Wednesday, March 26, 2008

More, more comedy!

Another three shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival tonight, including the worst show I've seen so far...


DES BISHOP
Sharp, edgy, passionate, intelligent and cute - what's not to like about this US-born Irish resident (pictured)? His material touched on everything from having testicular cancer and giving up drinking, to why he things the Catholic church has no right to talk about how 'unnatural' gay people are when priests are A) celibate - not very natural at all, and B) kiddie-fiddlers - not all of them, but certainly some of those who taught at the school he was sent to from New York aged 14. Straight-forward stand-up isn't usually my thing, but this guy won me over in the first 10 minutes of his act. Not a god of comedy by any means, and he could do with a touch more light and shade in terms of his delivery perhaps, but definitely a winner in my books. And did I mention that he was cute?
Three solid belly-laughs out of five.


THE DELUSIONISTS in Everything That Ever Happened, Ever
About 10 minutes into this trite, undergraduate sketch comedy show, I so wanted to walk out, but couldn't, as I was trapped in the middle of a tightly packed row of punters. Highly dubious sexual politics that shone the spotlight squarely on the male cast and reduced the female performers to bit parts and 'straight men'. Borderline homophobia that was manifested in a series of jokes about inserting musical instruments or other objects into men's arseholes. Dull, cliched and unimaginative gags: Ned Kelly's helmet as a mailbox for instance - gosh, haven't heard that one before! Definitely a show to be avoided.
One and a half desperate titters out of five.


KATE MCLENNAN in The Enthusiasts
Character comedy that alternates between the wry, the delightful, the dark and the poignant. Barry Award-nominee McLennan presents a show about a collection of passionate, indeed obsessive individuals, including a self-help instructor, a sleaze-bag, an adult Wiggles fan, a teenage Justin Timerlake devotee, and a bright little girl who loves reading. If you saw McLennan's The Debutante Diaries last year you know what you're in for; but while it is more of the same, it's also tightly written, well-performed and preented with a masterful eye for convincing and subtle detail. There's one character that's less strong than the others, which results in the show dragging a little in places, but overall the structure, and McLennan's innate ability, ensures that The Enthusiasts is another winner.
Three cackles of delighted laughter out of five.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My you have been busy!

I have to agree with Des being way cute!!
Here is a clip of his testicular cancer monologue on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrj1DmjhYNs&feature=related

Victor said...

I'd give Des Bishop at least four belly laughs out of five for his looks alone. You are so right, he IS cute.

caoin said...

I was watching Des’ new reality TV show just the other night. When he moved to Ireland as a teenager he was exempted from learning Irish at school, but now as an adult he’s decided to try learning it and RTÉ (Irish TV) made a program about his year in the Gaeltacht called In the Name of the Fada*.

Anyone who can make learning Irish funny is doing pretty well and lets face it, he is cute so I’ll be watching the next ep. and musing over what I could teach him about the Oyerish Tongue.

He struck some comedy gold with the house he was staying in. In the Gaeltacht people are often referred to by their father’s and grandfather’s names rather than their surname and so he was staying with Antaine Pheat Willie, i.e. Anthony (son) of Pat (son) of Willie, which sounds like...Antony Fat Willie.

Come to think of it, mine’d be Seán Fhrank Pheat...ahem...Seán Rank Fat.




* The síneadh fada (lit. "long stretching"), ungramatically but commonly abbreviated as fada ("long"), is the name of the acute accent used in Irish.