The List Operators
The Last Tuesday Society
3 April 2009
Melbourne Town Hall
Simmering underneath the populist level of “fuck, cunt, wank”, “bogan slut in ugg boots” and “our train system sux” bonza Aussie comedians is a seam of independent work too good to ever be seen on a footy show. Topping the list is ... forgive me ... The List Operators.
The List Operators (Matthew Kelly and Richard Higgins) first appeared at early Last Tuesday Society performances and their Melbourne Fringe season sold out. They continue to leave me bleeding internally and have destroyed my ability to watch a certain ABC show without running to the screen and touching you-know-who in the you-know-what area.
With lists as diverse as “10 alternative ways to open a show” ,“Things that are hard to spell” and “Countries it’s OK to be racist about”, the Operators had me squirming at the most-wrong-ever Santa joke, joyously giggling at a wind up puppy and pretentiously sniggering about semiotics.
Their recipe-list for bad stand up comedy may be too close for many comedians about town, but it proves how well they know their genre. The uptight, angry, straight (as in conservative/boring/rod up his arse) bloke and adorable idiot is an over-used formula, but Higgins and Kelly add enough illegally imported and drunkenly-bought-on-e-bay-at-3am ingredients to create characters we recognise, but haven’t met before. Their lists are a hoot, their sketches rib cracking, but the unrelated material wouldn’t gel without these cementing characters.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing your favourite telly or radio star rant on a stage, but you know exactly what you’re going to see. Grab a ticket to something smaller and be thrilled by the experience of something original. And when these artists start appearing on the telly in a couple of years – you can boast that you saw them before they became famous.
For a choice grab of the best, The Last Tuesday Society (including the Operators) is meeting at on the first Tuesday of every week during the festival.
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
