livin' the Sweet Life : Factory Theatre
I think I have been charmed by her face, but after so many years, it feels like the honeymoon is over. To be fair, her first show, a couple of years back, was good. The next one was just a tad lower, and was more in the delightful area. But for me, this one feels a tad lower again. There were other factors that could have contributed. Like I was a bit tired, but then again, a funny show usually perks me up. Also the first 10 minutes was repeats, which was fill-in, to allow for late comers - the show actually had to stop for them -. Deanne also stopped the show in places, for people that left and re-entered during the performance, to try to get gags out of it - which didn't really work -. But all that aside, the show was less busy and more relaxed compared to her usual appearances - basically she talked slower -, and that reduced the energy for me somewhat. He new show is the sex addition. She talked about her looking for sex, having sex, preparing for sex, and it basically covered wax jobs, to splitting up. She did have a joke in the style of a Jim Breuer joke, where see would constantly repeat and exemplify a statement about a crude thing that happened during a wax job on her lady parts. And like Jim's, this one was the funniest one on the night. There was a lot of women of the gay variety in the audience, which you would expect for such an adorable comedian, and they loved it. But I don't know if it was because she was funny to them, or they were just smitten - Deanne even stated that she is so adorable - which she is -, that she could turn up late and no one would complain, because her face lets her get away with murder -. So for whatever reason, it was probably only me that wasn't fully charmed, but if the show was tighter, I'm sure I would have sided with the crowd also. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
MySpace Views (308)
26.04.12 : David O'Doherty is Looking Up : Seymour Centre
This is my second, and probably only, first time performer that I will be seeing in this festival. I could have seen Henry Rollins, who was on just before this show, but for some reason the organisers decided to overlap their times, so I had to miss out - moving David's show back 15 minutes would have fixed that -. We all know the persona that David portrays on TV, and that is the mild mannered comic - sort of the Clark Kent of comedy -, but the first surprise of the night, was that he's a lot more animated - Just image his song My Beefs 2012, where he gets quite animated on the punchlines -. That continued for most of the night, with quite a lot of pacing back and forth across the stage. The other surprise, was that there was a lot less songs than I expected, which is all he does on TV. David is a very clean comic, so he's never going to offend anyone, and he is very lovable and warm, so he's instantly appealing. You might not laugh that much during the show - it's mainly chuckles -, but you will still love it all the same. His show flew past, another indication that I must have liked it, and he was a touch more than I expected. The crowd must have also loved it, because they gave him big applause at the end. More lovable, than actual laugh out loud funny, but good all the same. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
25.04.12 : Jim Breuer : Metro Theatre
I'm a bit sick of our Comedy Festival, especially this year which looks like it's just a bunch of repeats and mild shows. So I thought, instead of blowing another $700 on a lot of shows, I would see less shows, but ignore my self imposed $50 limit, and that would allow me to see more stuff I haven't seen before. Well the first one was Jim, and boy did that turn out well. I did my usual comedy black-out, and didn't do any research on Jim, and that would allow me to get the full effect if it was a surprise. Well it turned out that surprise was a bit of an understatement, because I was choking, crying, and dying, in what was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time - my eyes are still sore -. Jim covered the middle aged man doing a young man's activity, when he told us the story of his recent trip to see an bunch of Metal bands play - this one had me seeing spots -. He went on further to to describe fatherhood, by tell us the story of him witnessing child birth - this one had me crying -, and then on to raising kids. He then told us about caring for elderly parents, especially his father - this again had me crying -. If you think about it, these stories are middle aged crowd material, and shouldn't appeal to tonight's young audience. But because he added the crude factor, it crossed the barrier, and that had all the age groups dying from laughter. He finished on his funny mixing alcohol story, his hilarious first job story, and his celebrity stories, and that made the show feel very big and full of material. Don't except PC - leave that sh!t at the door -, because that's what makes this show super funny. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 5
24.04.12 : Shane Dundas - Believe : Seymour Centre
It started off quite alright, and I thought, if this is keeps up throughout, it should be good. Unfortunately it didn't, it went form a 4, to 2.5 by the end. Being that Shane in new to this, I didn't really expect much, but because it started with laughs, it got my hopes up, and I started expecting more. Unfortunately the show didn't end up that way, because when it turned the other way, I turned the other way also. It's basically a beginner's show, so the jokes are predictable for veteran watchers, and they are stretched out to fill out the show. It got to the point that the buildups were so long, and the punchlines so far apart, it wore me down, and I went from 'like', to 'meh'. There were 2 people laughing throughout the show, with one on the good gear - I could smell it -, but other than that, the rest were pretty quite. Upon exiting most people sounded enthusiastic about the show, but I did overhear one guy say "It was interesting" - but not in a bad way -, which kind of sums up, that it was more smile humour, and probably more for fans. It's ok for a first effort by a new comic. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 2.5
23.04.12 : The Darren Sanders Show - Ep6, Ep7 TV recording : Laugh Garage Sydney
This recording was very different compared to the first one I saw in August last year, because it's a lot more elaborate now. There were more cameras, a sound engineer, more in-depth interviews, and even a band. The biggest potential problem of the night, was the smaller audience. But they knew they had a job to do, and filled with great bravado - brilliant -. The next problem was that everyone treats recordings as having to be prim and proper, so jokes don't flow as easily as a stand up show, but that's not a problem, because they get fixed in edit. Also, guests with only one field of expertise, can get a bit too detailed in their subject matter, thereby reducing a wide audience appeal, but again, you won't see that on the TV edition. I might be sounding like a party pooper, from the above, but on the night, I thought the recording was great, and a lot of fun. Tom Keneally was the first person interviewed, and you can tell he's not as quick as when he was young. But because he's smart, you could see his brain ticking over and giving back as many zingers as he got. I would have thought that actor Gerry Sont subject matter (Soaps), might not be my cup of tea. But it ended up being very interesting when he explained how salesmen use acting skills to get sales. There was also model Alyssa Stringfellow, who was nice, and the band Stone Parade - finally we get music closer to the age group of the audience -, who are Grunge based. The show wasn't funny all the time, but when it wasn't, it was interesting, so it was never a problem. On a side note, when I went back to find tonight's guest list, there were more names on it than I saw. I don't really know what happened there, but I must have thought the end of Ep7, was the end of the night, and left too early - I only noticed after that they were supposed to record 3 Ep's, not 2. If you look at the history of Talk Shows, the older ones were more serious, but now, all of them have switched to comedy based. So it's practically a case of, the funnier the better, and tonight was funny enough. I had a lot of fun, and it was all free. Next recording - Monday 7th May. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
18.04.12 : Project 52 : The Improv Den : Hermann's Bar - impro
This year the crowds seam to have got bigger, because it was another 'packed to the max' crowd. This is one of the better subscribed shows from P52, even though the others aren't far behind, and that is probably due to the first 2 shows being killers. Hats off to the crowd for supporting these shows, because without them, it wouldn't be as good. Even though this show wasn't as good as the other previous Improv Den shows - they did set a high standard -, it was enjoyable all the same.
Team 1 : These guys went with a style that we haven't seen in a while, individual separate scenes. Even though I like a continuous story, these guys were pretty intricate with each scene, so they were better than what we usual see. Everyone in this troupe was good, with
Will Erimya standing out a touch more - he has the most experience -. I can't describe the scenes, because it's too hard to explain 20 different scenes about toast, so them's the breaks. I went against the crowds decision, because I though this was the funniest team on the night. Very nice.
Team 2 : These guys went with the same individual scenes, but more ruder. They died a minute from the end - watching the clock too much -, but on the whole, they were a touch down on the first team. Nice
Team 3 : The returning winning team surprised me tonight, because they absolutely smoked the opposition in their first two appearances, but didn't on this night. I thought they were down on their usual clever ideas, but that didn't seam to affect the crowd, because they were voted the winners again. This was a somewhat continuous story, that crossed the forth wall in places - which is always a risk -, and was about movies, making movies, and actors. Nice
The Bear Pack : Unfortunately the characters they chose tonight were very softly spoken, so I could only get a rough idea of what the story was about, but not actually hear enough details to know what was funny. There was a very funny bit at the end, that even had the players laughing, but overall there seamed to be less laughs - I had time to listen to the audience, because I had nothing to do -. The story was about two guys that go pretend fishing in their fishing shop, because they are scared of water, but who finally decide to go on an actual fishing trip. From what a gathered, Carlo was down a little on his usual tall tales, but I couldn't really tell because I could only hear every third word. At times you could hear the front of the room laughing when the back wasn't, so maybe I wasn't the only one - one girl behind me also had trouble -, but overall the crowd must have heard it, because they gave this a big cheer. N/A
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
17.04.12 : Kiddie Time! - Farewell Shenanigans for Brydie : Roxbury Hotel - impro
A big crowd turned up on a rainy night, to see what might possibly be Brydie Lee-Kennedy's last performance in Australia - hopefully we can all say that we saw her before she got famous -.
The theme for tonight was kids shows, so everything was done in that style - even if most of it was not kid appropriate -. There was a scene based on the letter "A" and the number "3", that had 2 kids in a singing contest about areolas. There were things you find in your local neighbourhood, like transsexuals and Prime Ministers, that had Gillard and Abbot wanting sex change operations. Master Squaggle - similar to Mister Squiggle -, had to complete a squaggle, and then try to interpret the mess - this was used as the prompt -. One squaggle was fashion, and it was fashioned into a song. Another was a ship full of butterflies lost in the Bermuda Triangle. The funniest scene of the night, was when they put Black American gang members, and Red Neck White trash voice-overs, on a video of My Little Pony. Next was a story called, A Shock for Shelia, which was inspired by narrator reading passages from a book, with the rest filled in by the cast. It involved a very evil dog the killed a little girls parents, and then took over the role as the mother of the orphan. The first half wrapped up on a song. The varying themes of these shows adds more interest, and everyone was good, so the first half was good.
The second half is usually The Conversation, but as a special treat tonight, we had Brydie's Big British Busting-out Bonanza - which I personally thought was more enjoyable -. Because Brydie is moving to the UK, and we might never see her perform again, she was asked to perform in every scene in the second half - all 12 of them -. Each of the other players individually got to challenge her in various scenes. One included a scene depicting what it would be like in the U.K. A video offer from Amanda Buckley, her best partner in crime, that involved a scene where she couldn't touch her hair - Steen quickly set her up to play Rapunzel -. On a side note, there was always synergy between Brydie and Buckers, so their scenes together were always special. Another was about sitting on a porch reminiscing, where she was made to come up with an impromptu speech on the spot. There was a scene were she had to play her most cruel character, and it involved cutting a young boys legs off. Next she had to play a subtle character, which ended up the centre of attention Miss Universe, but with a snake skin problem, taking to Donald Trump. Another had her chloroforming everyone. There was also a nervous first date with a Bogan. Bad life decisions, that had her shoulder angels telling her to go in different directions. A scene where she wasn't allowed to laugh, that had everyone trying to make her laugh - they succeeded -. BLK doing Brydie Lee-Tomato, in a Campbell's soup can in Campbelltown. A scene where she played her usual board game character, a gun toting débutante in 19 century Massachusetts, who had to fight vampires and ghosts. And a Dr Who trailer, that backfired. Being a pro, she was never stumped, and nailed them all - something more experienced players have trouble doing -. Good
It's actually been so long, that I can't remember exactly when it all started - I'm guessing 7 years ago -. The numerous shows she's been in include, Blank the Musical, heaps of various Impro shows, Princess Cabaret, Dolls Cabaret, Fairy Fail, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jo & Brydie Play Doctor, and in places from Belvoir, to Bondi, and beyond. Even though there was a few incarnations of Princess Cabaret, it's my favourite, and typifies most of Brydie's performances - cute, but totally inappropriate -. Even though she's going, we will still have great memories to remember her by.
Everyone was good tonight. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
17.04.12 : Battleship - movie
Action | Sci-Fi : A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada from unknown origins. You know when you go to a movie made by the Transformers guys, you only go for the action. So when this movie didn't start with action, like the Transformer films, but launched into ½ hour of no action, it's pretty easy to get bored. The Transformers guys are great at big CGI mechanical action, unfortunately that is all they're good at, because the writing for the dialogue was so lame, it was actually annoying. The first 1½ hours would only satisfy the intelligent of an early teen, with the last half hour being somewhat more suitable for adults. I suppose it's ok, but it's not really for the highly intelligent. 2.5
16.04.12 : A Rational Fear LIVE: 2.0 : FBI Social - Kings Cross Hotel
That was surprising, it was actually quite funny. I'm not into satirical comedy news programs, mainly because it leans toward the news side rather than comedy side. And because they are news-centric, the serious stuff cancels out the comedy stuff, making it not that funny. This one on the other hand, was centred more to the comedy side, and was actually more a roast of the stupid things in the news. Dan Ilic is a bit of a master at these things, because he had the show fast paced, tightly packed, and high energy, and that didn't leave any time to not be entertained - even with the small bit of serious stuff -. The first half was pretty much all laughs, with Dan Ilic, Lewis Hobba, Scott Abbot(Political Asylum), Veronica Milsom(Triple J, TAYG), Mark Humphries(Raw Comedy), David Bloustien(Good News Week, Randling) and Chris Taylor(Chaser), all doing set pieces on their respective topics. PM's host Mark Colvin was interviewed, and was quite light hearted and quick with a joke, even when asked about his health problems, and the need for more organ transplant donations. Others included, DJ Tom Loud on sounds, and pre-recorded funny skits, and Robbie McGregor on live voice-overs. A bit different, but quite enjoyable, and even though you can hear it on the radio, I would recommend seeing it live. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
13.04.12 : The Hunger Games - movie
Drama | Sci-Fi | Action : Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television. I got the impression that this movie must be a lot worse than I thought, when they started promoting this as the next Twilight phenomena - how stupid to they think the public is -. I knew this film was going to be arduous at 2½ hours, and was actually going to give it a miss, but then $9 tickets showed up. To prepare, I got a lot of sleep, and drank a lot of coffee, just so I will make it to the end. This is a very old and stupid Sci-Fi premise for a film, ie : the contest to the death for a viewing audience (just see the 1987 film, The Running Man), and it's a story that can hardly fill 1 hour, yet alone 2½ hours. But to get around that flaw they tried to make this movie more serious, by giving a more heart-felt background struggle story. Unfortunately it's not possible to make such a stupid story look real, so in the end, it's still stupid. Basically it's boring and predictable, with not much appeal - after 1 hour of tedium, I didn't care who lived or died -. Too long and nothing new. 1
12.04.12 : Randling TV show - Ep 19 recording : ABC studios Ultimo
Heath Franklin and Felicity Ward(The Ducks of War) stole the show last time, and by dumb luck I got them again - I've seen 3 shows, but have only seen 4 teams -. They started slow, but soon cranked it up to make the show very entertaining. The other team was The Argopelters, with the dominating Jennifer Byrne, and Chris Taylor, who couldn't get out as many funnies this time. At the briefing they try to push the GAME side of the show, stating that they don't want one of those 'nice journey/chatting' type show, but that the points are the only thing that matters. But for me, the game side is inconsequential - more about that latter -, because it's the players mucking about, that is entertaining. They should really rephrase it to the 'competition' side of the show - like an angry Sp*cks and Specks -, which is what we got today. At one point Jennifer made a crack about TDoW, and this rallied Felicity into an hour of trash talking - which she won -, between them. It was a tough battle, with the score fluctuating wildly. TDoW were behind most of the way, until Felicity actually knew an answer - more about that latter -, and that made the scores even. One team then pulled ahead, only to be brought back in the new game the end.
I can now see a problem with the game. Every question is so obscure that nearly every answer is a blind guess, usually based on whether they thought the question writers were trying to trick them by using a word that sounds like it belonged in the opposite category to the one it actually belongs to. And it's that, that makes the actual game part not as important as the fun of the players mucking about - I prefer the funnies over actually learning stuff -. 3.75
11.04.12 : Montreal Just For Laughs Showcase : Comedy Store
This landed on my desk 2 weeks ago, and I thought it's something new - even though I could guess what was going to happen -, but the biggest draw card for me, was that it was free. This was the brief, "Come see some of Australia's best comedians audition for the prestigious Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.", and that's kind of what it was. I knew our best Australian comedians wouldn't have to audition, so it had to be our best unknown comics, so tonight it was Genevieve Fricker, Dave Jory, Cam Knight, Bruce Griffiths, Chris Radburn, Mel Buttle - who strangely I haven't see before -, Heath Franklin, and Dave Eastgate. They were all good, as you would expect because they are regularly sought after, but it was Bruce and Dave that I found funniest - I think the crowd went with Cam and Bruce -. You can really tell a non paying audience, compared to the usual audience here. They probably don't follow comedy that much, and only come out to see what it's like - because it's free -, and because they have less invested, they don't laugh as much. Even though the audience response was down, the comics were a higher level, so it was an ok night. I think the sound guy was smoking something, because the sound was so loud, the guitars were distorting. I can't see how everyone in that room didn't get hearing damage - if you ears are ringing when you get home, you've done permanent damage -, because mine were ringing, even though I was wearing ear plugs. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.75
10.04.12 : American Pie Reunion - movie
Comedy : The old gang go to their reunion. This movie got a bad review, and it was puerile, dumb, rude, and crude, but that's why I liked it. It took me a while to remember who was who, but it was a good nostalgia trip back to the past. I don't think others will score it as high as me, but I liked the stupidity. 3.75
09.04.12 : Andrew O'Neill - Alternative : Roxbury Hotel
This was very much a last minute thing. I just happen across an advertisement in YourGigs, under the comedy section, for Andrew O'Neill - I wish there was only one site for all adds, instead of me chasing heaps of sites all the time -. I didn't know who he was, but some quick detective work made me remember that I had seen him in one of those Ch10 comedy specials. I didn't remember him being that special at the time, but you can't really judge a comedian on that show, because it's so chopped up in editing that no comedian gets any momentum, and that usually ruins their routine - I've seen known, funny, comics not be funny, because their set is chopped so short -. I also saw that he is doing the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which gave him credence in my eyes, and thought that this will be my only opportunity to possibly see something different. So with a couple of hours to spare, and not expecting much, I took the chance, and was blown away, because Andrew was so much more than I was expecting - this puts him in that rare category of the 'diamond in the rough' remarkable shows -. On a side note, I saw my first MICF brochure this year, and was shocked at how tiny our SCF, of mainly repeats, is. Maybe I should move to Melb -.
Because Andrew is a transvestite, occultist, black metal, comedian, most of the subject matter is directed toward young people, like social media, Goths, metal-heads, Vegans, etc, but it's delivered in a way to appeal to young and old. It's all fast talking and constant energy, so there isn't a dull moment, and that just makes it better. The main points he covered was :- He is borderline ADD and is easily distracted, especially by social websites. There was an Australian section that covered our excessive rules, like fruit fly laws, spiders, and our futuristic, old, Monorail. There was also an Alternative lifestyles section, like, I didn't know he is a transvestite - I thought he was just a guy in black kilt and tights -, but because of his knowledge on the subject, he educated us on transvestites and the different types. He even told us how to spot a secret transvestite in public - just look for men with neat eyebrows -. Stupid people, like when a person got into his cab even when they could already see that he was using it. Religion and God, and other Gods. Boring TV shows made these days. Playing tricks on the boss by pretending to be disabled. And punctuated through all that were these silly songs, like Songs for the Colour Blind, and heaps of crazy, weird jingle type songs. It gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get when you discover something new and special. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
06.04.12 : Magic Comedy Night : Tap Gallery
Looks like everyone had the same idea as me - boring day, so lets go out -, because the place was full. Everyone knows this is not going to be a stellar night, because it has highs and lows, but that's fine. Because on a day like today, just doing something is fine. Tonight it felt like we had a more magic crowd, because people didn't laugh at jokes that I know work in other venues. But I suppose when you get closer to Oxford st, the crowds may be more serious. The magic doesn't really grab me - it doesn't help than I have seen them all before -, but there were some new comics, like nurse Natali that did a routine about hairy muffs, and Zoe Pelbart that did an ad-lib female Jesus with attitude, that were both quite ok. And coupled with the reliable Christina Van Look, I really can't complain. 3.5
07.04.12 : Bathurst Motor Festival : Mount Panorama
04.04.12 : Project 52 - The Improv Den : Hermann's Bar - impro
This was a little up and down compared to last time, but the first and last team smoked it, and that left a good impression. This year the audience decides who the best team is, by voting. And I was happy that they saw it the same as me - I always wonder if my score has any relevancy to others, hence the reason I include the crowds score as well as mine -.
1) Harry Milas, Rob Johnson, Patrick Byrnes and Luke Martin : These guys were good last time, but this time they smoked it. And they did that by using clever ideas. Like they got facts they knew about the subject, and distorted and exaggerated them to the point of hilarity. Also the story was delivered in continuous logical order, so it was easier to follow.
The scene was something about 'I hate my mum', and internet chat. And delivered classics like, "It's easy to write a blog, all you need as a crap opinion about something". And the classic shock truth, turned around. "Son, your step-father is not actually your step-father, but is in fact your father............... and also your uncle" - it was a classic, making your father your father's brother. Brilliant -. They were very good, and they won again.
2) James Colley, Kay Pengelly, Hari Bhrugubanda, Michael Richardson, Alex Lee, Scott Browless : This one didn't have as many ideas, and practically only went with killer cows - I think remember this idea being used before -, and coupled with a disjointed delivery - like small non-related scenes -, it wasn't my favourite. It actually wasn't that bad, it just had a lower laugh level than the first, and the crowd still seamed to like it. OK
3) Nick Fischer, Stephen Clement, Cihan Saral, Josh Pearse : This one was between the two. It was basically a simple story, but it had more ideas that the last team - it was also more continuous -. But the main reason it was better, was that it was funnier. It was about frozen hamsters turning into killers. Nice
The Bear Pack - The Yarn : The Bear Pack will improvise a 'Yarn' from a word, telling and acting out the story as it's being told from different points of view. It seams like you can get a good show with only 2 players, but only if one is clinically insane. And tonight that person was Carlo Ritchie. Never has bullsh!t-meandering-waffle been so entertaining - like Grandpa Simpson on steroids -, and never has so much been spilled. This whole second half was like a car spinning it's wheels, basically going nowhere fast. It was about and old man telling his son the tale of when he went up the hill. There was flash-backs, recreations, corrections to the stories - that were also recreated -, and correction to the corrections - also recreated -. Steen got some good ones in, but it was mainly Carlo driving the wheel tonight - something he doesn't do often -. Carlo invented the waffle to fill time while the others get ideas, now he has turned it into an art form, and has become the Waffle King. The night ended on a big high with this 40 minute extravaganza, that was as ridiculous as it was funny - I thought it was actually better than the one they did last month -. Very Good
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
03.04.12 : Wrath of the Titans - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : Perseus goes on another quest. I didn't think much of the first movie, with things by the book, and a weak lead character. At least this was was a touch better, but not by much. The lead was slightly stronger, and the CGI action was more imaginative. It's ok, but nothing exceptional. 3.25
01.04.12 : Tom Green : Enmore Theatre
This is another of those famous comedians with a large fan base that I know nothing about, like Gabriel Iglesias(USA), Pablo Francisco(USA), Greg Proops(USA), etc - I don't have pay TV -. And because I haven't seen anything they have done before, in my eyes, they have to stand solely on the amount I laugh. I knew so little about Tom, that I didn't even know he was a comedian - I thought he was just a guy from that movie -. Tonight I found Tom to be good, mainly hovering around 4, with occasional blips to 4.25. His comedy is more the superfluous stuff, no heavy going political stuff here, so it's more fun funny. His themes on the night were, the waste of time that is social media, his appearance on the apprentice, and how he got fired, testicular cancer, and talking about how things were done in the old days. This falls into that category of famous comedians that are good, but not brilliant - basically, they are quite entertaining, but you don't laugh as much -. I liked it, but for me it was very similar to the other 3 American comedians mentioned above. On the other hand, the fans were a level higher than me, which is what you would expect because they're already hyped to be there. No one will be disappointed with this one, fans, nor newbies. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
29.03.12 : Best of British : Comedy Store
I would have thought that with so many comics I hadn't see before, I would have found it funny. But I didn't laugh at all. I could hear people laughing, but looking around it wasn't coming from my section, so I guess the audience thought it was ok. Probably more for the people that don't go to comedy that often. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
28.03.12 : Story Club - Of All The Gin Joints : Hermann's Bar
On the night I remembered only 1 story, with all the rest being new to me. But for some reason, got Déjà vu the next day. And because of that, I wasted hours reading 3 years of old posts - because I'm so anal -, only to find I was dreaming - damn you OCD -. Maybe I vaguely remember something from other shows, I just don't know, but either way, on the night it was all very fresh and new, with the best part being, that they were all very funny. It was like a triple header that night, good writing - construction can make the average great -, funnies - you feel like you're more involved when you laugh -, and the newness - it has the surprise factor when you don't know what's coming -, and that made it special night. With all the stories being so equal, - the fun never let up -, that it's hard to split them. And that made the night a cascading crescendo of brilliance.
Ben Jenkins - This one was about the time Ben was in Melbourne flyering for his Dissillusionists show, when he and his friends stopped at seedy bar for a drink. While alone, with the others buying drinks, 2 bikies sat down and start talking to him about their feelings. Which is kind of ironic, because you can kick bikies in the head and they don't feel a thing, yet if a girl doesn't like them, their feelings are hurt. This must be a Melbourne thing, because the bikies I know in Sydney, they aren't that soft. Ben's mate Paul sees the predicament, and comes over to rescue him with a BS urgent message that they have to leave. This was the only story I remembered on the night, but going with my bad memory, this was a more concise version of the detailed original, so it was more compact and intense.
29.07.09 Ben Jenkins was the host and started off the night with a story about running into a huge bikie in a Melbourne pub. And then being a nerd by quoting Shakespeare to him.
Cait Harris - This story entailed, 'How to find the David of your dreams in 97 simple steps, from birth'. Somehow this started at the age of 9, with the girl coming of age to womanhood, or little accident story. It then went on to her favourite teacher, who seemed very kind . A quick trip to a fortune teller years latter, had her looking for a David. She thought she found him, when bumped into her seemingly kind teacher years later in a club. She then when home with the teacher, and subsequently found out this was not the David of her dreams, but a total deviant pr!ck. Some were along the way there was some hot octopus loving, and that culminated in a very funny tale - you could take this on the road, it was that good -.
Alex Lee - This one also involved some bikies. It was about when she was waitressing on the southern beaches and a gang of bikies entered - because bikies are so synonyms with sunshine -, and ordered a meal. The meal went fine, in a tense sense, until they had to pay. Being young, with the pressure of not wanting to die, she made a mistake with the bill, and overcharged them. When the boss discovered the error, things got very tense, and he quickly told her to fix it, before they were all killed. Also very funny.
David Cunningham - covered One Thousand and One Nights/Arabian Nights. King Shahryār was ruling over his kingdom of sluts - he had killed all the virgins after sleeping with them -, and that made him the King of D!cks -. Finally the last virgin was given to him, but being smarter than your average bare virgin, she told him a story that ended on a cliff hanger. Which she would only concluded the next day. This sparing her life for a conclusion, continued for 2 years and 271 days, where the King finally saw the errors of his ways, and married her - thereby bypassing the virgin rule, and making her into a slut. One of her tales was recounted by the blandest superhero, The Beige Flash, in the inimitable Cunningham style - basically quite condescending -. As you would expect from an Arabian tale, the story was about some middle eastern shonk ripping off people, a tradition that is still practised to this very day in Lakemba - and they say stereotypes don't exist -. Unfortunately the usual death penalty conclusion of the day, is omitted in modern times, so that's one tradition we do miss. David's passive-sarcastic-back stabbing, is always very funny.
Chris Taylor - You can tell when a non student does a story here, it usually feel like a non-constructed story that you tell your friends. So when Chris heard the other stories, he was a bit worried his story wouldn't be as eloquent. But he shouldn't have worried, because it did fit right in. And was so funny, that it felt more like a stand up routine. I was a late bloomer to the movie Casablanca - because it was before my time -, but Chris was even further removed,- by being younger still -, and because of his age, he didn't really have an interest in the film. The other reason is that Casablanca is such an iconic film, and talked about so much through the years, that you don't actually have to watch it to have an opinion on it. Over the years Chris had perceived the film as bit of an oldies chick flick, based on the accumulated knowledge of famous quotes, and the snippets they show in TV specials. So he had a pretty good handle on it, and could easily BS his way to being an expert about it, even though he had never seen it. Things quickly changed he met the girl of his dreams. She was obsessed about Casablanca, and wouldn't go out with anyone who didn't like it. So, as we all know, boys do stupid things for girls, and against his better judgement, he watched it, and that was were he found out why everyone raves about it. Very funny
Zoe Norton Lodge - One of the most disconcerting moments in your life is when you leave home, and then return years later, only to find that your parents have moved on and don't regard you as the centre of their universe anymore. And this then makes you question your actual worth in the family. This is what happening to Zoe, when the love of her got transferred to the next object in line, the common everyday angry magpie. Things got even weirder with Alfred Hitchcock's parents and their flock of murderous birds, because it soon became evident that she was now second in line to a squawking defecating pecking monster. In the end I think Zoe would have felt better if it is was a person next in line, and not a dirty feathered fiend. Also very funny.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.75
27.03.12 : Ghost Rider - Spirit of Vengeance - movie
Action | Fantasy : We always knew it was going to be dumb. But dumb is fine so long as there is something new in the action department, which there was in the first half, but then it fell apart in the middle and got boring, thereby making it crap. Not even the rally at the end helped. Stupid, but only sort-of ok. 2
24.03.12 : Butterfly Boucher : Vanguard - music
Fast forward 7 years. I had totally forgotten about The Mercy Bell, but I was at one of those cheap CD sales at Darling Harbour and spotted a CD by Butterfly Boucher. And even though this CD was from America, I figured that there could only be one Butterfly in the world, so it had to be her. And it was - I figured that when they went to America, she stayed -. The album took a few listen to's before I could get into it, so I could tell I'm not that into it, but overall it was fine.
Butterfly first came back to Sydney a couple of months ago, and I was going to go to that one, but I had pre purchased tickets to another show. Unfortunately the show I missed had Missy Higgins playing with Butterfly - she is producing Missy Higgins' third album -, so it was a bad gig to miss - I always wanted to see Missy live -. Tonight she was a bit sparse, because she was going it solo, and I only recognised 3 songs, but overall it was ok. It didn't help when the Vanguard closed the upstairs balcony - probably due to lack of patrons -, so the lack of seating annoyed me - I'm too old to stand up for 4 hours these days -, and spent a couple of hours sitting at the bus stop. 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0gXA_UCeDSc#!
24.03.12 : Drags - Top Doorslammer, Prostock : Sydney Dragway
We have 6 Pro classes in Australia, and out of them only 3 are worth watching. This meet had 2 of the best classes, Top Doorslammer, and Prostock. These classes are always well subscribed with full fields, and are always breaking records. So for someone that likes the competition side, rather than just the spectacle, it's going to be pretty interesting. The big attraction factor for people in the know, was when the Doorslammers broke the 6 second barrier, and went into the 5's. 5's are still a big deal, so when every car qualified into the 5's, it broke the record as the fastest field in history. Prostock also has a barrier, and that's breaking into the 6's. Every year they get closer and closer, and today came tantalizing close with a 7.05 second run. Not a big meet, but it was fine, and something quite different. 3.5
23.03.12 : SCF - Preview Night : Factory Theatre
My history of this Preview night is :- The first few were good, because it had a lot a variety, but the last one was total crap, because it was just a Comedy Store Showcase - same people doing the same jokes that they do at the CS -. This one somewhat returned to it's roots, by bring back the variety with comics you don't see often. But even that aside, the regulars that did turn up, quite a few brought new material. And it was all the new stuff, that made it good. Best on the night, in no particular order, was Matt Okine(MC) - more new food stuff -, Luke Heggie - new baby stuff -, Anthony Salame - new American stuff -, Ronny Chieng - new Rottnest Island stuff -, and Chopper - new stuff also -. Next on good was, Daniel Townes, Nikki Britton, Tom Ballard, Smart Casual - mainly doing their usual stuff -. I think I have heard Michael Hing too many times, but the crowd still liked him - not enough "My father does approve of this" gags -. The odd one out was Rhys Nicholson. He started with a different routine, and because he didn't establish himself with his usual getting-to-know-you level of perversion, the audience was a bit mystified. He did switch to the regular stuff, and won them back, but it was interesting how a change of script can turn things around. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
20.03.12 : 21 Jump Street - movie
Action | Comedy : A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring. This was like a TV sitcom, in that you could tell they tried to write crazy solutions to situations, but that just made it predictable. Rubbish, but ok to watch 2
15.03.12 : Randling TV show - Ep 3 recording : ABC studios Ultimo
Evidently the Pilot trialled more games than they were actually going to use, so this was my first view of the sorted and slick final version. Thankfully the clichéd speech was removed - it was novel in The Fat, but got pretty worn by The Trophy Room -. And even the first game, where they had choose which of 2 categories a word belonged to, didn't seam as predictable this time - I guess it's the talk-out-loud mental gymnastics of the teams that made it interesting -. We started off with videos of the teams responses to set questions - to get to know the teams beforehand -. The Heath Franklin and Felicity Ward video was funnier than the Benjamin Law and Wendy Harmer one - Heath and Felicity have some sort of symbiotic relationship with each other that drove them to be funnier -, and that continued throughout the recording. Overall Heath was the funniest - his quick answers to stupid questions seam to suit him better than his character based comedy -, with Andrew Denton and Felicity close behind. Ben Jenkins did the warm up, and is getting pretty slick at it - clapping above the head would help, because no one can see that stupid applause sign -. Because there was no faffing about, there was no dead spots during most of the recording - the redoes at the end was probably the worst part, but you can live with that -. All sorted, and quite slick now. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
14.03.12 : Project 52: The Improv Den : Hermann's Bar - impro
I don't know what happened over the break, but suddenly all the players in the first half went up a skill level. And that was mainly due to them now projecting right across the room - they actually put the pros in the second half to same in that department -. I don't know why they call it projecting, because it's basically just talking louder, but I suppose it's because the performers seam to be right next to you when there louder. I never noticed before, but when the cast is louder, the characters they portray seam more animated and exciting, and the humour seams funnier - It's probably one of the reasons why Pat Magee always seams better than everyone else in the plays he does -. The Impro coming out of this room has a big vibe attached to it now - even impro cynical me enjoys it -, and it shows because the room was packed. Steen Raskopoulos hosted - I thought he retired -, and there is one thing he's brilliant at, and that's keeping the energy up
1) Michael Hing, Tom Walker, Bridie Connell, Jon Williams - If the crowd was expecting something big it didn't take long, because team 1 was monumental, or maybe just mental, when they knocked the crowd's socks off. This one was a reality based scene, be it a distorted one, about a chocolate cartel in French Columbia. With Jon in the lead you know it's going to be good, but then you add the scattered Hing, and it goes ballistic. Jon uses detailed facts mixed with other real facts, and this makes it easily relatable because nearly everybody knows these facts. And Hing uses the on-purpose-mistakes - I hope they're on purpose -, where he said Colombians speak French, because Columbia is close to French Guiana. This then starts a humorous dialogue with Jon correcting his mistake, and Hing back-pedalling a justification that revealed that he used French, because that was the only accent he knew. And Tom and Bridie traded insults to much comedic effect. It was so good that the 18 minutes felt like only 6. Very Good
2) Harry Milas, Rob Johnson, Patrick Byrnes, Luke Martin - This team kept pace up with the second best scene of the night. This was some type of English murder mystery in Africa Finland, that played out as a mainly a continuous story. It involved up-stairs down-stairs, Perot, ghosts, talking rigamortise, and Arabian European Africa. Good
3) Jim Fishwick, Maddie Parker, Matt Watson, Chad O'Neil - Even though this was the 3rd best team on the night, they were so close to the others that it didn't really matter. Quite a few of the young teams were pretty scattered last year - jumping to random scenes -, and this one was a little scattered, but the big difference was that the small random jumps stayed on the one story, so it was very coherent and complete. This was about Reginald looking for his long lost, long haired fiancé. Better than nice.
The Bear Pack - Steen Raskopoulos, Carlo Ritchie + International guest, Lyndsay Hailey - Did 40 minutes using pictures drawn by the audience during the break. Overall it was short bits of long form, but because the pictures were done by young people, most of the scenes were fictitious surreal impro, so not really suited to old people like me who like the reality based stuff. But by the sound of the crowd, they liked this one the most. I found everything Lyndsay did was very detailed, and because of the details, you know exactly what's going on - also the details exaggerate a character and make them funnier -. She reminds me of the first generation of Pro improvisers - if you saw Rob Carlton last night you know what I mean -, and how they used to add all these details. But because she is young, she does it faster. Steen was put under pressure in one scene last night when he was put on the spot in an interrogation scene, and because of that he killed it. Tonight he was put on the spot by leading most of the scenes, and again he was very good. Good. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.25
13.03.12 : Is Game! by Full Body Contact No Love Tennis : Roxbury Hotel - impro
I read a Tweet that the new format was good - be it that it was by one of the players -, so went to check it out in case it's true. What I found was, this format suits me better. For me the old format, 2 players stretching for 18 minutes, left too many dead spots. Two player teams only seam to work when the players are brilliant, or they have some sort symbiotic relationship - eg Brydie Lee-Kennedy and Amanda Buckley -, or if they are a Carlo Ritchie. The 2 player formats are great for players learning, because you're forced to come up with stuff, but from an entertainment stand point it might not have the level to keep an audience engaged these days. You can see this phenomena at Junior Tennis, larger teams with less experience being more entertaining. Also the old time limit was a bit of a problem. You could see a scene hit a high, but when the players realised they have heaps of time left, there is a dead spot as they regroup and continue. The new format has larger teams, mainly 3 players, and this allows someone to come into the scene if it starts running out of steam. And coupled with no time limits, scenes can finish on a high. The overall format is short bits of Long Form, which, like Short Form, caterers for modern short attention spans. The second half was The Conversation(a conversation that prompts the players into doing scenes), which was better than before, but it still has problems. They fixed the conversation part, where people used to talk over each other, by having a 2 person interview. And even most of the scenes were fine. It's just at the end things got hectic and turned into one of those non coherent Puppy Fight Social Club shows, where everything is so rushed that no idea is portrayed properly, and this lead to the ideas never reaching the audience. Thinking back, I don't remember The Conversation format ever being that good. Even Andrew O'Keefe's TV Impro show suffered from the stop-go effect, where the interview is dull and slow compared to the Impro - it was also weird when players made a funny scene out of a serious story -. For the last 7 years - started by Twisted Mellon -, there has been a massive amount of energy put into making up different ways to get inspiration, and it seams to be at the detriment of the skill part of impro - it also disengages the audience because they aren't as involved in the decision making, ie, one word inspiration for a 18 minute scene -.
Is Game was hosted by Eastern Europe's closest thing to a game show host, Sjlobodån Namçrâts(Cale Bain), who only spoke in Eastern Block gibberish. Oddly enough, even though no one understood what he said, he was brief and didn't postulate, so was alright. Audience suggestions were pinned on the wheel of a bike, which the players picked after spinning, or they could reach in to the mysterious bag for an object of inspiration. Scenes :-. A red meat suggestion became Communist cows. A Sergeant forced a crying Private to shoot himself in eye. Dr Zarathon ritually sacrificed koalas. A Sheriff meets a Sher-riff. an appearance by Geoffrey Rush - Rob Carlton nailed his mannerisms -. There was a suicide apple song. 2 dogs must perform in a hula contest or get shot in the head by and angry cruel master. The follically challenged meet in a Amazon rain forest. Carlo and Steve Lynch saying so much, but meaning so little - what else would you expect from Carlo -. And the arranged marriage of Jethro the Englishman.
Stand out for me was Rob Carlton. He was so accurate and succinct, that you could work out what he was doing instantaneously. His mine was so clear - something you don't see much these days -, that I knew what he was trying to portray within seconds, unlike some by other players that left me confused - I have no idea what touching yourself on random points on your body means -. Other mentions was Jon Williams clever references to history.
The Conversation was an interview with Carlo Ritchie, so obviously the cast centred around Carlo's constant Polish and Glenn Innis references, which was very humorous to the people in the know. There was also the arrest of a piece of velvet, that had killed Amanda Buckley. It was quite alright. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
13.03.12 : John Carter - movie
Fantasy | Action | Adventure : John Carter must save the world, even if it's not his. It didn't look good with an empty cinema - did everyone know something I didn't -, and things got worse when it started as one of those hybrid genre films - Cowboy/Fantasy Aliens -. But after it picked one genre, it was a lot of fun. The main character was strong, unlike Sam Worthington's weak character in Clash of the Titans, so the hero seamed worthy of a hero - also John's dog was funny -. Again the CGI motion defies the laws of physics, so the motion looks weird, but nearly all the CGI action movies are guilt of that. It was a lot of fun. 4
12.03.12 : CJ Delling & Jennifer Wong's MICF Trial Show #2 : Roxbury Hotel
Don't you hate it when 2 things happen on the same day. I choose these because I will probably never have the opportunity to see them again.
CJ Delling-Life is Wunderbar(trial)
She lives up to the German stereotype, by being very organised, but the humour level is more toward the basic side - regular comedy goers will be able to predict the gags, so it's probably more for people new to comedy -. Being organised and keeping the dialogue going doesn't leave any slow spots, unlike Jack Druce who had funny spots but a space set, so this one was better, even though the gags were a bit simple for me. NA
Jennifer Wong-Ouch & Other Words(trial)
This one was better material wise, it's just the delivery and organisation let it down somewhat - it was a trail show after all -. To give an example, Jen has a killer 'Phone call to China' gag, but for this one she tried to make it more believable by say she called the Chinese Consulate. And because it wasn't explained clearly, it was a bit confusing. I do notice this with other comedians - mainly the younger ones, because the older ones run off a script -. They have this killer gag, but when they tell it a second time the wording, because it's not scripted, and that makes it less funny. It kind of explains why Peter Meisel records every set, so he can work out what works, and get the wording perfect. I have seen half this show before, but in short doses at other comedy nights, and the wording was a lot better, so they were funnier. Still needs organising. NA
08.03.12 : Harold Park Hotel
Sold out. I don't know how everyone else knew that you had to buy tickets online beforehand, because the venue's site didn't say that you could buy online, yet alone that you HAD to buy online. I had to Google search it afterwards, and only found them on the management's website.
MySpace Views (363)
07.03.12 : Project 52 - Hermann's Heroes-Humans Not Wasps : Hermann's Bar
Being the first show for the year I would've assumed it to be quite average - which has been the case in the past -, but the first half got better and better. Our host Michael Hing did his usual fast talking tangents, about what he got up to over the break. I was a bit surprised he didn't cover chicken molestation, and gopher sputum collecting, but when he covered murdering someone by burning them in a mattress factory, we got the true Hing back. The biggest news was the new super secret TV show he hosted, that was about - BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP -. Ben, Carlo, and Steen tried to keep thing in check by helping with humorous comments from the back, which just added to the fun.
Gabi Kelland was so sweet, that you could hear the sighs on the other side of City Rd. She went with a type of Story Club/stand-up hybrid, that covered her first kiss(hence the sighs), and people getting frisky in cinemas (extra special nice). Antony Faisandier gave a brilliant explanation the US Republican Primaries, that had everyone laughing at their stupid antics - I don't watch the news, so it was surprising good -. I feel Sam Bowring is a bit under rated. He can cross the barrier between a main stream audience, and an younger Uni audience, and that makes him appeal to both. He also has quite a bit of material, because nearly every time I see him, his set is different. Tonight he went with the animal theme - I have heard parts of it, but not all of it in a row -, and it appealed to me - which he always does - and this demographic, because he got the biggest applause of the night (extra good). Nick Kraegen is now old and jaded, but these new problems just made everyone laugh (good). Alex Lee doesn't like balls in the crack, so she tricks her boyfriend into being the big spoon (nice). Ben Ellwood wasn't as good as his Look at Me appearance last week, but was better than he usual is here, so he ended up being better than nice. David Cunningham didn't go the historical route, but went for a more personal touch (very nice).
The first half was a great, but it did taper in the second. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
06.03.12 : Short & Sweet - Fundraiser: Laugh Garage Syd
And now for something completely different. I'm not a play person, but I figured in short doses it should be ok. Short & Sweet is advertised as short plays, but tonight it was more like long skits, because the 3 plays went the comedy route. I'll met by Moonlight was over acted well - for comedic effect -. It's just the premise was a bit simplistic for a real comedy - it was comparing old style vampires to new Twilight vampires -. Show Me the Money and Run was a brilliant parody about Tom Cruise and Woody Allen getting together to write a movie. This was a true comedy with plenty of laughs that sent up Tom and Woody, and their mannerisms - 5 points just for this one -. Size Matters was about a women complaining about her breast size - with plenty of hands on action -, and was nice. There was some Irish drumming, and some hot and fast piano accordion shredding. The stand up didn't really go to plan when one woman got offended by the divorce/wife jokes. And it kind of put a damper on proceedings - it would be good if one person doesn't spoil it for the majority -. Actually, this audience wouldn't really go to comedy, because they were mainly actors, and because of that, they probably get ridiculed about their profession, which makes them pretty serious - I can see why they snap easily -. Oh well, should have avoided the actor jokes, even though they didn't really realise that comics are in the same boat. At least the one brilliant short play made it all worth while. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
04.03.12 : Look at Me : Laugh Garage Syd
I didn't really know what was going on here, like why there was a Sunday show at the Laugh Garage, but there were names on the bill - even though some didn't turn up -. and the prospect of something new with the advertised storytelling, so I went because I was in the area. From the outside, it looks like the 'Look at Me' crowd is using the venue first Sunday of each month to do alternative comedy. What do I mean about alternative comedy, well Project 52's Hermann's Heroes can be a little out there with new comedy ideas - so it can be weird -, but this show is another level higher, because it achieved bizarre comedy. Now you may think bizarre comedy is too much, and it can be, but tonight they had a brilliant audience, and a fair sized one, that laughed at all the stupidity. And that made if funny for everyone who wasn't expecting what we got. To put it into perspective, Ben Ellwood doesn't get great laughs at Hermann's' Heroes, and they are one of the more accepting audiences, but this audiences laughed so much - even at the off putting pedo stuff -, that he was actually funny and quite good. It was like all the comedians were told to drop their usual routines that work, and bring something totally different. And even though no one was what I expected, because of the fun and open crowd, everything was funny - except that last girl who practically did nothing -.
Some of the things that happened were :- A guy blowing soap bubbles, while another guy ate and snorted them, during the reading of a list of comedic things. Someone trying to sing bush ballads with 3 Beroccas foaming in her mouth. A video of a 2 foot long knitted penis jumper. A couple stories - one being a brilliant copulating one -. A Karaoke song. The reading of lyrics from a filly rapper's disrespecting women song - he pretended to read off a paper, but actually recited it from memory -. A sing along, that was destroyed by the last act. Nick Capper heckling the comics with a microphone from the back. Music and sound effects that heckled, or set the mood for the comics. Nick doing an impromptu rap about a Ventolin puffer and a glue stick, that a comic was going to use in his next act. The said comic using the aforementioned stuff, plus a shaver, a hair dryer, and a sampling machine, to make a mechanical song while he shaved, so he could produce Nick Capper's initials out of stubble on a piece of cardboard. It was the crowd that made the weirdness funny. Good. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
03.03.12 : Comedy Gala : Laugh Garage Syd
The headliner this week was Paul Warnes, who again had a fresh audience and killed it, with Sally Kimpton(MC), and a very sexy corseted Christina Van Look, who were both good. But it looks like the late night show is getting too good, because they seam to kill it more, and do it every time. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
02.03.12 : The Grates : Manning Bar
01.03.12 : Greg Fleet - Heroes(trial) : Harold Park Hotel
Because of the small audience - even though this doubled after coaxing of patrons from downstairs -, Greg did a short 30 minute set of only new material - he did offer us free entry to tomorrows full show -. And because the material was tight packed and funny, I liked it a lot. Good 4
01.03.12 : Jeff Green - Father of Men(trial) : Harold Park Hotel
Jeff relies on comedy momentum, and he does that by talking fast, so when you have a new show that you're still trying to remember, momentum can very easily be lost if you can't deliver it smoothly. And that's kind of what happened tonight because Jeff couldn't keep up the usual machine gun delivery - it was a trail show after all -. It also doesn't help when you have a small audience, because this show worked with a large audience at the Laugh Garage 2 weeks ago. Jeff used to kill me every time, but the last few shows he hasn't. And I don't know if it's me getting used to him, or the jokes not being as funny. Either way, you still get your monies worth from shear mass of material, so he's always worth a look. Also, the upstairs room at the Harold is very nice, and makes me wonder why they didn't use it a few years ago when they tried to bring comedy back here. And the small audience is kind of expected here, because the 15 year break of comedy at this venue has lost a generation of audience members. Good 3.75
29.02.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
You can tell I'm a worry wart. I thought the rain would keep the crowd away, but it didn't because the room was full. I thought putting in Peter Meisel as a last minute substitute wouldn't work, because he was here 2 weeks ago, and 2 weeks before that - repeats with locals problem -, but he smoked it. I don't know if it was a lot of new people or what, but there was so much laughing that I actually laughed, even though I knew the punchlines. Last time I saw Brett Nichols here - a couple of years ago -, he had done this room so many times the audience was finishing off his punchlines. But it looks like the long absence has made him seam like a new comic - even though the material is basically the same -, because he killed it. Vanessa Ballard(MC) was also good, and brought a lot more material than I remember her doing before. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
28.02.12 : Killer Elite - movie
Action | Crime | Thriller : When his mentor is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service is forced into action. This is more serious and realistic compared to Jason Statham's usual stupid shoot-fest type movies. And that's because it based on a book that is supposedly a real story. It looks like a serious movie that's done amateurishly, it uses under powered old British cars in car chases. There are also things in the plot that look a bit far fetched, but it is set in the 80's, so security was more lax back then. It might be more serious, but for me it falls into the realistic rubbish category. 2
28.02.12 : Contraband - movie
Action | Crime | Drama : To protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, a former smuggler heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills. It started as a serious street/drug crime film with a drug boss threatening a man's innocent family - something which I hate because it it terrorises innocent's -, and that put me off for the rest of the film. It then got a bit stupid in the middle with implausible scenarios thrown in to create more action. And then it picked up at the end when all the loose threads came together. I hated it. 1
28.02.12 : Randling TV show - pilot recording : ABC studios Ultimo
There are only a few brilliant hosts that can make any show gold, like Wil Anderson makes Gruen funny, and the father of all these hosts is Andrew Denton. Even though he hasn't been in front of the camera for a while, he's still a brilliant fast thinker that can improvise a gag with a moments notice - he would probable be a brilliant ad-lib stand up also -. All new shows are draped in secrecy, so there wasn't much I knew about this one. All I knew was that it was some type of word game show. After Denton's Enough Rope you might assume it to be some sort of serious word game show with light humour - something like jeopardy -, but it's actually more a comedy show using different word based games as an opportunity to be funny. Over the series there will be 10 teams, consisting of a pair of celebrities - probably a comedian and an academic -, that will battle it out as to who knows the most, who can think the fastest, and who is the most amusing - the last one wasn't that prominent, but there were points given for humour -. Most of the games are based on games we have seen before, like TAYG uses games from Sp*cks and Specks, and Sp*cks and Specks uses board games, etc. We were told to keep quiet about this new show, so I can't give details about the games, but most were fine, except for one that was a bit predictable - even though when they played it with the audience members latter, it wasn't -, and one I didn't like - it has been used on 2 shows before, and I'm kind of over it now -. The best part of this show was the comedic remarks, and Andrew Denton and Merrick Watts killed it. Annabel Crabb and Chris Taylor were humorous, and Jennifer Byrne was more on the academic side. The actual recording was pretty slick and tight at 2 hours, so there wasn't any dead spots, it's just the 1 hour Tommy Dean warm up wasn't that good - he used his set material at the start and built up the audience, but then had to pad for another ½ an hour. If they can get clever comedians that come up with gags on the fly, the recordings will be fun to watch - even though Denton could probably do them all himself because he's so quick -, and it's the comedy that was the main reason this recording was fun. Would I see another recording, Yes. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
27.02.12 : Theatresports Live : Zenith Theatre - impro
There was nothing happening on Monday except this, so I went for the change of scenery. I usually don't laugh during shows anymore, and not laugh loudly, and definitively not at Impro shows lately, but I did laugh loudly in places in this one. They evened up the teams by putting 3 players in the 2 player team, and used Pro players as substitutes - so the quality was there -. The one slight problem was that the technical skill level isn't as high as the old days. And that's because the Pro players are semi retired and only do a few shows a year, and that there aren't any places to practice Short Form anymore, so that makes everyone rusty. That being said, they still covered as fast as their brains could process things with the lack of practice, and you could see that the ideas were there, just that they didn't have as much substance as before. The other thing that doesn't help is low energy hosting, because it makes the audience think it's ok to be low energy and stand-offish, and that makes the opening scenes feel awkward - which was evident -, because no one was hyped up yet - it's practically just a case of talking faster -. With the advent of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' being on TV, if they can keep up that standard, the old girl(short form) - with it easily digestible short segments -, this could be viable proposition for fun and profit. It had problems, but I still liked it. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
26.02.12 : Wit Large Melbourne Fundraiser : Roxbury Hotel
The downstairs stage is always a tough room, because it can't be isolated from the other noises in the pub, so it can be hard for both the audience and the performer. For me it wasn't that bad at all, probably because I was wearing earplugs, so no complaints from me. The line-up wasn't too bad with Sam Bowring, Bruce Griffiths, and Claire Hooper - so the names were there -, and Dan Ilic wasn't too bad either. If the crowd was doubled to 80, it would have been better. Nothing spectacular, but fine all the same. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
24.02.12 : A Little Bit of Heaven - movie
Drama | Romance | Comedy : A happy-go-lucky, woman who is afraid to commit to relationships for fear of getting hurt, has her world turned upside down when she discovers she has serious health issues. The movie uses levity to cover the serious bits, so it's not too bad, but it's the serious bits that gives the movie substance. It feels more like a drama than a comedy, but it's still light hearted. I thought it was nice, but it's probably more for the girls. 3.5
22.02.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
I would normally give a line up like this a miss - no one on the bill really interests me -, but it gets boring watching TV. Nick Sun was what I expected, and only somewhat appealed to the younger crowd - the old people didn't like him -. Chris Franklin was more what the crowd wanted, but it seamed that the crowd was familiar with his material, even though he hasn't been here in a while, because their applause was only adequate. The surprise on the night was Patrick Canada - who reminds me of an early Arj Barker or Eddie Ifft -, because he was quite funny with a similar conventional, but silly, comedy style - old style jokes that are genuinely funny -. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
22.02.12 : Safe House - movie
Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery : A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a dangerous fugitive in a safe house. It felt as compelling and interesting as Man On A Ledge, but the second half takes off and makes it a touch better. Lots of that close camera work that makes the action stand out. 3.75
22.02.12 : One for the Money - movie
Action | Crime | Comedy : An unemployed and newly-divorced woman lands a job at a bail-bond business. If you think about it, it's a similar premise to The Bounty Hunter. But you don't notice that until after the film, because it's done from a different angle. Nothing outstanding, but it's ok. 3
21.02.12 : Man on a Ledge - movie
Crime | Thriller : A man with nothing to loose threatens to jump from the 21st floor of a building. The title sounds like there isn't much to it, but you obviously know there's more to it. And when you see the trailer, it confirms it by giving away a major plot point. That been said, to see the whole thing with it's interesting story and constant tension and action, it does end up being quite enjoyable. I liked it, and it kept interest throughout. 3.75
21.02.12 : This Means War - movie
Action | Comedy | Romance : Two CIA agents, and best friends, accidentally meet that same woman, and soon begin a contest to win her heart. It looks good, it's just that there is nothing special about it. It's fine 3.25
21.02.12 : A Few Best Men - movie
Comedy : An English man finds love with an Australian woman and travels to Australia for the wedding with his 3 fu*k-up friends. It's one of those 'When things go wrong' films, so it's a bit predictable in places - but strangely not as much as the saturation playing of the trailer in the media would have you believe -. It feels a bit Australian, in that it has that non-serious Australian feel, so it does seams a bit simplistic and amateurish in places. The first 10 minutes was very funny with heaps of fast one liners - it had me quite optimistic -, but soon after that it tapered pretty fast. There was another very funny spot with the best man's speech, but other than those, it was mainly was ok. 2.75
18.02.12 : Jeff Green : Laugh Garage Syd
This week Paul Warnes(MC) had a fresh audience, and because they didn't know the material, he killed it. I though Jeff Green was brilliant, but for some reason the audience preferred the crude jokes over the clever ones. Jeff has this super fast delivery of over exaggerated pun type jokes, like when he compares the sun in Australia to the sun in England, he says it's so bright here, that it spot welds your contacts to your retina. I love those exaggerated realistic gags, as opposed to Ross Noble's exaggerated unreal fictitious scenarios, so it was right up my ally. It reminds me of those British comedies with the fast flying exaggerated gags with Lee Mack and Tim Vine.
The surprise of the night was the 2nd half late show. Most aren't first tier comics, so you would expect less laughs, but they aren't beginners either. So in short doses, with a compressed routine, they can be equally as funny as a top notch comic. And that's what happened tonight. I unfortunately didn't note their names, and I'm shocking with faces, but nearly everyone killed. The first 3 guys were very good, Ray Badran is getting him new material sorted, so he was better this time compared to last week. Alice R Fraser has a pretty good longer routine this time, and it not gender specific - female comics usually do the difference between man a women stuff -, but Alice does more young persons comedy. A young Uni comic usually does well in front of a Uni audience, but I always wonder how they will do with the general public, and tonight Alice did well. It's hard to believe I have see her on the stage for about 5 years now, first it doing impro, and now doing stand up. Peter Meisel has only been doing the high energy delivery, so he's been quite good lately. This section ranged from 'better than nice' to 'very good'. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.5
16.02.12 : Alfred Comedy 3 - No Jokes About Bees : Alfred Hotel
It wasn't the comics that was the problem, because they were all the good ones, but it was the room. It's hard to believe that the patrons in this venue are such stupid bogans, considering that intelligent Newtown is only 200 metres up the road, but it was them. And the worst was the especially stupid, rude, drunk, that made things hard going. At least we learnt something, don't nervous laugh at d!ckheads. Because they just keep going when they get laughs - because in their minds they think they're funny -, rather than realising everyone else is laughing because they're uncomfortable. On the night Aaron Counter was the funniest, even though he gives the impression he's going to snap - which is the impression I also got last time I saw him -, with Dave Bloustien being next on nice. Surprise of the night was Matt Okine, who is usually a very solid performer, but tonight he tried all new material that didn't seam to work. To be fair, it's hard to tell if it will work, with such a small audience, so it's not a real test.
15.02.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
This one didn't look that special, and when no one turned up, it looked grim. But people came -just fashionably late -, and the best thing was that some of them wanted to have fun. It turned out a lot better than initial impressions, so it ended up rather nice. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
14.02.12 : Jurassic Lounge : Aust Museum
If you want to go to a museum and see the exhibits at night, it's good. If you want to learn about the heart, and have one dissected right in front of you, it's good. If you want to listen to live bands, it's good. If you want to listen to DJs, it's good. But if you want to see comedy, it's utter crap. For comedy it's all wrong, just imagine people trying to talk, with a hopeless PA, while in the next room a DJ is playing loud music in front of 300 talking people. You just can't hear a thing. For comedy, 0. For other things, it's ok. 0
14.02.12 : The Vow - movie
Drama | Romance : A car accident puts a woman in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband works to win her heart again - based on a true story -. I didn't have any emotions for any of the characters until 5 minutes from the end. Mainly for the girls. 3.5
11.02.12 : John Cruickshank - Darren Sanders : Laugh Garage Syd
Paul Warnes MC'd, and was what you would expect when he's stuck with a familiar crowd, with him being nice. John Cruickshank stepped up for a main slot, and was good. Darren Sanders wasn't as intense as he usually is - he didn't use as much set routine -, but he did turn up with something new. He's been doing the cruise ship circuit - probably to make a living -, and on his travels has been taking humorous snaps, which were projected on the screens for us. I, unfortunately, didn't being my glasses, so I couldn't see most of them, but the ones Darren read out were humorous. The second half was a bit up and down, but nothing bad - mainly nice to good -, with big Joe Mifsud being the funniest. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
09.02.12 : The Unbelievable Truth - TV recording : Global Television Studios Redfern
This is a couple of the Chaser boys venturing into the comedy quiz show genre. The premise is that 4 comedians would come out one by one, and deliver 15 minutes of bullsh!t facts on a subject - that had been previously assigned - with only 4 of the facts being true. The other three were given buzzers which they would press when they though one of the facts was true, and if correct would gain a point. Conversely, if it was wrong, they would lose a point. Sam Simmons, Kitty Flanagan, Toby Truslove, and Julian Morrow were the 4 contestants, with Sam being the funniest - if his stand up shows were like he acted tonight, rather than that surreal stuff he does, I would happy to see them -.
Because TV show recordings are not outright comedy shows - even though Good News Week gets close -, they are rarely hilariously funny - mainly because of the stop, start, redos -, so it's a bit hard to know what the reaction will be toward the finished product. But for me, it seams to have promise, but might need some refining. Like there was instances of the bullsh!t facts being so way out there, that they were crazy funny. But because you knew they were so far fetched, you knew they weren't true. It's like the best part of the show has no meaning, because you know it's ridiculous. Other BS facts that were closer to the truth, weren't that funny. And even though they tried to pick real facts that sounded preposterous, so as to fool the panel because they sounded far fetched, you still kind-of knew they were true - or that might just be me because I watch too much QI -. In the end, the panellists would practically buzz on every fact, except the funny ludicrous ones, so the show kind of stop/started all the time. This was a 3 hour recording for what I assumed would be a 1 hour show, but I was a quite surprised when we were told it's a ½ hour show - GNW used to do a 3¼ hour recording for a 1½ show -. It was about what I expected, so we will have to wait to see what it's like on TV. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
08.02.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
Even though I had seen every one in this line up before, it stilled looked good on paper because it had Claire Hooper, and Gary Eck. And even though third act, PiP the Comic Magician, is pretty unknown, I knew he would still be good, because he's not a normal boring serious magician, but an actual funny comedic magician. It's always a give-me that Gary going to be good, and he got the applause to prove it, but it was PiP that surprised this audience, because he was funny, as well as having amazing tricks - he even got the talking girls behind me to shut-up with his attention grabbing routine -. The only one that was a bit quiet, was Clair, but then again she was only hosting, so she's not supposed to do a full routine. The crowd had a lot of fun. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
07.02.12 : Riot House - Moshpit Comedy with Nick Capper : Gaelic Theatre
On paper it looked good, with Michael Kosta free and not in that uncomfortable venue. And he was. But the problem was that only 2 of the 7 open mic-ers made the audience laugh. In the first half only one comic was actually funny, and the second was one plus Michael. The audience didn't mind, and was quite patient, but for me the silent room isn't much fun. It was a 2 for most of it, 2 blips to 3.5, and finished on a high with a 4. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 2.5
07.02.12 : Chronicle - movie
Action | Drama | Sci-Fi : Three high school friends gain superpowers. The hook with this one is that it gives the impression it was all filmed on handi-cams and security cameras, so it's all from a shaky cam perspective. And because of that and the lame dialogue from the person holding the camera, it feels a bit amateurish, or backyard constructed. One the other hand, without the shaky cam, this would just be another superpowers film. It's ok 3.25
07.02.12 : J. Edgar - movie
Biography | Drama : The life and times of the famous director of the FBI, J Edgar Hoover. This one will obviously be compared to Leonardo DiCaprio's other famous figure from the past movie, The Aviator, and the difference is, The Aviator is more a glamorous story, where this one is a more interesting story. Clint Eastwood as been on a roll since Unforgiven, and this one is no exception. 4
06.02.12 : Smart Casual - Broken Dreams(trial) : Roxbury Hotel
Their first show - the straight comedy one with Hawk Hawkins - was brilliant, the second one Same Mother, Different Fathers, was good, the third The Story of Captain Entrée was bad, and now this forth, has returned to good. This show is the all singing, all dancing, multi media edition, with a big emphasis on multi media. The biggest difference with this show was that there was quite a bit of prepared video. Some was funny sketches, some was fictitious advertisements - which allowed for costume changes -, and some was just for comedy effect. Overall there was only one dud song, Steve the stage manager/passive aggressive, but other than that, it was appealing and humorous. I don't score trials, because it's not a finished product, but I will on this one because it was good. 4
04.02.12 : Carl Barron - A One Ended Stick : Revesby Workers
Because Carl is one of the expensive comics, I have only see him 2 times before. One was at Enmore Theatre quite a while ago, and one was at the Roxbury, where he popped in to try some new material. So when this tour finally moved away from his usually expensive State Theatre show, to the under $50 club tour, I made the effort to see him again. The first thing that struck me was that he has quite the sharp tongue these days. In the past I always though of him as the quirky, funny, happy, nice, comedian, but tonight he was more like the scathing, sharp-tongued, condescending comic - very much like Groucho Marx in the latter years -, because he let it fly at things that annoyed him in life - like that observational 'stupid things people do' stuff -, and that encompassed any hecklers on the night - I guess that's what the years have done to him -. This new persona isn't annoying at all, in fact it's very funny, it's just that he's different these days. Other than that difference, he was still great, and a good pick-me-up. I only saw spots once, so the show gets 4.5, with all the rest of it being a very good 4.25. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
04.02.12 : Wit Large #16 Collected Edition with Tim Ferguson : Gleebooks
The comedy here isn't as intense as other places, but at least this room is well subscribed - at least every time I turn up -, and because there is a big crowd, it makes it a better show - the old audience laugh track trick -. Dave Bloustien started with set of highly intellectual gags, but unfortunately my brain is so atrophied, I didn't get it - my brain was working well enough to know they were clever, just not why -. Jack Druce and Shane Matheson are better in small doses, so they were fine. Jack took the paced delivery, which isn't as intense as the fast delivery - I've seen him do his whole show in 15 minutes at Project 52 -, but it got a good reaction. Shane was a lot better in condensed format, and there's just something about the weirdness of his routine that makes it enjoyable. Sam Simmons also goes the weird route, but his stuff is more old weird, in that it's not really weird weird, but more conventional weird. Shane's stuff is genuinely weird weird, but to make it accessible to the public it has to be delivered fast, like Sam, and that was kind of what we got with this one. Jennifer Wong tuned down her routine, by also pacing it, and again I prefer her doing the faster version. Overall they were all quite nice.
I'm not a fan of the Doug Anthony All-Stars - DAAS Kapital didn't appeal to me -, but I did see them once, and oddly enough it was across the road at the Footbridge Theatre. I didn't really go because I wanted to go, but more for that fact that is was something to do, and it was their Satan/Santa show - I think it was near the end of their career -. The odd thing was I wasn't a fan, but I loved it, but the person I went with was a fan, but they didn't like it. Go figure. Again I went to see Tim Ferguson, not because I'm a fan, but more for the fact that I haven't see him before - I didn't go to his Cheeky Monkey show because it's about the tricks to making comedy, and when you know the tricks, it spoils all comedy for you -. Tim's spot wasn't a comedy routine, but more a story with puns, and it was about his life starting with DAAS, then other TV projects, and then on further to his illness. The DAAS years were interesting, because I knew nothing about them, but one thing you notice when the members talk about the others members, they never seam to have anything good to say about each other - I guess the split was a less than amicable one -. He when on to the TV show he did after, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, which I remember watching, but not anything about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNCDXSlEou4 . And then his diagnoses of multiple sclerosis, and living with it. Tim actually noticed some symptoms, that came and went, over the years, but he never knew what it was until it was diagnosed. He said he had it during the TV show DFYT, and was evident by his slightly crossed eyes - I remember his eyes being crossed, but I thought this was normal at the time -. Out of the 3 members of DAAS I liked Tim the best, he seamed smarter and more cooler than the other two. It was very interesting catching up, and it must have been for the audience who turned up in record numbers.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
02.02.12 : Mic in Hand - Tom Ballard, Ray Badran, Wil Anderson : Friend in Hand
I thought I retired from this night, but Wil Anderson for $10 brought me back. Unfortunately he wasn't up to his usual standard, but at least the others were more than I expected. The young open mic-ers can be a bit up and down, but at least tonight they were all new comics, and not the regulars they get here. And even though half were pretty average, half were surprisingly good, so they made their section quite refreshing. The best on the night was Ray Badran - and he was only the host -, until right at the end when Tom Ballard pipped him. Tom was a surprise for me, because he bombed last time I saw him. His comedy festival show is coming together very well, and looks like it could be close to his great Belvior show from last year. Tom is great with hecklers, and quite vitriolic, to the point that he purposely listens for it so he can add the funny sharp jabs into his show. He started with a swipe at Wil's set, which I will explain latter, and then had a funny exchange with him during his set. Tom can be up and down, but when he's up, he's good, and those funny fast acidic comebacks just add to it. Wil started with a good joke, but after that, it was all below his usual standard - not that there was that much after that, because his set was very short -. It just seamed like a waste for him, and us, to travel to the venue with such little material. I wasn't that impressed with Wil last time, it seamed like he turned up drunk, and he wasn't as funny as usual - I put it down to the 'small venue/small pay' situation, so it was only a half effort show -. But tonight it looked like he was drunk again - actually it's hard to tell -, because he wasn't that funny, and made a mistake in the delivery of a punchline. At least I learned that his first time on stage when he was 15, and it was doing Impro - I thought when he did those appearances at Belvoir he just picked it up on the fly, but now it looks like he had experience -. He was brilliant at Belvoir, and was one of the reasons the girls didn't have a chance in the A Regular One Night Stand - Boys Vs Girls series -.
It wasn't too bad of a night, because the downs were counteracted, but I wish they would get rid of the tables and replace them with chairs, so that more people can watch in comfort - it's always crowded there -. 3.5
01.02.12 : Any Questions for Ben? - movie
Comedy : A successful superficial Add-man/playboy starts to realise his achievements are not as important as he thinks. This is like all the other Working Dog movies, in that it isn't very funny, but it is new looking, modern, and attractive, so I liked it. It also attracted me because of all the comics, TV celebrities, and Improvisers - from the old Belvoir days - that I spotted, so it had nostalgic appeal for me. Finally Josh Lawson got a lead role - he and Ed Hyland Kavalee have the face to pull it off -, something that I'm surprised he was never been cast in before. Attractive film, just not funny - the only place I laughed was the Darren Sanders scene during the end credits. 3.5
24.01.12 : Riot House - Moshpit Comedy with Michael Workman : Gaelic Theatre
Make sure you get there early, because compared to last time, a lot more people turned up. Our host Michael Workman, was good, even though the mic cut out and ruined 2 jokes. But overall this show was like a Hermann's Heroes show - complete with Hermann's regulars -, in that there was young comics - which can be iffy -, but at least there was lots of them - which is good -, but they turned up with totally new routines - which can be up and down -, but thankfully they did short sets - which is good -. 3.25
24.01.12 : The Darkest Hour - movie
Action | Horror | Sci-Fi : Electric aliens invade earth. It's your usual alien hunting humans, invasion movie. It's average because it's predictable, but at least it wasn't annoying like Skyline. 2
24.01.12 : Young Adult - movie
Comedy | Drama : Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter. The woman was living in such a distorted view of reality, it was bordering on delusional. And it was what she said, be it from a ridiculous view point, that I found funny. This is not a comedy, but more like the genre suggests, a comedy drama. I was the only one laughing throughout, so maybe the general public may think differently, but I found it humorous. 3.75
22.01.12 : Akmal (trial) : Old Fitzroy Theatre
It was so funny I was seeing spots. It's always hard to tell if Akmal has any actual material, because he seams to muck around with the audience so much, but tonight he did - actually about 50/50 -. Akmal is like your best funniest friend, in that when he comes over, you have so much fun that no one wants to leave at the end of the night. The odd thing was it wasn't just a feeling, it was exactly what happened, because the sound guy had to turn the lights off TWICE, because no one wanted to stop - the show must have been good because I was surprised at how fast the hour went by-. And even after that Akmal said we should all go for a coffee afterward, because it felt like one of those best friend nights. The material covered was about living in Egypt, which was that very funny 'pointing out the differences in cultures' thing - it got super funny when he found a guy in the audience that lived in the same suburb as him over there and confirmed what he was saying -. He also did stuff from his school days in Punchbowl, pranks he and his friends pulled, weird family member's behaviour, his early stand-up years before he was successful, and getting in trouble for saying things on GNW - which is pretty common for comedians on TV these days because every stupid hyper sensitive person has a voice, just ask Kitty -. Lots of fun and very funny. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
22.01.12 : Kitty Flanagan - Two Thumbs Down & a Raspberry(trial) : Old Fitzroy Theatre
I have never seen a Kitty show that wasn't brilliant, until this one. To be fair this was only a trial show, and for someone that does what I do, trial shows are probably not a good idea. The problem was that I knew most of the new stuff before hand, but even that aside, it did feel sparse and mild. On the other hand the sold out crowd loved it, because I overhead them say so, but by the amount of laughs they produced it didn't sound that way - maybe it was that warm and fuzzy comedy for them -. It was nice to see Kitty's sister Penny turn up - I was a big Penny fan -, to do a comedy song. They say when sisters sing together there is something special about their voices, well that's what happen here, because they sounded beautiful. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
21.01.12 : iOTA: Young, Hard and Solo : SOH - music
55, so sue me. I wasn't even thinking of going again, until midday the next day when I subconsciously started tapping out the rhythms of iOTA's Friends song - it's a bit syncopated, and quite catchy -. The thing about the last show was I couldn't hear all the nuances of iOTA's voice, and coupled with a long absence, which removes you from the songs because you forget the emotion they conjure, it kind-of made it feel a bit dead. I still wasn't going by the time I got back from the AoA show, but while surfing the net that night, I came across high fidelity earplugs that looked like the answer. The logistics of the next day was a bit of a scramble, but I got tickets, and found earplugs in Annandale. The $35 earplugs were a touch better than the cut-half-length cheap general foam ones I use, just not a big improvement. Both earplugs sound muffled, but the $35 ones let in more volume, so much that my ears were ringing and painful after - the AoA show didn't help because I took one earplug out to hear -. What the $35 earplug did do was allow me to hear more of the subtleties of iOTA's voice, and now coupled with more of a knowledge of the songs, the show was better than the last - it's felt more like the old days -. I loved the rocking songs of Friends and Triplespoon - about a ménage à trois iOTA was in -, with the latter being so addictive, that even the people in the crowd who were not early iOTA fans - of which was the majority -, were rocking out to it. But the stand out for me was Come Back For Me - about the death of a loved one -, it was beautiful and sad, and really epitomizes iOTA's early persona of being serious and emotive. The show is mainly songs, but about one third is theatre and humour. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.25
Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLzTYLuI0h0
Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GEoBH7nEHA&feature=related
20.01.12 : Axis of Awesome - 5 Year Anniversary Sow : Factory Theatre
Technically, this is the best show they have done material wise - they replaced the one dull song with 2 new better songs -, and the funniest - it's practically a best of -. But my sentimental favourite was the very first one I saw - 9.05.08 : Axis of Awesome : Fusebox Theatre -, coincidently in the room next to this one. I knew who the they were individually beforehand, and knew what they were capable of, but I was blown away by how quirky and fun the show was. There was just so many references to modern cool culture, like Harry Potter etc, and straight away I realised that this show would kill in their demographic. I saw them soon after at 28.06.08 : Comedy Store Parramatta Gala night - the Comedy Story opening here seamed stupid to me, because I knew what the Parramatta scene was like, and ultimately that proved right when they went broke -. Surprisingly, the one thing that sticks in my head was when the 2 young girls in front of me, in the best seats in the house, left just when the AoA, the last act, started. I thought to myself, they just made the biggest mistake of their lives, because this is exactly their demographic. The turning point for me was the 29.02.09 : Saturday Night Comedy : Roxbury Hotel show. They were absolutely brilliant, but in front of only a small crowd - the Comedy Store reopened and killed this night -, and as I was leaving I thought to myself. They were easily the best musical comedy act in Australia, and when I thought further I couldn't think of a better act in the world, and that's when I realised they were wasting their time staying in Australia and could easily make a career out of this - luckily that's how it's looking -. I was actually daring to think that they could end up doing stadium shows, because they have the whole package with Benny's beautiful singing, Jordan's quirkiness, and Lee's wig - actually Lee's banter jokes are brilliant -, and that culminated in great songs that are truly funny - most other musical comedy acts aren't as solidly funny -.
All the favourites were covered, like Birdplane, 4 Chords, Can You Hear The Fucking Music Coming out of My Car?, How to Write a Love Song(Boy Band song), The Language of Love, Sexual Harassment, Song for the Elderly, etc, and some new ones, like Floppy Men - complete with floppy men -. Even when things didn't go to plan, like Lee's guitar stopped working, they made up impromptu stuff to fill - they are improvisers so it's nothing new to them -, that was just as funny as the show.
The one year break has made them fresh again for me, but I think they have out grown me. The larger they get the larger then venues become, and the larger venues brings larger amplification, and the louder the sound, the less I can hear. Thankfully this show was a lot better in that respect than the SOH one, because I could hear all of it, but it came with the price of hurting my ears pretty badly - yesterdays iOTA didn't help -. I don't suppose it has to be that loud, because the words are the main priority, but that's the way it is. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.5
19.01.12 : iOTA: Young, Hard and Solo : SOH - music
That's makes 54, and surprisingly for me, iOTA practically started at the SOH, and now he's come full circle back to the SOH. Overall it wasn't exactly like the old days, but it's as close as it's going to get. iOTA was a shy and serious musician that strived for accuracy, now he's a very extroverted and whimsical, slightly comical, theatrical performer. There was covers like Do-Ré-Mi(Deborah Conway)-Man Overboard, some Mama Cass, a song from the movie Stir Crazy, and some crazy Batman song. There was songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Smoke & Mirrors - which I didn't know any -. And there was his own compositions, mainly from The Hip Bone Connection, which is his best stuff anyway. I don't know if it's just me, but there was just something about him being serious that gave the music more power, and coupled with musicians that have more emotion than the session musicians used tonight - session musicians lose dynamic when they gain technique -, it kind of felt like listening to music with the bass turned down. Either way it was good to hear the old stuff again, even if most of the old stuff he played was the emotional solo stuff - I'm dead inside so emotional stuff has no effect on me these days -, but luckily for me he did play 2 of the old dynamic band songs, and that made it all worth while. Just sensing the audience, it felt like half the audience was from the old days, and half was from his new theatrical days - it felt like half the audience didn't know the early stuff so they didn't applaud it as much -. I knew full well that I'm over iOTA, but it was nice to catch up, and the only regret that I have is that I didn't go see him at his only Impro appearance with Twisted Mellon, before he moved into theatre - it's a small theatre and I would have been embarrassed turning up and being spotted by iOTA again . Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
18.01.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
The night was better than I expected. It had got to the point that I had seen Joel Ozborn so many times in a row, that I hated him - this also happened with a couple of others too so it's nothing to do with the comics -, but because I hadn't seen Joel in years, he's back in my good books with tonight's performance. The stand out of the night was Rhys Nicholson, who was the only one at the end of the night that got that extra loud whooping cheer that the crowd gives here when they are impressed. It's kind-off weird, because I would have expected an Oatley crowd to not get what Rhy's is putting out, and a Gaelic crowd to be on board, yet it was the other way around because they loved him here. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
17.01.12 Shane Matheson and Jack Druce Trial Shows : Roxbury Hotel
Jack Druce : I don't know why I went to this show, because I saw most of it at Project 52's Hermann's Heroes a couple months ago, but I thought that this might only make the Melb comedy festival, and not the Sydney one, so I went to avoid missing out. The Hermann's one was compressed and came at you pretty fast, maybe too fast because the slower pace of this one felt better, but what I did notice was that the slower pace emphasized that distance between laughs - it was like smiley story, smiley story, smiley story, laugh. Young people's shows usually feel the same, because of the limited amount of material stretched over a longer time frame, so this is exactly what I expected. NA
Shane Matheson : It's always hard to pull off the bizarre/surreal comedy - even the 2 biggest names of the genre Ross Noble and Sam Simmons don't really do it for me -, and that's because it just feels like random words in a brain storming session thrown together -. Shane killed it last time I saw him at the Laugh Garage with a routine that was mainly comedy, with occasional bizarre thrown in - if the bizarre-ness doesn't make you laugh, it's position between sensible stuff does. Kind of like that lull you into a false sense of security, and then doing something unexpected -. Tonight it was practically all bizarre, and I think it was too much, because if pressed, I would say no. I think you have to write about 4 hours of bizarre to find enough material for a 1 hour show, because only about 15 minutes of this show was entertaining. NA
These are only trial shows, and might reflect differently when finished.
*** I forgot to mention, a younger audience seams to like Shane's type of comedy. ***
17.01.12 : Hugo - movie
Drama : Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton. Some people raved about this film, but I found that the interesting stuff only started after the first hour. Even though all the good stuff was in the second hour, in was delivered in pockets. Nothing much in the first half, but fine in the second. 3.5
16.01.12 : The Comedy Lounge 2012 : Cafe Lounge
I was trying another change of scenery thing, and wasn't expecting much, but the show turned out to be not bad at all. We had 3 comics I hadn't seen before - new is always exciting -, a couple of known comics doing new material, and a couple of pros. From what I saw, the best on the night was Jacques Barrett, closely followed by Amanda Gray, and nearby was Michelle Betts. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
13.01.12 : Unforgiven Metallica Show : Engadine Tavern - music
They must like their Metallica here because this is the first time I saw a decent crowd hang around to the end - the loudness usually drives people away -. I don't follow Metallica, but I assumed I would know more songs. In fact I only knew about 5 songs in a 2 hour show, and that's probably due to me only knowing the hits from the Black Album. The songs I knew were brilliant, but I didn't know enough for it to be interesting. Oh well, that's the way it goes. 2
12.01.12 : Celebrity Autobiography : SOH
I was in two minds about going, mainly because seeing so many shows that aren't remarkable is killing me, but the description looked like it was something new, so I figured that the variety on it's own should be interesting enough. Also the cynical Rhys Nicholson said it's good, and if he was impressed there should be something to it. The format is 6 people read out selected sections of celebrities autobiography, with some taking on the celebrity's accent, and some even taking on their character. Tonight we had Jeremy Sims, Fiona O'Loughlin, Stephen Hall, Mikey Robins, Lara Mulcahy, and James O'Loghlin - Georgie Parker will swap out Stephen at the end of the run -. It wasn't just readings from individual celebrities autobiographies, but in some cases when different celebrities interacted, like a relationship, different members of the cast would read from each celebrities autobiography about the same story, giving you both sides to the same story delivered in a type of conversation. There is a lot of readings from current celebrities, so you will know who they are, but there was also two story readings from old celebrities, which a young audience will have trouble knowing. The old stories were the Burt Reynolds Loni Anderson relationship - which I knew about -, and the Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton, and who ever else, love hexagon - which I didn't know about -. The show isn't super funny, but more chuckles, but it doesn't have to be, because it was new and interesting. What you learn about autobiographies is that they are mainly another type of Twitter, in that some of the writings are totally pointless. The show was very enjoyable, and picked me up out of my doldrums somewhat. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
11.01.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
I wish I could predict when this room has a good crowd, so I know when it's worth coming, because for some reason tonight was a big one. Not only was it a big crowd, but a good one, because they laughed in places that I didn't. Ben Darsow(MC) had some new material, so he was better than usual, but that only came out in the second half. Tom Cashman was only ok, but the crowd didn't mind and laughed anyway. I think it's the USA after a comic name attracts people to come here, because 3 weeks ago Peter Meisel(USA) had a big crowd, and so did tonight's Sean Kelly(USA). Sean is an old style comic, in that the jokes aren't mentally taxing, they are inappropriate at times, and they are very funny - even though it's not PC I find these jokes the funniest -. The crowd was good, and Sean was good, so it made all the effort worth while. 4
10.01.12 : Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows - movie
Adventure | Crime : Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty. I'm not going to be much help here, because some people were talking so loudly - hearing problems - that I misses the start and was lost for half the film. That being said, this isn't as good as the first, which is about par for squeals. There was no humorous bits, the action scenes were nothing new, and it just didn't have the oomph of the first. Ok, nothing exceptional. 3
07.01.12 : Washington - Festival First Night : The Domain - music
06.01.12 : The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - movie
Crime | Drama | Mystery : A journalist is aided in his search for a woman who has been murdered fifty years ago with the help of a young female hacker. My friend has a foreign film fetish, and I used to go with him, but after a couple years they got boring because they were usually a downer - it's probably why I don't like dramas -, so I quit. This one feels like a stereotypical European movie, in that it has a bit of a bleak look - not much colour -, and that it has the typical repulsive shock scene - actually it has a few -. It's the reason I didn't see the original, because that felt like it was going to be similar. I could nit pick every technical point, like there are scenes that just start with no setup and you have to work out what's going on from the dialogue - the end was like that so I got a bit lost there -. It also had the depraved f*cker doing deplorable things, which is a big turn off for me - mainly for the shock value rather than making the story better -, but overall it was interesting for it's 2½ hour run time, and I don't think anyone will hate it. 3.25
04.01.12 : Wisecracker Wednesdayz : Oatley Hotel
What do you do when the crowd is so shy that they sit in the back row of tables, get Sam McCool(MC) to come to their tables individually and bust out some very funny ad-lib observations. Everyone(Nick Capper, Dave Jory) were all good, but it was one of those small intimate crowds, so it came in as only nice. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
02.01.12 : War Horse - movie
Drama : Follows a horse during WWI. I wasn't interested in seeing this movie but Hoyts has an $8 offer for Facebook followers, so I went in the hope it would be interesting. Being someone that didn't want to go I'm probably not the person who should be reviewing this, and probably explains why I found it boring. I think I know too much, because the textbook Hollywood clichéd moments that try to emote an emotion, were annoying in their predictability. There were stupid scenes, like a tank chasing a horse instead of the enemy, some facts about WWI were wrong, and even the correct facts were annoying. Like the stupid out dated British tactic of sending troops over the top into certain machine gun fire. It's the same stupid tactic that got so many Australians killed at Gallipoli for no gain - it's probably only a personal peeve for me, because it's so stupid in my eyes -. I have heard a lot of good reviews, and one person clapped in my screening, but it wasn't for me. I find Hidalgo a better horse movie. 2
MySpace Views (421)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.