On Tuesday, 17
April, I had a whirlwind comedy ride. My partner and I saw three Melbourne
International Comedy Festival shows in one evening. <phew>
Something familiar
…
First, it was off
to the Retreat Hotel in Abbotsford to see David Nash in ‘Decent Exposure’. I
must state upfront that Dave is a great guy who was in my college course during
first semester this year.
Dave has the
advantage of being a handsome lad, which helps to explain the largely young,
female audience at his show. In his promo materials, Dave styles himself as a
‘clueless country Victorian boy [with a] microphone’. Dave has a busy life.
Between studying, playing football, and MC'ing at wrestling events, he manages
to find time for a stand-up career. All the different facets of his life,
though, make great fodder for his act.
Dave’s show was
staged on a shoestring budget. The milk-crate set was a dead giveaway. Yet
the makeshift nature of his show helped to endear him to the audience. And he
chose the venue well: an upstairs rooms at a pub, not too large nor too small,
and intimate enough to make people feel like they were sitting in someone’s living
room.
As he mentions in
his promo material, Dave’s material tends to be along the lines of ‘pushing
boundaries’, and he didn’t disappoint. Inappropriate humour is often my
favourite sort of comedy, and Dave had quite a few ‘Oh no you didn’t? Oh yes I
did!’ zingers. His most successful material tended to be about his observations
of suburban life and different cultural ethnicities. But the real find of his
show was that Dave is a very clever mimic of everyday sounds. In the style of
‘Police Academy’ comedian Michael Winslow, Dave’s repertoire of uncanny sounds
ranged from ‘doof doof’ music to car engines.
While enjoyable
and entertaining, Dave’s show did feel under-rehearsed. Dave has a highly
likeable, knockabout demeanor, but this can only carry him so far before solid
material is needed to sustain the gig. I think that with time and experience,
Dave will come to structure his shows better, and to give more of an arc to the
comedy audience.
I would also
humbly suggest that it’s very important to begin as close to the show’s
advertised starting time as possible. The Comedy Festival always has a jam-packed
program, with audience members – like myself – often attending two or three
shows in an evening. I hated having to leave Dave’s show just before the end,
but when you have other shows booked it’s an occupational hazard.
I think Dave has a
promising future in stand-up. Once he strikes more of a balance between his
skills and his material, I can really see his career really taking off. And
even more young female admirers are sure to attend his shows.
Something peculiar
…
We headed off in
the ‘Comedymobile’ to the Loop Project Space and Bar in the CBD for our next
show – ‘2 Dudes 1 Show’ – featuring Sean Ryan and Craig McLeod. Again, I must
say upfront that we saw this show with a friend of my partner, whose brother
was the first of the two performers.
The Loop is a
quirky, funky little space in Meyers Place in the city. The room used for the
shows was very intimate and allowed the performers to interact quite
effectively with the audience. While we were a small group, we were a
responsive one.
When Sean Ryan
first appeared – with his bushranger beard, long hair and ‘Slipknot’ shirt –
you could have been forgiven for thinking that he’d strayed from his gig next
door in a heavy rock band. But Sean soon proved his metal with a series of witty and
wry observations. He structured his material well, and while we didn’t have
many belly laughs, there was much amusement about the humour drawn from his everyday
life.
Equally unassuming
was the second performer, Craig McLeod, whose shaved head, black clothes and
cockney accent could have had you worried that you were seeing a skinhead act.
As a relocated Englishman, though, Craig shared some amusingly dry,
self-deprecating material. In particular, his ability to view Australian
customs and lifestyle from an outsider’s perspective was a highlight of his set.
Both Sean and
Craig entertained us with their material but they need to consider more the
structure of their acts to give their performances more momentum. As I
mentioned with Dave’s show earlier, every show – be it a play, musical, concert
or stand-up – needs to have an arc and a frame to hang the material on. I
couldn’t help feel that much of the material was fairly linear for these two
guys. And although their laidback style was particularly suited to their
material, the audience also needed a bit more energy from them to help sustain
their routines.
Sean and Craig
have talent, and I look forward to seeing their progression in stand-up in upcoming Comedy Festivals. If you like your comedy dry then these
guys are sure to entertain you.
Something for
everyone …
The ‘Comedymobile’
then took us to the Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre for a hot beverage
and the final show of our evening’s comedy odyssey, ‘Paul McDermott Sings!’.
The premise of this show was the amusing quote from Paul’s mother: ‘You’ve got
such a lovely voice. Why don’t you sing more?’
Paul’s career has
gone from strength to strength for around twenty years now. He is quite the
Renaissance journeyman – singer, musician, writer – having worked
across television, radio, stage and publishing. Most people would know Paul
nowadays from his current, ongoing work with Channel Ten’s ‘Good News Week’.
But those of us with longer memories know that his career started with the
‘Doug Anthony All Stars’. Thence, Paul graduated – variously – to ‘Mosh’, ‘The
Big Gig’, ‘Strictly Dancing’ and ‘The Sideshow’.
So it was from his
variety of incarnations as a performer that Paul drew on the repertoire for
this performance. I was expecting a stand-up show with some songs, but instead
we were treated the opposite: a concert, with Paul’s singing and his songs
centre stage. That’s not to say this was a problem, because the material was
very, very good. I would most characterize his music overall as sophisticated blues with a folk twist.
I was also
expecting Paul’s program to consist mainly of comedy pieces, but again I was
wrong. Instead, we were given an array of well-written, well-arranged songs.
The comedy came from Paul’s short chats between songs on and off during the
evening. This wasn’t stand-up, though, yet it was a masterclass in relaxed good
humour. Paul is an effortless showman whose immense appeal as a performer was
clear to the appreciative audience. Indeed, we refused to let him go until a
suitable number of encores had been provided.
Kudos to Paul’s band
– and in particular, to his MD – for the warm arrangements of his songs. I hope
he continues with this sort of show as they make great side gigs for his
television work, and for those who have been following his career over the
years. In future shows, I’d like to hear more about the background of the
songs, and a bit more about his career around the time of writing each song.
This late-night show at the Spiegeltent was the perfect forum for Paul to give
us an amusing and musical overview of his musical journey thus far.
Comedy tonight!
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