MAN ABOUT TOWN

This comedy is killing me, I tell you. JASON BYRNE - Jason Byrne Cycled Here At last year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival I walked out of Jason Byrne's show about three qaurters of the way through, bored and annoyed by his constant belittling of his audience. Back then I wrote that "his main strength lies in interacting with and occasionally humiliating his audience rather than in especially innovative comedy". It's a comment I stand by, although this year his shtick seemed less venomous - more laughing with than at. With some fairly simple material - best summed up as 'oh you Aussies and your whacky slang' - fused with audience interaction taken to a extreme (ie dragging a guy on stage and turning him into a ventriloquist's dummy) and some anecdotal comedy about moving to the country that came out of nowhere, this is an uneven but sporadically enjoyable show that entertains, but which by no means evolves, enhances or advances the stand-up f...

Yes, more reviews from the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival , and no, I don't seem to be having much of a life outside the festival at the moment, thank you for asking... NINA CONTI - Complete and Utter Conti Now this was an unexpected pleasure - walking into a show by a UK performer I knew absolutely nothing about - I had no idea if she was going to do standup, character-based comedy or what. What I got was a raunchy, wry and post-structuralist take on ventriloquism from a highly adept UK comedian. Her partner in crime, Monkey, is a foul-mouthed monkey who complained constantly about Conti having her hand up his bum. A remarkably poignant moment came with Conti taking on the persona of her grandfather, who produced his dead wife out of a box and sat sadly talking to her, holding her hand, for a short sketch that I would have liked to see go on for much longer. The end of the show was wickedly unexpected, and a nice inversion of what had come before. Highly recommend...

THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE Having seen two previews of this show, I was very much looking forward to it, and it didn't disappoint. That said, don't go in expecting unbridled, constant hilarity. This is a show with considerable quiet moments, and lots of build up, but the sight gags, when they come, are uniformly strong. It's also a show that's heavily dependent on its audience - if you don't throw yourself into it 100% you won't get a lot out of it. Kiwi performer Sam Wills is an enigmatic, deranged presence, at whose urgings audience members help create musical mayhem and surreal, expressionistic mime. A word of caution though - if you don't like shows where performers pick on the audience - albeit, in this instance, in a good-natured and collaborative way - this is not the show for you. Three and half quizzical hoots of mirth out of five. ROD QUANTOCK - 2050 AD The Musical In his usual endearing, slightly flustered way, national comic treasure Rod Quan...

WIL HODGSON - Straight Out of Chippenham He may be a walking conundrum - the ex-wrestler and punk rock enthusiast who collects My Little Ponies - but pink-haired Wil Hodgson also needs to engage with his audience much more if his stand-up routine about small-town racists and chubby-chasing is to really work for a festival audience. His material - especially his attacks on white power band Skrewdriver and the total lack of sex appeal in the emaciated, sillicone-enhanced women held up as sex symbols by lads' magazines - are engaging, effective and entertaining, but his distance made the whole exercise feel like Hodgson was going through the motions rather than actually having a good time, which translated into me not having a good time either. Three occasional guffaws out of five. GLENN WOOL - Promises, Promises This Canadian stand-up performer's show got off to a great start, with a very funny moustache montage; and his material about snorting cocaine and mocking Alcoholics An...

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 E...

SAMMY J in The Forest of Dreams In which Sammy J falls (well, crawls) through a mysterious portal and finds himself on a quest in an enchanted forest, the inhabitants of which are brought to life via the talented puppetry of Heath McIvor. A droll and clever show that deftly blends stand-up, songs and puppetry; and which contains some absolutely superb and left-field moments of visual humour and marvellous characterisation. Sadly, its greatest flaw is that it peaks way too early, ie about the 15-minute mark, after which you can palpably feel the energy trickling out of the show and the audience alike. Nonetheless, definitely work a look if you'd like to see something fresh and well removed from your traditional stand-up. Three and a half hoots of mirth out of five. FRANK WOODLEY - Possessed The first solo show for sad-faced clown Frank Woodley is a remarkably ambitious and largely successful production. The plot sees him playing a painfully shy young man hiding from the world in h...

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The 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival continues apace. I shall probably die at the end of it. Or collapse of liver failure. Or something. SHANE WARNE THE MUSICAL - a work in progress Eddie Perfect's musical tribute to the boofhead bad-boy of Australian cricket is having five run-throughs at the Comedy Festival. Judging from what I saw on Friday, it needs them. The show's too long, and its narrative needs work, especially in the second act. It doesn't seem to have a real ending, and unless you're a cricket tragic, there's a lot to slog through before you get to the SMS and diet pill scandals ,which I suspect are what most people will be waiting for - I'd suggest opening with a taste of the doom that is to come, then present the first act in flashback, in order to get around that. Nor was I all that impressed with the songs to be honest: too long and not catchy enough. On the positive side, Perfect is a charismatic performer, matched with a strong cast...

Another week, another festival. I haven't even had time to finish detailing some of the films I saw and/or previewed at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and already the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival is underway. Eeek! Oh well, on with the (somewhat hasty) reviews... DANIEL TOWNES - YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH The first real night of the festival, not counting last night's comedy gala, and only a handful of people came to see Sydney comedian Townes in his show at the Portland Hotel. I caught the guy last year and enjoyed him, in a lacksidasical way. Less impressed this year. He has this whole laconic bogan schtick thing happening, which is sporadically funny, but I saw little progression or evolution in his material since 2007. Endearing, but the ultimate impression was that he was lazy. Nonetheless, an intelligent guy who can and should do better if he can be inspired to lift his game. Two and half ocasional chuckles out of five. ANDREA POWELL in Gobbeldygook Part of...

Holding the Man , which actor-turned-playwright Timothy Conigrave completed only a few short weeks before he died of an AIDS-related illness, is a frank and heartfelt memoir about his 15-year-long relationship with John Caleo. In 1976, as high school students at Xavier College, the pair fell in love, and started their lives together. In 1985 they were both diagnosed HIV positive. John died on Australia Day, 1992, with Tim by his side. He followed his lover to the grave two years later. Written in decptively simple yet detailed prose, Holding the Man details the highs and lows of the turbulent, passionate relationship between these two men. Conigrave pulls no punches, describing his numerous infidelities with the same unflinching eye for detail as he devotes to growing up in 1970s suburban Melbourne, and the terrible impact of AIDS as it ravages both his body and John's. It's an incredibly tender book; a testament to John and Tim's love; and an incredibly painful book, whic...

Enduring love Richard Watts talks with actors Matt Zeremes and Guy Edmonds, the stars of Holding the Man . Since its original publication in 1995, Tim Conigrave’s powerful and passionate memoir of love and loss in the first years of the AIDS crisis, Holding the Man , has engaged tens of thousands of readers worldwide. It’s also moved almost all of them to tears. The book, which Conigrave completed shortly before he died, tells the story of Tim’s enduring love for his partner, John Caleo; from their first, nervous meeting at Melbourne’s Xavier College, through to John’s untimely death from an AIDS-related illness at Fairfield Hospital. As a story it is by turns comical, remarkable and deeply – at times painfully - affecting. In November 2006, a stage production of Holding the Man , adapted by Tommy Murphy and directed by David Berhold, was premiered by Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company; the very same company with which Conigrave devised his own, critically acclaimed play abo...

Science fiction author and visionary Arthur C Clarke , author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and countless other works, died this morning in a Sri Lankan hospital, aged 90. He was one of the gods of speculative fiction, and he will be sorely missed. I first encountered his work through 2001, the film , which I saw as I wide-eyed eight year old. I didn't understand it, but I loved the cavemen prologue, fell asleep during the middle of the film, and woke up just in time to meet the Star Child. I was hooked. In high school my favourite work of Clarke's was the short story collection, Tales from the White Hart . Today I'd be hard-pressed to name a favourite, as I haven't read his work for some years; a situation I intend to rectify as soon as possible; but I think I shall perhaps remember Clarke best for his 'Three Laws', which display his characteristic dry humour and his vision in equal measure: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possi...

No, really. It's a walrus. It dances. What more do you need to rid yourself of those workaday blues? Happily stolen from the lovely Tim Norton . Thanks Tim!

On Sunday night I was imersed, amazed and blown away by the MQFF closing night film, XXY , an haunting, magnificent Argentinian intersex feature that said so much by saying so little. Tonight I saw one of my favourite bands in the world, Múm , from Iceland, in the company of my very dear friend Lisa, who joined me at the last minute for what proved to be a rapturous, transcendent experience. And last week I saw an awesome precursor to Comedy@Trades , personified by The Boy With Tape On His Face . Details on all shortly. But for now, I am happy. So very, very happy. I expect to have pleasant dreams tonight. I wish them for you, also, whoever and wherever you are.

The annual Australian Shorts showcase is always one of the highlights of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, but also - like any anthology - a very mixed bag. The most slapdash productions are winnowed out: the least appalling of which are then screened in the 'Celluloid Casserole' session, which I've never attended (I sat on the MQFF programming committee for seven years; I know just how dire some of those films can be...). Despite this selection process, however, the quality of the Oz Shorts can still sometimes leave a little to be desired. But enough preamble - on with the show! LOOK SHARP ( Dir: Amy Gebhardt, Australia, 2006, 35mm, 9min) This tautly made, simple film is shot in a single room and features three actors. They play an older female photographer, and two of her young male students (ostensibly sharpies , although their haircuts are wrong) with whom she is sleeping. The queer focus of the film is the sexual rivalry/tension between the two young men. While crisp...

Written and directed by Jonah Markowitz under the auspices of the new movie production arm of US gay cable network, Here! , Shelter (USA, 2007) is a simple yet effective story about love, family and responsibility. It's this year's 'gay surfie' movie, following on the heels of last year's Tan Lines , which was shot in Australia by young UK director Ed Aldridge. Tan Lines was really more an exploration of small-town life, and a flawed but fascinating exploration of the Australian Gothic, than it was a surf movie; whereas in Shelter , sand and surf are far more central to the action. W hen he’s not babysitting his nephew, five-year old Cody (Jackson Wurth) , for his good-for-nothing sister, Jeanne (Tina Holmes), w ould-be artist Zach (Trevor Wright) spends his time surfing and spray-painting walls around his Californian coastal home. Already unhappy, the return of Shaun (Brad Rowe) , the gay older brother of his closest friend, Gabe (Ross Thomas), unsettles Zach’s ...

Good grief, where has the last week gone? It seems like only a day or two ago I was stepping out for the opening night of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF), and now it's already the final day of the festival, with closing night festivities tonight. And instead of visiting the festival almost daily, I've barely seen anything this year; a shocking turn of events caused by a combination of going away to Golden Plains last weekend, and being stupidly busy at work the week just gone. That said, I have managed to watch preview copies of quite a few of the films on offer at the festival this year. Here are my impressions of what I've seen so far... Breakfast with Scot (Candada, 2007) was the opening night feature at this year's MQFF, and sadly, a return to the poor form of most of the festival's opening nights, which tend to feature a light, feel-good movie rather than a good movie. It didn't help this year that the expected 35mm print of the feature didn'...

This news just in via a media release from St Kilda Sacred Heart Mission: Thursday 13 March 2008 For immediate release Sacred Heart Mission ’s Community Cup comes to an end After 14 years, the Sacred Heart Mission has decided to no longer hold its annual Community Cup. In recent years, an increased number of people have been attending the event and the amount of infrastructure and logistics required to support the Cup have increased dramatically. This has meant the costs to run the event have become unsustainable. “The Cup is also a huge investment in staff and volunteers’ time. We feel unable to continue this and to dedicate the necessary resources without detracting from our service delivery to people who are homeless,” said Michael Perusco, CEO Sacred Heart Mission. The Community Cup has enjoyed great success over the years and the Sacred Heart Mission would like to say a huge thank you to all the individuals, community organisations, businesses, sporti...

Ah, my first ever (and only the second ever) Golden Plains, the slightly smaller, saner version of the Meredith Music Festival, held on a farm just outside the township of Meredith, north of Geelong. How superb it was, despite the heat. Good friends (thanks for snagging us a campsite in Bush Camp, Ms Sam!), good people (*waves at Cerise and Mel*) and some damn fine bands. Iron and Wine were soothing and uplifting; an inspired early-evening choice. Swedish popster Jens Lekman and band were simply superb : heartfelt, fun (they did an aeroplane dance! All of them! Running around on stage with their arms stretched out like wings! Bless!) and touching without being twee. Beirut struggled to rise above some shitty sound problems, and from my perspective at least, did so triumphantly; with a heart-starting horn section and some wonderfully operatic vocals; and won over some new fans in the process, from what I saw. With working sound, could have been one of those once-in-a-lifetime gigs th...

Despite the fact that I organised tickets for Keating! tonight for my mum, her friend and I (thanks Casey!) I have instead decided to depart for greener pastures and Golden Plains , having come into possession of a couple of free tickets on Thursday (thanks Triple R!). So, the tickets are waiting for Mum at her hotel and I've arranged for a girlfriend to be her escort. I've borrowed a tent, packed my bag, and am very much looking forward to a weekend in the country surrounded by friends, freaks, and bands, bands, bands: Sharon Jones and the Dap King, The Kamikaze Trio, Iron and Wine, Beirut, The Sea and Cake, and more, more more! I definitely need a weekend away, and I think it will do me good to get out of town and recharge my batteries - or run them so low that I have to totally reset my system, which I think is more likely. Either way, it's gonna be fucken' wonderful! See you on the other side, peeps!

I've just learned (via TobyToby's Facebook status update) that Gary Gygax, the father of fantasy roleplaying, has died aged 69 . Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, which despite its flaws and faults, provided me with countless happy memories from the age of 15 onwards. While I don't play D&D any more, having moved on to other games and more flexible systems, I mourn his death all the same. D&D taught me a lot about collaboration, creativity and communication; indeed I'd go so far as to say that without it, I would have had a much more miserable, poorly-socialized adolescence. And that's just the impact the game had on me personally. On a wider scale, we probably wouldn't have the range of roleplaying games, including popular computer games such as World of Warcraft , that we have today had not Gygax and his co-founder Dave Arneson fleshed out their game's rules back in 1974. Yes, life goes on, but right this moment, I'...

The sun's gone dim, and The moon's turned black; For I loved him, and He didn't love back. - Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 - June 7, 1967) Oh, fuck it. - Richard Watts (July 6, 1967 - ????)

Oops! I forgot to go to the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras! Fancy that. What a bad, bad homosexual I am, to miss a parade of exhibitionists, body fascists and a party dominated by dull house music and muscle marys drugged up to the gills on crystal meth and disco biscuits. Oh well. maybe next year...