Comedy, Reviews and Emma Newlands

Andrew Maxwell

Sparkles with charm and wit aplenty

24 Aug 2009

With many a comedian taking the new offender route, Maxwell proves it's possible to be sharp and boundary-nudging without simply being obnoxious. A friendly presence onstage, our Irish raconteur has the crowd eating from the palm of his hand, amusing…

Ivan Brackenbury

Often-amusing ailment-themed gags

24 Aug 2009

Saying you prefer a band's early material may be a cliché but this year's 'all-new' hospital radio show makes 2008's Brackenbury-induced tears of laughter seem like a dream that can never be recaptured. The inappropriate song choices are still there as…

The Moonfish Rhumba

A jarring clash between the potential and the misfiring, crude reality

19 Aug 2009

Billed as a ‘unique blend of musical mayhem and off-the-wall comedy’, this double act is, at least, visually unique as Dan Lees and Guy Combes sport the looks of a 1930s detective and a Hispanic Freddie Mercury respectively. Their material is a…

Jollie

Story-based songs on various countries

19 Aug 2009

What do you get if you cross two men called John and Ollie? Why, ‘Jollie’ of course! And what do you get if you base an entire hour on their invitation to perform at ‘an important European festival’? Story-based songs on various countries, all delivered…

Dave Thornton

Nearly as hot as a shrimp on a barbie

18 Aug 2009

It would be easy to think the ‘Aussie abroad’ shtick has been done exhaustively from Crocodile Dundee to the many Antipodean stand-ups on the circuit, but Thornton can hold his own with some ‘bonzer’ material. A friendly demeanour, knack for visual and…

The Sunday Defensive

Unfulfilled geek potential

12 Aug 2009

They say bad things come in threes, but two can be just as terrible if this woefully unfunny double act is anything to go by. Phil Gilbert and Jacob Edwards are both geekily handsome and deliver every line with enthusiastic intensity. But it seems clear…

Pete Firman

Jaw-dropping tricks with fast and furious gags

12 Aug 2009

Firman may archly raise an eyebrow when he describes his act as ‘magic and gags, gags and magic: a killer combo’, but many a true word remains spoken in jest. Fusing jaw-dropping tricks with a fast and furious delivery of gags, he combines old school…

Craig Hill

The brutal coupling of a sharp wit and a queen bitch attitude

11 Aug 2009

Explaining how he was once told his act is ‘better than an epidural’, the stresses of the outside world really do become a distant memory when the captivatingly all-singing, all-dancing bekilted Hill is onstage. Basing his act less on scripted material…

Geoff Norcott

Former Nuts man on the more subtle differences between sexes

11 Aug 2009

‘Sexism is kind of funny’ says former teacher and Nuts TV presenter (!) Norcott during the show’s introduction. ‘It gets results in comedy.’ Hey, it worked for Jim Davidson, right? But what could have been a retread of dated material gets a breath of…

Stephen K Amos: The Feelgood Factor

Or maybe not...

10 Aug 2009

Irony is the currency of modern comedy, and Stephen K Amos’ show is undoubtedly an ironic experience; just not, perhaps, in the way he intended. Although it’s pitched as a feelgood experience, his hour turns out to be a very dispiriting one indeed. The…

Hotdoctors: The Downage

Slick DJs, slack comics

10 Aug 2009

As the old saying goes, if a job’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing well. So when it comes to the likes of musical comedy, you get your gems like Spinal Tap or Flight of the Conchords; elsewhere, subversive satire has brought us comedy gold panned by…

Jamie Kilstein

21 Aug 2008

Hey, you know what would be a novel idea for a comedy show? Taking pot-shots at the God-fearing American right from a left-wing perspective! Kilstein evidently thinks his scattergun approach to Republicans and organised religion is edgy, and maybe it is…

Literally

21 Aug 2008

Taking an admirably no-prisoners stance against the abuse and misuse of the word 'literally', Paul Parry delivers his anecdotes and research tongue-in-cheek (though not literally). His smart, dry humour and Viz-style subversive pedantry combine with his…

Craig Campbell

21 Aug 2008

A one-man play that deserves an audience of less, there is probably a clever, poignant story here. It's just very well-hidden behind the screaming, swearing and unimaginative sexual euphemisms - and who can ever tire of simulated masturbation or crazed…

Damian Callinan

Testicular hour fails to tickle

14 Aug 2008

A visit to the sperm bank must rarely be an amusing experience for anybody, and its comedy value has already been extracted, bottled and labelled by humourists with far greater skill than Damian Callinan demonstrates here. The archetypal Aussie's hour…

Dan Nightingale

Dogging and squirrel-based japery

14 Aug 2008

The outlook wasn't good to begin with. In fact there was a palpable air of terror in the room when Dan Nightingale shuffled onstage apologetically, nervously, and admitting that his first few shows this year had not gone well. But to the audience's…

Sammy J

Puppetry's Hell's Angel rips Disney a new one

14 Aug 2008

Part of becoming an adult, sadly, is realising that life is not going to turn out as you planned, and that a Disney-style happy ending is something that eludes all but a few of us. Not only has Melbourne-based comedian Sammy J realised this, he's only…

John Gordillo

14 Aug 2008

There are some gems in Gordillo's routine, which showcases him as a quick-witted and eloquent performer with a few killer lines up his sleeve. Universal matters like free-range chickens and the lunacy of circuses ring true for everyone; his father's…

Susan Calman

14 Aug 2008

Stressing there will be 'nothing whimsical' in her show, the likeable Glaswegian lawyer-turned stand-up harks back to her legal roots by mentioning concepts such as 'contributory negligence' in her routine. Her quick-fire patter on friends, family and…

Stephen K Amos

14 Aug 2008

A hurricane of relentlessly energetic charisma, Amos has the crowd eating out of his hand for every second of his set. His comedy targets, including Facebook, American politics and audience members' hometowns tread a well-worn path, but when he hits the…

Diet of Worms

14 Aug 2008

'Let's get this over and done with as quickly as possible,' says one character during yet another interminably dire 'sketch'. Please. A recurring theme here is the tortured equation that a puffin plus a cat is apparently a 'puffincat'. And, therefore…

Craig & Roxburgh

14 Aug 2008

Christopher Hitchens caused outrage when he said women aren't funny. Lucy Craig and Kate Roxburgh, performing feeble gags on family life, poshness and being Brits-who-live-in-LA, are adding treacherous fuel to his fire. This needs 'stand-up' in the…

Wendy Wason

Comedy catharsis lacks bite

7 Aug 2008

Inspired by Donald Rumsfeld's infamous 'known unknowns' comments that were beyond parody, Wendy Wason takes the audience along the rocky path of her marriage break-up (from Steve Furst of Lenny Beige and Orange cinema advert fame) and the lessons it has…

Lloyd Langford

Schoolboy whimsy misses the mark

7 Aug 2008

What do you get if you combine misanthropy and anthropology, as Lloyd Langford promises at the start of his routine? The answer is a disappointingly mixed bag of punchlines from the baby-faced and constantly chipper 24-year-old. The material, delivered…

Shazia Mirza

23 Aug 2007

Most notorious for her line about the name on her pilot’s licence, Brummie comic Mirza here conjures up plenty more where that came from. The point she makes is as important as the quality of her material, lampooning the audience for choosing to see…