Comedy, Emma Newlands

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…

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 & 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Stephen Carlin

16 Aug 2007

Examining and dissecting popular culture is a hurdle that has felled many a stand-up, but the very dapper Carlin has some aces up his sleeve with a seemingly laid-back delivery revealing extremely shrewd and highly amusing observations. Technical…

Tanyalee Davis

16 Aug 2007

She may be 3ft 6in, but describing herself as ‘low to the ground and kind of racy’ reflects that that there is definitely nothing small about Tanyalee’s personality. Her self-deprecating humour provides a fair few laughs detailing the trials and…

Cirque de Sabotage

9 Aug 2007

This female three-piece act proclaims itself as ‘heavily character-driven, comprising sketch-based slapstick and silliness, woven together with verbal dexterity and an extensive wardrobe of props and costumes’. True enough, but then so was the…

Jim Bowes

9 Aug 2007

Whether WMDs can be launched within 45 minutes may be debatable, but a far safer bet would be to spend that length of time in the company of Bowes. An affable and enthusiastic host, he guides us along the journey from polite to increasingly assertive…

Stuckey and Murray

9 Aug 2007

A musical comedy act is a tough tightrope to walk at the best of times, and although the camaraderie of this duo is impossible to fault, it proves that a song doesn’t automatically become funny because it contains the word ‘douchebag’. One to avoid if…

The Queef of Terence

9 Aug 2007

The insincerity and superficiality of daytime TV make a ripe target for lampooning, and the three stars of Queef start out promisingly in this supposed pilot for a show. With a finely-tuned sense of character acting and comic timing, they deserve a…

Psister Psycho

1 Aug 2007

The path to true love never runs smooth, but it’s a bumpier road than usual in unconventional love story Psister Psycho. ‘The eponymous villain is a psychotic arms-dealing lesbian robot nun,’ says Danielle Ward, who last year performed…

Stephen Grant

1 Aug 2007

‘Comedy just pokes at problems, rarely confronts them squarely,’ Woody Allen once said. He didn’t, however, reckon with Stephen Grant whose self-proclaimed mission this August is not only to ‘obliterate untruths and punish inaccuracies’, but to solve…