Go to the 20th Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Well, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was frequented by two very sophisticated young women this year who came in the form of myself and Loquaciouslass. We went to see Elbow Skin together on Thursday night and though there were some questionable ideas presented throughout the act, overall it was hilarious. As Loquaciouslass mentioned, the ‘guess who’ game was seen in a whole new light.

I like comedy for it allows you for a moment to think outside the limitations of your own thoughts, conservatism and ideals. Though some ideas and thoughts presented are not so pallatable as one might hope, they do encourage us to not be so stayed in our ways that we shut out all influences in our lives that don’t compliment what we believe.

I thoroughly enjoyed the night and the company of course :) and hope to make it a priority again next year.

Didn’t get to quite as many shows as I would have liked, but all in all I really enjoyed my experience with the festival this year.

I’ll just have to remember for next time to book for some of the bigger shows (The Glasshouse, Danny Bhoy, Akmal Saleh, Stephen K Amos, etc.) well in advance.

ElbowSkin – “Gondola”

ElbowSkin is a comedy duo comprising two young men named Dave and Ernie. Their show consisted of musical numbers (very well performed), skits, video segments, and audience participation. I have to confess, I’ve never before seen the game Guess Who? used in such a practical application…

Their jokes and stories were at times a little confronting and controversial, but overall hilarious. There’s a great description of their show (performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival) here, or you can check out their website. Well worth seeing.

Corinne Grant – “Faking It”

Corinne Grant... I already had a bit of an appreciation for Corinne’s humour from her current role on The Glasshouse, and formerly on Rove Live.

We saw Corinne after Daniel Townes… and whilst Daniel was very funny, I think I enjoyed Corinne’s show just that little bit more. She shared some hilarious stories (accompanied by some of the most incredible facial expressions and body language), intermingled with some well-incorporated audience participation… she’s very quick and witty with her spontaneous remarks.

All in all, a great night out!

Went with a few friends to see a couple of shows on Tuesday night:

Daniel Townes – “And that…”

Daniel Townes is quite a funny fellow. This was pure stand-up comedy. There seemed to be no plan as such (or at all) to his show… it all appeared to be quite random. He played along really well with the audience, chatting to different people throughout the show, and was what I would describe as ‘spontaneously entertaining’.

His show was fairly liberally peppered with expletives, but I got the sense this was simply how he talks, as opposed to any kind of ‘shock tactic’ or swearing in an attempt to be humorous. There also seemed to be no particular end to his show… at one stage he stated that he’d carry on until there was no-one left in the room. We had to leave to get to the next show (this was 15mins after he was scheduled to finish), and there were plenty of people still in the room… so goodness only knows how long he continued. People certainly got their money’s worth!

I am flying to Melbourne this evening and have plans to go and see ‘Elbow Skin’ performing live. I am going with Loqaciouslass who has organised the tickets and been the driving influence in my desire to attend the Comedy Festival, all events she has attended thus far have inspired glowing reports. It should be a great night; I’m looking forward to it.

Claire Hooper – “Oh”

Went to see Claire Hooper’s show the other week (with CG… who, by the way, has NO CLUE how to whisper. I hate it when people can’t or won’t whisper). I’d never heard of her before, and had no idea what to expect. When the show first started, I sat there thinking “OMG, what on earth have I walked in to?”. However, once I worked out what was going on, it was quite funny.

I’m going again tomorrow night to see 2 shows with a couple of friends, and it should be fun!

I tried to organise a group of us to go along to one of the shows… a show that I especially wanted to see. Unfortunately, I think I was a bit too ambitious… by the time I finally heard back from everyone, the show was sold out. Perhaps I need to stop worrying about what everyone else wants, and just organise what I want to do.

The Melbourne Comedy Festival is on again, and my plan is to go along to a few shows with friends. Just have to round up the gang and figure out the shows we want to see.