I'm still alive! And the MICF 2012 is a comin'!

Hello. It has been a long time between drinks (read: posts). Sorry, ok? Sorry!  I've had other things on, ok? Jeez. Take it easy. I'm back! You can stop crying into your pillow all night. And get ready for some massif lolz: Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2012 starts in LESS THAN ONE WEEK.


There's lots and lots to be excited about but it's late on a school night and I don't deal well with less than 7 hours sleep so I might just say one thing then go to bed because I have Project Management training to go to tomorrow which means I have to catch the train and I haven't got a ticket so have to get up extra early to go and get one. So. Here 'tis:


I saw Canadian-born, UK-based Pat Burtscher at Adelaide Fringe last week and he is fantastic, and his show wasn't even finished yet. This will be his first MICF trip. He seems generally concerned about the state of the world (in particular the fact that it is swarming with assholes and/or religion) and has a number of slowly delivered, sometimes wonderfully violent, solutions to offer you. He does this great thing where he closes his eyes a lot when he delivers his musings which made me think he was reading them from the back of his eyelids (see below). I liked that. I liked it all.

I am excited about many comedy things but I am more tired than excited and a Louis CK DVD is on in the living room and I can sense the delicious Malteaster treat sitting in the fridge for me. This is what I've been doing instead of blogging. Judge away.


Before I go I would like to thank Al's Music Rant for reminding me that I like to do this thing by inviting me to a thing on facebook. Thanks Al. I look forward to seeing your show.

Some unseen recommendations (also known as 'A show to see at around 9pm to go on a not-really-sure-if-this-is-a-date outing')

Thanks for your inquiry, anonymous friend. 

Things and shows and stuff to consider:

• Danny Bhoy, although this adorable Scottish comedian may steal your potential date's heart and turn it from a 'maybe date' to a 'let's talk about another man and his positive attributes' sesh. Also this is a long(ish) show at 70 minutes.
• Mark Watson, you risk running the same fate with the falling for the (this time Welsh) cuteness on stage thing but last time I saw him he talked about his wife (but not in a horrible Jeff Green kind of way) so you should be safe. 

These two are your best bet as they are safe but a little more interesting lots of the other ones who stand up and tell jokes. But if you can push the time back (or forward? which one is it? I always get confused...I'm trying to say the one that makes the time be earlier) you should just go to Pajama Men or Eddie Perfect at 8.30pm. 'Cause then there'd be little to no awkwardness you might encounter with a show called something like 'What women don't want to hear'* but they'd be radtastic and impressive.

Poet Laureate Telia Neville

The idea of writing something about this show makes me want to go an have a shower until I'm wrinkly so I don't have to do it so I never even have a chance to be uneloquent (gulp) and speel shit wrong.* Shit.


Ok. Here goes. Telia Neville is very good at words. In a real way and a funny way. Geddit? This is the type of show that has so much wordyness crammed in that you feel like you missed a whole bunch and maybe should see it again. Ah. Clever trick, Telia Neville. I see what you've done there.


The dear young Poet Laureate is an impressively complex character (which bodes well for the whole 'staying interested for one whole hour of poetry by one person' thing she's got going on). If I had known her in high school (where she is currently living) I would've been simultaneously terrified and dismissive of her. The stupid eloquent, teacher-desiring, threatening, insecure, cold and tall (yes, tall...yuck?) bitch (not really, not at all, in fact I'm not really sure why I called her a bitch there, it just seemed to fit the sentence. Sorry).


I didn't see her 2010 Gibbo-nominated show, While I'm Away, but from the reviews it seems like it had a tad more variety than this year's show. This show is not exactly my thing – I liked it but didn't love it. Or maybe I just didn't understand it. There's always that possibility.


Poet Laureate Telia Neville is playing at the Town Hall at 7.15pm until April 24.


*I'm not really sure how having a shower 'til I'm wrinkly will get me out of writing it. Also the whole idea of 'getting out of it' is stupid as this is a blog which means I can do whatever the eff I want. I'm tired.

Zoe Coombs Marr (also known as 'If she is murdered and someone steals her identity it definitely wasn't me')

This show will definitely win Barry's Golden Age Award for Incoming Pieces of Wood at the Airport*.


It's just...oh...I don't even know. Fucking great. 


She is funny in, like, a trillion different ways. She plays an achingly nerdy high schooler, is an easy, breezy, beautiful (Cover)girl with her standup, is impromptu (or is just genius at convincing the audience she's shooting from the hip) and has an incredible subtlety about her facial region. She'll hold the audience's attention without saying a word then cause an eruption of laughter from a single flick of her left eye. Yes, I noticed which eye it was. Yes, I am in love with her.


She is self-deprecating when exploring the rich and relatable territory of an awkward adolescence – whether or not any of it is true, I couldn't care less. I experienced enough adolescent awkwardness and crushing self-doubt to be enchanted by her tale. But it isn't a typical 'blah blah blah I was bullied and now I'm a swan' coming of age things. It took risks, was inventive and was delightfully bizarre in sections. Also when you enter the room Vitamin C is playing so you already know it's going to be good. 


Zoe Coombs Marr is playing at the Town Hall at 6pm until April 24. 




*She is in the same room that Claudia O'Doherty was in last  year when she won Best Newcomer so it's simple superstition science that Zoe will also yeild the same fortune.


Also, this came up when I YouTubed Zoe Coombs Marr (well acutally this was a suggestion for 'zoe coombs'). It's not her but it's pretty weird. Why would anyone bother to make this? And the music is creepy. 

Little snippets of things I loved

I saw Smart Casual perform a little tidbit at Hifi Bar and I rolly, roollly liked it. But I am a bit annoyed 'cause now I have to find time to see there show. They did a little bit of banter, sang a little bit of songs (injected with delightful pop culture references) and were all understated and beardy slash sunglassesy and guitary.


I also loved the bit when Arj Barker came on 'cause it gave me the chance to go to the toilet without missing anything new then go to the bar and get served tout suite.


Also for anyone that doesn't already know Cal Wilson has had a baby. This is funny apparently.

Doc Brown

Let's be clear: I saw Doc Brown on Saturday night. Not Dr Brown. Doc Brown = hip hop artist. Dr Brown = bearded guy sometimes wearing a sombrero outside town hall and/or riding into walls to get attention. Doc Brown = Zadie Smith's brother (how cool can one family be?! Not fair). Dr Brown =  my future husband. Doc Brown = intimidatingly cool. Dr Brown = intimidatingly cool.


Doc Brown (who I am not cool enough to have known in his musician guise) does a pretty good job of mixing excellent (phat?) rhymes with stories of a geeky childhood and unruly misspent days of indulgent fame. He drops loads of beats and dope raps (sigh, I'm sorry*) about intrinsically hilarious subject-matter such as overhead projectors and David Attenborough.


He charmed the pants off his two chosen audience interaction subjects (I presume, I'm not one of them nor did I speak to either of them. Actually, yes, I probably shouldn't have written that as though it were fact. Wait on). He seemed to charm the pants off his two chosen audience interaction subjects. No mean feat given they were women in their 50s (usually the type who seem to sit quietly and 'appreciate' the comedy. Just be a bit more vocal with your appreciation please). He is easy to watch yet not boring (at no point do I recall him making a joke about the difference between men and women). His interesting, if not always ROFLMAO worthy, tales are touchingly honest about his flaws as a human being. Which only makes him cooler.


Doc Brown is playing at the Town Hall at 9.45pm until 24 April.


*Speaking of worlds I know nothing about here is a video I find amusing.

Archibald Wheeler Whets His Whistle

Patrick Miller* of Vigilantelope fame (is fame the wrong word here? Whatever, they won a Golden Gibbo so that's a thing, right? Update: LIES! I lied to you! Sorry. The were nominated, not winning, but nom is still pretty fantastic) has been left to his own devices. The result is...astonishing. 


It starts off accessible enough with geriatric Archie (Patrick does the best old guy end-of-sentence whistle ever) singing about his tiresome wife, Mavis. Then it keeps going. Patrick transforms from Archie to Archie's son, (then to) Archie's grandson, (and) Archie's son's best mate (but don't forgot) Archie's grandson's best mate etc. etc. etc. I'm tired (but also flippin' enthralled) just watching. 


A testament to Patrick's clearly marvellous brain, the narrative somehow traverses through Fred Hollow's brother's surgery then an industrial freezer with a yak (or maybe llama, I forget), to a farcical The Castle-esque court room sequence, and finally, like any good comedy show, to a hospital for a self-embrace. Patrick deserves that hug, he is clearly giving it his all up there. 


I think that if Patrick could've some how cloned himself and played all the characters (well, he already does play them all...you know what I mean, play them all at once kind of thing, like at the same time standing next to each other) then he would've made his director's** life more sleep-based and less awake-always-doing-comedy-things-based. But they get around this 'there only being one of Pat in the world' problem pretty smoothly. But maybe someone should give him a TV show and lots of money to make CGI versions of himself. Yes? Hello? Producer willing to take risks are you out there?


This show about one of my favourite topics of all time: intergenerational male relationships. As such I was not only laughing at the silly but also wishing to squash Archie's face with my bare hands. Oh! Also! He plays really rad songs and is totes talented on the piano and with singing and dancing even a bit too. 


Archie is playing at Trades Hall at 7pm until 10 April. 




* Just to clarify, it's not this guy or this guy but this guy that I'm talking about. 
** PLUG PLUG PLUG PLUG! His director is Al Newstead of Al's Music Rant.