Talking and Comedy

On Friday 30th, after a sunny day off work, my friend Jes and I went to see our last event of the Hello Darkness mini-festival, a talk and slideshow by Ken Warner about his photographs of Halloween from San Francisco.

I hadn’t heard of him before, but a quick search online found some photographs of high interest and good quality. He visited or lived in San Fransisco for twenty-odd years, and photographed the Halloween street parties which were based around the gay community there. He discussed how the parties came about, what people thought about it and some of the experiences he had while there. He showed us colour photos, as he had published a book of black and white photos and felt that the colour photos were something new.

There were some very interesting images involving people with costumes that were certainly worthy of some analysis. The highlight I think was the man who, apparently year after year, wore a costume consisting of pads and tampons with blood-red paint (at least I hope it was paint).

The room it took place in was on Brunswick Street, in an upstairs open-plan place. It seemed like the ideal place for a party, and although we headed off early, it seemed that a party would go on into the night. I even managed to sit on the hard wooden floor for the few hours it lasted. The crowd was an interesting mix of friends of friends of people who organised it, artistic types who were interested in the photos and quirky gothic types who just wanted to go to everything Halloween themed. I’m not sure where I fit in, but I was wearing plastic mini jack-o-lantern earrings.

The longer weekend was fairly quiet and lazy. Saturday afternoon consisted of an impromptu pub crawl and the evening a delicious dinner at the old Dainty Sechuan in Chinatown. Sunday was again, lazy, and involved watching
Flesh Gordon 2: Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders’. We’d seen the first earlier this year, and this was significantly worse, but still amusing and lightly entertaining.

Unfortunately I had to work Monday, breaking up what could have been a five-day weekend. However, Cup eve evening was spent eating good food, drinking good beer and watching good comedy. We had dinner at Red Pepper at the top end of Bourke Street, a tried and tested Indian eatery. At only $6 for a veggie curry, and slightly less for an alcoholic beverage, it’s a great bargain.

Next up we headed over to Spleen, where there is free comedy on Monday nights. Although I’ve had the intention of going many times, this was the first time I actually managed to attend. Adam Rozenbachs was acting as MC and there was a huge set of other small-name comedians. Adam used a lot of the material he had at the comedy festival and when I saw him at the Comedy Club, but had added some new bits and delivered the old stuff in different ways.

Otherwise, Sammy J was fantastic, Felicity Ward was great and Troy Kinne was fairly good too. They were the highlights, but the others weren’t all bad. I think I’ll have to make an effort to go again, but not when it’s too warm – the air-con wasn’t very good!

Melbourne Cup Day was an enjoyable public holiday, and to avoid the racing rabble we headed to the cinema. We saw ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’, which I suppose is also called the movie that Heath Ledger was making when he died.

Overall, I liked it. It wasn’t amazing, and Heath Ledger didn’t get much of an opportunity to show how great he was, but it was an enjoyable movie and done well, particularly when you take into account what happened. I understand that they had to re-write chunks of it to enable three other actors to fill in (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell). I can’t say in comparison to how it was before, but the re-write definitely worked and the other three actors stepped up to the mark and did fantastically. Tom Waits also deserves a mention; I think I’m becoming a fan of his.

Otherwise, the movie is a long one, but doesn’t seem it. The story is interesting, if a little confusing. The special effects are beautiful and the costumes are especially impressive.

After that, it was all downhill and back to work today.

Second Anniversary

On September 1st it passed the second year I’ve been in Melbourne. As pointed out in my last post, I’m quite settled here and enjoying everything.

Anyway, the weekend before last, I took a day-trip out to Mt Buller to see Australian snow for the first time. After doing some investigative work, the best deal I could find was through the tourist agency ExtraGreen for a bus from the city and back. After a last-minute upgrade, we ended up on a good quality bus on our way out of the city at 6am. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t exactly pleasant, and as we headed to higher ground, the rain started to fall. It continued all day, and all but ruined the day.

If it hadn’t been raining, we could have hired some snow shoes and gone for a hike, or completed the Gnome Roam (as it was, I could only find one gnome on the clock tower before giving up), or even just had a better look around the village. Unfortunately, after some lunch and some more skipping between buildings, we headed up Summit Road to a pub and spent some time playing Buckhunter! The snow barely got a look in.

I was almost grateful to be on the bus going home after the wasted day there. As we pulled into Mansfield (where people had hired snow-gear), the rain cleared and there was some beautiful late afternoon light. As we had some time to kill, we went for a quick walk around nearby and took some photos before the clouds covered the rest of the sky.

Other than that, nothing too big has been happening for me. This Friday past, I had free tickets to the Comedy Club, where I got to see Adam Rozenbachs as MC, with Terry North and Lehmo. Terry North is an English comedian that I’ve seen on two other occasions, and he still has no new material. Thankfully Lehmo and Adam Rozenbachs both made up for this and it was an enjoyable night.

I’ve been quite busy at work recently, but I’ve also been to the movies a few times. I saw District 9 a few weeks ago. This was a refreshing movie. The fact that it was South African, with little American influence, was quite noticable. The acting was a little iffy at times – with the main character barely developing at all. Apart from that, the special effects and costumes were impressive, and I liked the movie.

The other movie I saw was Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. Now this movie has had a fair amount of press, and I was looking forward to it. It didn’t disappoint. The violence was plentiful, and there was more than enough dialogue, but overall I felt that it worked. The in-depth dialogue and speeches were, at times, overkill, but added to the rest of the action, it was fantastic. The acting was fantatic, with mostly unknown (to me at least) actors. The character of Col. Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, was particularly impressive.

The Last Laugh

How sad, the comedy festival is over!

I had a slow last week and only saw three shows, but they were good and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself. I’ve missed some shows that I would have been interested to see, but I’m glad I’ve seen as many as I did!

So the last three started with Nik Coppin – an English guy who my friends help promote each year, and as such, I feel obliged to see. I saw him last year and enjoyed his show and so felt less obliged and more keen to see him off my own back. His show was quite empty on a Sunday evening with less than ten of us there, but he took the chance to talk a little more rubbish that was relevant to each of us.

After that, it was all relaxed until Friday night! Unfortunately by this stage I had (and still have) my second cold in as many weeks. I went to Wil Anderson to help to cure it. Although I don’t consider myself a huge fan of him, I do like him and was glad to have a chance to see his own show. Although there was quite a bit of swearing, it was different to Arj Barker in that it wasn’t for the sake of it. I’ve realised that what my high school ethics teacher (who was Australian) said was true – that Australians simply swear for punctuation. Wil swearing didn’t annoy me as much as Arj because it part of the language that he’s always and probably will always use.

The show was pretty extensive, and as with Adam Hills, had it’s sad moment, but for the most part was continuous laughs!

The last show for the festival was Ali McGregor’s Lullabies. It’s a charity show which has been on for the last three years and as my friend had mentioned it last year, I thought I’d get in this year and see what it was about. It raises money for an orphanage in Cambodia and simply involves a selection of comedians performing ‘lullabies’, although the term is used very loosely! This year included Tripod, Fiona O’Laughlin’s daughter, Adam Hills, The Boy With Tape On His Face (and his wife?), Stephen K Amos and many more which I can’t remember.

It was a beautiful show with so many beautiful and unconventional lullabies performed. Obviously there were many laughs, but constant mentions of the orphans brought it back to everyone.

About half-way through the show, which was in Bosco (a tent set up in City Square), it started raining. As most people would realise, it was very loud! It added to the warm atmosphere in the tent though, and strategic traffic noises added percussion to some songs! Unfortunately while we were warm and dry inside, there was no backstage for the artists and Ali McGregor had to arrange for some bubble wrap to keep them dry (and floating I presume).

All the acts came forward at the end and performed ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ as an a cappella. It was one of the best endings to a show, and definitely a good ending to the comedy festival for me!

So since the last post, I’ve had a few great nights of comedy.

The first show was Adam Hills: Inflatable. Although it had the usual charm and hilarity of a Hillsy show, there was a sadder aspect to it which brought everyone down for just a moment. However, ending with the Australian national anthem to the tune of Working Class Man, brought everyone back up. All in all, it was a different but fantastic show.

After that, a second big name was up – Danny Bhoy. Although I’ve only seen a DVD of one of his shows, I was excited to be able to see him live with new material. Despite a very rowdy (and not particularly funny) crowd, he managed to get through the show and make the most of it. I can definitely understand his hype, and I was impressed by his stage presence.

This week we also had tickets to see Adam Rozenbachs. We saw him last year and as we had to sit in the front row, there was some embarrassment as my housemate confirmed that I pee’d in the shower (his question after discovering I worked for a bathware company)! Thankfully this year we were sitting toward the back and could sit back to enjoy the show. The front row wasn’t quite as exciting (it’s hard to make fun of someone who cares for the elderly) but his show was interesting, up-to-date and as always, entertaining.

My Friday night plans unfortunately fell through, so we ended up seeing Randy’s Postcards from Purgatory – a puppet comedy. This was a new one for me, and was interesting. Obviously the puppetry demanded skill too, but it was more of a production of the last few years of his life involving different flashback scenes. It was funny, different and very interesting.

After that, we took a break from the comedy and went to see a showing of Deliverance at ACMI. I hadn’t seen this movie before, and I really enjoyed it. The story was better done than the lost-campers-hillbilly-trouble movies of today, and there were enough laughs to keep my attention for the entirety. After finding out that these showings are a regular event, I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open for what’s on next.

Last night had two more shows in stock. The first was Rod Quantock Eats Himself, which I thoroughly enjoyed. He essentially just talks through the issue of global warming, what we should do, why the government isn’t doing enough – the usual. However, his delivery is what makes the show; he comes across as a mad scientist, complete with chalk-board. It was good to see the same material delivered in a new way and by a genuinely concerned and interesting bloke.

Later on, we went to see Ali McGregor’s Late Nite Variety Nite, a similar show to The Festival Club with a collection of comics performing while Ali McGregor is an MC, in a classic burlesque-esque style. As an MC, she has a great presence, but seems to rely too heavily on her guests; I would have preferred for her to take more of the show as her own. Despite that, we saw a good crowd – Kent Valentine, Celia Pacquola, Wil Anderson and Rima the itty-bitty burlesque dancer (yes, the midget from BB). I enjoyed all except the last.

With only one more week of the festival left, I’m not sure whether to start relaxing again, or to cram as many acts in as possible. I have a two more booked, but I’ll play the rest by ear; there are several more I’d love to see thoughC

“I only get annoyed when they ask me to see the fairy”

Happy Zombie Jeebus day.

Other than just enjoying a four day weekend without work, I’ve also been seeing copious amounts of comedy. After Goth Vs Nerd, things could only get better – and better they got!

On Friday 10th, a date long-awaited by us since the pre-sale, we went to see Dylan Moran. As huge fans of Black Books, this was a rather exciting time for us. Last year we saw Bill Bailey, also at Hamer Hall, and he was fantastic, so it was good to see the other half of the duo relatively soon.

As was expected, the show was fantastic. It was without a particular theme, which worked just fine for him and us. The subjects varied from religion (as quoted in the title), family, pleasure and health – focusing on how he’s getting older and things are quite drastically changing.

As with all great shows, there is always a tool in the audience who tries to heckle – but Dylan being an Irishman was having none of it and dealt out the blows accordingly!

All in all, the show was worth every cent and it was a lovely evening with which to end the first anniversary of my friend’s passing.

Saturday was a good day, involving a small memorial for our friend and a relaxed afternoon at home. That evening however, more comedy was on the cards. It started with another unknown show – ‘Elbowskin: Are We Stupid?’. The show was very reminiscent of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival style – young people, probably students, just voicing their slightly left-leaning opinions. Not that that’s bad – the show was fantastic and had me laughing for nearly the whole 55 minutes! A mixture of video, music and chit-chat, exploring how stupid we are. Very impressive.

After this show, I wanted more laughs, so we went to Town Hall and checked out the board of shows that evening. After debating whether we wanted to leave the CBD limits for a show, we settled on seeing The Festival Club at the Hi-Fi bar – a value-for-money show involving some bigger names and a mix of acts. With Adam Hills and Jason Byrne acting as MCs, it was hard to be disappointed. I can’t remember the names of the acts, other than Kevin Brennan, but I can say the standards were quite high!

Comedy

With the Comedy Festival in full swing, I have attended only two shows – but never fear, there are many more to come!

On Tuesday I was forced to sit through Arj Barker at the Town Hall. As Kat and I are dragging Trav to many shows, we thought it best we do something for him, and unfortunately, Arj was his choice! So a cold Tuesday evening arrived and we all rugged up, grabbed a Thermos of tea (no, really), and went on our way. After a kerfuffle with the trams, we finally arrived at the Town Hall, collected the tickets and made our way to the disgustingly uncomfortable chairs.

Now, I won’t say I didn’t laugh, because the show definitely had it moments – it’s just that the majority of the humour and the way it was delivered isn’t for me. He is very American, Californian to be exact, and even without the grating accent I don’t think I’d like his delivery. The excessive swearing is just that, excessive and unnecessary; the prolonged climate change joke was far too long and did I mention his accent was annoying?!

The show had it’s funny moments though, so I’m not entirely disappointed that I saw it.

So the next show was a last minute decision to see Goth Vs Nerd at Pony. I’d read the description and it sounded quite interesting with a lot of potential. Goths are funny (if they aren’t taking themselves too seriously), and nerds are often pathetically funny – so off we went. Unfortunately, instead of reaching the potential, it fell far too short and was over an hour of talking. About stuff. Which wasn’t very funny.

The nerd part of the show was interesting – although definitely not as nerdy as I had expected. He talked about different belief systems, which could have also been funny, but just wasn’t. It was a let down.

The goth part was definitely funnier, but I’m not sure whether that means it was actually funny, or just funny in comparison. There wasn’t too much discussion about the actual goth side of things, but at least there were over-acted jokes and gimicks, which helped to get a little giggle out of me.

So all in all, it hasn’t been too successful a comedy festival so far. Thankfully this weekend I’m seeing some big names which I know won’t let me down (Dylan Moran and Adam Hills), so I’m guaranteed at least two laughs this festival!

Comfest

With the Melbourne International Comedy Festival just around the corner, my diary had quickly filled up. Several shows planned and booked, several semi-planned and others will no doubt be spur of the moment. My highlights this year are Danny Bhoy and Dylan Moran, both for the first time.

Reviews of the shows as they happen!