Comfest '08 Show Reviews

[Nattogc]

thanks for the reviews guys they are great - Did the Warnie show have any merchandise? i know my brother would did a tshirt!!

[Alisso]

Originally Posted by Nattogc

thanks for the reviews guys they are great - Did the Warnie show have any merchandise? i know my brother would did a tshirt!!

I haven't seen any merch floating around for Shane Warne the Musical, but then, it's still a work in progress. You should pop over to Eddie's MySpace and suggest that they do t-shirts for the show once they're doing it properly *G*

[unfrufru]

great photos timchuma! really well done.

now, who has been the worst people have seen thus far?

and i must say the The New Normal poster is one of the finest i have ever seen, a talented genius must have done that,

[Sydneyguy]

Anyone see the gala on tv last night ans saw the credits? the credits had tom gleeson and corrine grant but i didnt see them in the show

[Spoofy]

Originally Posted by Sydneyguy

Anyone see the gala on tv last night ans saw the credits? the credits had tom gleeson and corrine grant but i didnt see them in the show

Lisso said on her LJ that they cut out Corinne Grant, Dave Thornton, Des Bishop and Tom Gleeson

[Alisso]

Originally Posted by Sydneyguy

Anyone see the gala on tv last night ans saw the credits? the credits had tom gleeson and corrine grant but i didnt see them in the show

Tom Gleeson's actual set got cut, which I thought was harsh, but he did make it to air - he was one of the dancers in Jason Byrne's little piece of Irish dance insanity *G*

[LisanaTerel]

That was a pity. We'd seen Corinne's stuff in trial shows, and I was looking forward to seeing how/if it had changed.

Isn't the Gala great for reminding you how different people's senses of humour can be? I had a girl come in to work today saying that the Kristen Schaal bit was hilarious, whereas I'd like a refund on that 5 minutes of my life. Still, each to his/her own.

I had someone ask me if there's anyone who checks people's material before the Gala to make sure there aren't too many people doing similar material or covering similar topics. Does anyone know if this happens, or do they just hope it works out?

Oh, and in keeping with the Show Reviews thread (sorry, I was OT):

Die Roten Punkte: Is it biased if you don't know them, but you love them due to a previous show? Either way, I had a lovely time at their show. I go to a lot of live music and have seen a fair few band with members who are hilariously similar to the wonderful characters of Otto and Astrid. I'd very much recommend them if you haven't seen them and like your music live. Also, I am very fond of the Old Council Chambers at Trades. Lovely little room.

Has anyone seen Howard Read? I'd like to, but don't know if it's worth braving children's audiences...

[junglegirl_1976]

I would like to know how the debate went! Did Paul's speech go for 25 minutes like it usually does?? I can't wait until Channel 10 pull their finger out and finally put it to air. How did Hamish go too - I listen to him every arvo, but I just wanna know how he'd go with something this structured (if you can call it structured??)!!

[sara]

I was lucky and enjoyed all the shows I saw this year, so I'll only write up the ones that I had a particularly strong opinion for:

Axis of Awesome: Brilliant show. Even with the concept of band reunion it was mostly your typical musical comedy show. Although not groundbreaking it was hilarious. The songs were well written and so entertaining that the time flew by and I didn't want it to stop.

Maeve Higgins: Maeve's material is strong, not genius but entertaining. The making of the cakes and getting to leave with a chocolate crackle made it a great night.

Kent Valentine: This was my favourite show of the festival. It's the story of his exchange trip. The jokes were funny and the story evoked actual emotion. It was so good that one member of the audience actually said "wow!" when Kent finished the show.

Ali McGregor's Late Night Varitey Nite-Night: So good we saw it twice. It's worth going entirely for Asher Trelevean's butler character who dances, offers a chance to win pringles and generally upstages everyone. Between Ali and Asher it really doesn't matter who the guests are, it's still entertaining. Only downside is that the seats are very uncomfortable.

Justin Hamilton: Everyone's covered this already. It's brilliant, go see it.

[Stargate Sentinel]

ok, some more quick ones:

Daniel Kitson Was a bit worried about going to see him, after the crap show he did a few years ago, but the Age gave him 4.5 stars, and the timeslot fit, so I went. He rants, he raves, and it's actually funny! whoo! well, at least what I can remember, I spent half the show trying to stay awake or actually asleep, (thank goodness for the back row lol!), but that was not due to the content of the show, just general comfest sleep deprevation, lol!

Kent Valentine I quite enjoyed this one, though my fave bit was the first story, about the home made napalm (don't try that at home, kids!), the exchange trip still very good. Def go & see. And don't sit too close to the front, the configuration of the portland room has been changed, now much more seating & higher stage. i was in the front row & walked out with a stiff neck from the angle.

Pappy's Fun Club A larger audience would have made it better, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The guys are very good at making a tightly scripted show look improvised. And you get a free badge at the end! Oh, and there's audience participation... the night I went they did it so well it was almost... rehearsed? hmmm....

Chopper Hadn't seen a full Chopper show before, so was pleasantly surprised. It was really good. Obviously not the easily offended, and don't sit in the front row if you don't wanna get picked on. But if you'd like to get the chance to swear on stage, go for it lol!

Glenn Wool Again, another show not for the easily offended. So good this year he doesn't need to take his clothes off, lol!

Jason Byrne Mad as a hatter, as usual, but not quite as funny as I'd come to expect from him, but still good. His bit on aussie slang was quite good. And he turns an audience member into a ventriloquist dummy, warning teenage boys in the front row lol! And late comers prepare to be questioned.

Mark Watson Another bloke who I hadn't managed to see before, and quite enjoyed. He certainly does ramble though. He also did a bit about aussie slang. So I guess as someone asked, comfest does not check the content of shows for similarity, not that that matters as how do you know if people are gonna see them both? Same topic, different take, all good. and btw, the difference in how people dance bit Sean Choolburra did on the gala, Jimeoin did the same thing at his show, except he didn't say white people/black people.

Dave Jory Interesting show, not the laugh a minute type but still good. The age review mentioned his piercing glaze - so right. Don't sit up close if you can't handle that. And he does question the audience.

[TimChuma]

Dolls, Doves and a Diva
Starring Katie Underwood, Cath Jamison, Erin Walsh, Kelly-Ann Doll
Trades Hall, Wednesday 2nd April 2008

I was really looking forward to this show as I enjoyed Erin Walsh and Cath Jamison in their show last year and I hadn't seen Kelly-Ann Doll since the Absinth Club before in early 2007 and I really wanted to see her again.

I hadn't seen Katie Underwood perform before, but that was just something else to look forward to in the show.

For once I didn't take my camera as although I am going to take it next time I go to see the show, I wanted to see a full run-through so I could enjoy it more and knew when the good parts were coming up to take photos.

The show begins with a musical number with everyone in the show taking part. Everyone had their own part of the show with Cath Jamison acting as an unofficial MC.

I was asked to help out with a part of the show, but they ended up getting someone else in the end (I would have been happy to help.)

Katie Underwood's black dress with gold spider webs got a gasp from the audience when she first came out and it was great to hear her sing some classic songs during the show. She was meant to be acting the diva, but wasn't nasty about it.

Cath Jamison's magic tricks were great and she had some all new ones since I saw her last year and the doves to make a couple of appearances during the show which was very cute. I don't get to see much magic being performed around the place so it was great to see it in this setting.

Erin Walsh got to do a great routine with a feather boa (luckily I didn't sneeze from them) and also helped out during the show with Cath Jamison's magic tricks. Her dance routine with Kelly-Ann Doll with all the bras was excellent also.

Kelly-Ann Doll was very funny as the member of the troupe that kept messing up. She reminded me of Helen Cassidy in the show Tarnished last year and even though she didn't get to do any swinging around the head dancing in this show, she still had some show stealing scenes, especially when she got the whip out on an unsuspecting audience member on stage.

It is a great show and having the songs in between the segments makes a big difference to the pace of the show and makes it more fun to watch as there is something different happening all the time.

I did go on the opening night, but hopefully they get lots more people in to their show and I am looking forward to seeing them next week to take photos and will try to bring some of my friends to it.

Rating: 8/10

[Mishka]

Just a quick one (not sure if it's worth mentioning), but here goes.

Ross Noble: As usual, damned good value for money! Despite the audience being pretty much dead and not responding to jokes well, he managed to stretch it well beyond 2 hours. If you're easily offended, don't go and make disparaging noises - I think he was getting really pissed off at everyone getting precious about his "politically incorrect" jokes. It's not a show for the faint-hearted - if you don't want to picture making love to a jelly Nanna, then this is not the show for you! And for god's sake, when he comes out for a Q&A at the end, DON'T ask him about jokes he's done on previous shows. Understandably, he doesn't like people asking him to repeat old material.

Unfortunately, Ross's magic has somewhat dimmed for me, since I went to a series of comedy nights he MCed at the start of this year, so many of the jokes in the second half of his act I'd heard before. I think it loses the charm knowing that it's not all directly from the top of his head. Still, manically hilarious as always.

[Spoofy]

Originally Posted by Mishka

Just a quick one (not sure if it's worth mentioning), but here goes.

Ross Noble: As usual, damned good value for money! Despite the audience being pretty much dead and not responding to jokes well, he managed to stretch it well beyond 2 hours. If you're easily offended, don't go and make disparaging noises - I think he was getting really pissed off at everyone getting precious about his "politically incorrect" jokes. It's not a show for the faint-hearted - if you don't want to picture making love to a jelly Nanna, then this is not the show for you! And for god's sake, when he comes out for a Q&A at the end, DON'T ask him about jokes he's done on previous shows. Understandably, he doesn't like people asking him to repeat old material.

Unfortunately, Ross's magic has somewhat dimmed for me, since I went to a series of comedy nights he MCed at the start of this year, so many of the jokes in the second half of his act I'd heard before. I think it loses the charm knowing that it's not all directly from the top of his head. Still, manically hilarious as always.

As you said, it might have been the audience that made him somewhat dim.

I saw him on 24th March and he was HILAROUS but then the audience was so responsive, and there was some tool in the audience that had no idea who McGvyer was, so that just gave Ross heaps of material.

Ross never disappoints me.

[TimChuma]

Cinema Fiasco – The Food of the Gods
With Janet A McLeod and Geoff Wallis, special comments by Toby
Astor Theatre, Friday 4th April 2008

Janet A McLeod has been involved with the Melbourne comedy scene for as long as I can remember and it is always great to see her in the information booth outside the Town Hall every year so I jumped at the chance at seeing her in another show as the last show I saw her in was “Click here for Comedy” in 2004.

It was great to have a show at the Astor also as I always like going there for a choc top, even when I’m not going to see a film (a nice person on the ticket counter once got one for me when I was just walking past) and also finding which chair cinema’s cat Marzipan is asleep on so can pat it.

I am also a big fan of movies and going to Chinatown cinema used to be my only recreation for the week for two years when I first moved to Melbourne. I did print out a list of films from badmovies.org a few years ago and was going to try and see them all, but lost interest after a while.

The idea for this show, was the screen the film and have Janet, Geoff and Toby make special comments at key moments as if you were watching it at their house. It much the same as the famous MST3K (Mystery Science Theatre 3000) parody, but a lot of the jokes are made up on the spot as a reaction to other jokes or reactions from the audience.

There was also audience interaction with the crowd being asked to cheer particularly crappy parts of the movie and scream out whenever a big thing showed up on screen which added to the movie considerably.

At the end of the movie they also had a discussion about who they would cast in the movie if it was remade today and Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Caine got a guernsey amongst others. I particularly liked the Michael Caine impressions in the movie by one of the commentators, but it is really something you have to see and was made up on the spot.

I would recommend this show to people who like watching really bad movies of the kind they used to show on TV before late night quiz shows and also people who are fans of the MST3K format and want to see a version done live (as the fans of the series do in the US from time to time.)

The next films in the series are Night of the Lepus (11/4) and The Thing with Two Heads (18/4). I will try to make at least one of them and get more people to come along.

Rating: 8/10

[Stargate Sentinel]

my latest shows:

Frank Woodley Went after a recommendation from a friend. Lots of physical comedy, funny show, good story. And Paul Mac did the music, which was good & suited it well. Well worth the trek to comedy theatre. Should be doing better than it is - the night I went the stalls weren't filled. (on a friday!).

Wil Anderson And while you're there... see Wil. As previously mentioned, really not over the break up with his gf, but once he got past that material was in his usual funny form. Though the 'people who can say anything & make it sound sexual' bit went on too long for my opinion, he does take suggestions from the audience to turn something really not sexual & make it so... he got 'grandma' on the night i went lol...

Terri Psiakis I saw Available, I saw Unavailable, so may as well tye up the triology & see Pending Nuptials. Ok, again more a story show rather than a lot of laughs, if you've been thru wedding planning you'll prolly get more of a kick out of it. I haven't, and apparently neither had the rest of the audience on the night i went.

Phil Nicol Not as good as naked racist, but he sure gives it a good shot, at least he keeps his gear on lol! half the room curtained off, what was available maybe half full? still, entertaining story, band is good. I liked the stalker song best, (he did on the gala, was why i decided to go see him), I think we all know a few of those around the comedy scene lol!

Elbow Skin Always heard good things about these guys, but never got to see them before. I absolutely loved it! <molly meldrum>do yourself a favour and go see them!</molly meldrum> lol! Just do it, and quickly - was in the backstage room & was pretty full.

Good News Week Fun as always - just watch it tonight & next week to see the result. The second show was def better than the first, could have been the bigger crowd, more energy etc. Flacco & Sandman were there, tho doubt they'll be in the eps, they did film them, a special coming up maybe? And Paul sang! Transcending, with Cameron on keyboard & Flacco on guitar. But of course that won't air either. Friend next to me - I didn't know Paul could sing so well! lol! She had heard DAAS, short memory forgot he was in it lol!