Kathryn Kernohan picks her highlights of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
GIGGLES, chuckles, guffaws, belly laughs and howls. Whatever your preferred term, you’ve got less than two weeks to get your fix at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The festival, tipped to top last year’s record attendance of 611,000, has featured more than 400 events at almost 100 venues in the city and inner suburbs, and as far as Epping and Clayton.
Homegrown highlights have included Celia Pacquola’s Delayed, about the Melbourne comic’s recent two-year stint living in London, and The Bedroom Philosopher’s High School Assembly, in which Justin Heazlewood turned the Forum Theatre into the fictional Croxton High School hall and offered speeches, musical interludes and even a rock eisteddfod entry.
Tim Ferguson shares anecdotes from his comedy and TV career, and talks about his fight with multiple sclerosis in Carry A Big Stick. Lawrence Leung, Sam Simmons and Sammy J
are as reliable as ever. Special mention must go to razor-sharp veteran Justin Hamilton, who will perform his final ever festival set on Saturday night in The Goodbye Guy.
On the international front, Ross Noble, Stephen K Amos, David O’Doherty and Jason Byrne, all annual visitors to Melbourne, have sold out most of their shows. Get in quick if you’re planning to see any of them this week.
Acclaimed UK stand-up Simon Amstell opened his first Australian tour last night. His highly personal, psychoanalytical style has made him a household name in Britain. Also just opened is Dave Gorman, who makes Powerpoint presentations entertaining in his first festival show since 2003’s Googlewhack Adventure, which was adapted into a book. After a year’s absence, the absurd Tim Key’s Masterslut is an enthralling blend of odd-kilter poetry, sketches and short films.
Paul Foot, Simon Munnery and The Pajama Men are worthwhile investments, as is UK sketch troupe Idiots of Ants, who shot to fame via YouTube. Get out there and have a laugh.
