MICF: Eric, Sammy J & Randy, and Ben

MICF
the last days

Eric
Vicious Fish & La Mama
comedyfestival.com.au

Difficult First Album Tour
Sammy J and Randy
Laughing Stock
comedyfestival.com.au

Ben McKenzie is Uncool 
Shaloin Punk
comedyfestival.com.au

Was it only 26 days?

Eric's back!

Last seen in 2009, Eric's a one-person sketch show. He's not a character but a blank page everyman – a white, 40-something, straight, suit-wearing, aging-well everyguy – who performs 27 sketches about such men.

Eric is Scott Gooding who's directed by Scott Brennan, and The Return of Eric is written by Emilie Collyer, Dave Hoskin, Karin Muiznieks, Morgan Rose, Neil Triffet and Nic Vellissaris.

From stopping a PM from jumping to adopting a manchild to heading down the Nepean* to escape hipstergeddon, Gooding changes character on a pin head and gives every Eric the chance to show their heart or fall on their arse. And with so many sketches in less than an hour, Brennan doesn't allow for a second of wasted time and ensures that there are moments to reflect before landing the next joke and meeting a new Eric.

As a form, Eric stands alone. Without the personal reflection of stand up or the safe distance of detailed character, The Return of Eric is able to bite all the hands that feed and to snap at the many worlds where middle aged guys think they are in control.

* As someone who had to head down the Nepean (to escape dick landlords rather than the hipsters), I think Brighton is still doing a good job of stopping the approach to Zone 2.

Sammy J and Randy are launching their Difficult First Album album. You can buy it at their show, Difficult First Album Tour.

With favourite songs and moments from past shows, it's a night for fans to celebrate everything we love about the housemates from Ricketts Lane. If you, somehow, have yet to fall in love with the genius of the bald purple fuzzy guy and his tall skinny friend, this is a chance to catch up on their story but a best of show is never as wonderful as a complete story.

Ben McKenzie is Uncool is about passion, never being afraid to love what you love, and the difference between a nerd and a hipster.

It also has one more night in Brunswick Street's Provincial Hotel. The nerds will tell you to bring your friends and will soon be wearing "I'm as uncool as Ben McKenzie" t-shirts; the hipsters will tell you that the show was only really good back in week 2.

Uncool is Ben sharing his stories about being a nerd. He's so nerdy that there's a card game to choose which stories he tells. With unfinished degrees, <joke> HTML </joke> and a love of Stegosauruses, the Harry Potter books and Doctor Who, I glowed with the warmth of knowing I'm uncool, but Ben proves that I don't deserve to call myself a nerd.

Ben's knowledge and obsessive fandom puts me to shame. He makes me want to read more and stop playing Candy Crush, because it really is a crap game that requires no skill.

Without a hint of cynicism, Uncool is about redefining our definitions of cool and about loving what we love with the kind of passion that would make Fonzie want to be a nerd.

This was on aussietheatre.com.au

Forest of Dreams on telly

Sammy J and Health McIvor finger the zeitgeist every time they get together.

Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams made me fall in hopeless love with Terry the Squirrel and ensured that I see these fine artists whenever I can cos they are so fucking funny.

If you have the Comedy Channel on your television, be home on Friday 24 June (and record it for those times you need a good cheering up).

Review: Sammy J & Randy in Bin Night

MICF 2011
Sammy J & Randy in Bin Night
Laughing Stock Productions
2 April 2011
Victoria Hotel
to 24 April and now at the Hi Fi Bar
www.comedyfestival.com.au

As Sammy J and Randy's Bin Night has moved to a bigger venue and added extra shows, they don't need another review raving about their unmissability. Sorry...

If you don't do and see Melbourne's greatest heterosexual puppet-man couple every chance you get, you're mad.  With an effortless rapport that makes Fred and Ginger's dancing look awkward, they are consistently fucking hilarious ... and smart and forever fingering the zeitgeist.

This year, they are still sharing a house in Rickett's Lane, but all is not right. Someone is putting rubbish in THEIR bin, so it's time for an all-night stake out and time to dig through the household scraps to uncover some secrets. But that's just story. This show's for anyone who remembers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, loves pinstripe PJs and has wanted to kiss in front of Pharlap's corpse.

I'd love every comedy festival goer to take a risk and see an unknown show, but if you want to balance that risk with some guaranteed brilliance, see if there are any tickets left for Sammy J and Randy (the purple dude on the end of Heath McIvor's arm).

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com

Review: Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL 2010
Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane
27 March 2010
Victoria Hotel

Even though Damo really proposed to Donna this week, Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane affirms that Sammy J and Randy are still my favourite Comedy Festival couple.

Sammy J and Randy (puppeteer wonder Heath McIvor) are always terrific in their solo shows but like sparklie foil and chocolate eggs (not Nestle because of that baby thing in Africa – thanks for reminding us Sammy J) they belong together.

In Ricketts Lane, they are best friends and housemates . Sammy is a lowly underpaid shit-kicking lawyer-cum-pole dancer and Randy is divorced and in need of some quick money. When Sammy finally has a career-making tax fraud case...you know the rest.

But you will be always be surprised. J and McIvor are the most original duo on our comedy stage, who deserve every whoop and squeal that comes from their ever-growing young and gorgeous audience (and the rest of us who won’t miss anything they do).

I’d rave more, but John Richards was also throwing his underwear at the stage and had this to say about the boys:

Sammy J is amazing. Randy is amazing. Heath McIvor is amazing. The songs? Amazing. And the comedy! Amazing. In a word – amazing.

If you liked Sammy J In The Forest Of Dreams you must see this. If you like puppets you must see this. If you like songs about sleep, jokes about scrabble or Barack Obama audio cookery books, you must see this.

Honestly, JUST GO.

Ditto.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com.

Randy’s Postcards from Purgatory

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2009
Randy’s Postcards from Purgatory
5 April 2009
Portland Hotel

As his recent pairings with Sammy J have proven, if Heath McIvor has his hand it, it’s worth checking out. Sammy and Heath’s close friend Randy may be the greatest heterosexual male couple on stage, but have parted ways to give us Comedy Festival solo shows. Sammy has regressed to1999 and Randy is sending us Postcards from Purgatory.

Randy is more foul-mouthed, drunken, and animated than most stand ups. His tale of dismal love is augmented with treats like the divinely absurd Flashback Yeti, a really creepy kids TV show (done with shadow puppets), and Randy’s own hand puppetry – but it’s still just an A to B to “now I SEE that I just need to take charge of my own life” tale – and – we’ve heard it all before.

The monologues that captivate us are filled with dilemmas and choices and the teller creates enough detail to bring every element of their semi-fictional world to life. It’s hard not to have a bit of a crush on someone as purple and irresistible as Randy, but it’s hard to care about Randy and Polly, when we don’t know much about her. Compared to the complexity of Randy, his vital offstage characters felt too much like...puppets.

Of course it’s easy to get a giggle by calling Keanu Reeves a cunt, but so is just saying “cunt”. To make it more than a lazy joke, we need to know about Keanu‘s cuntish behaviour. Plot jumps like “Before I knew it I was a Private Detective” gave us rip snorting prop gags, but instantly sacrificed the authenticity of the story. We believe in Randy – so we need to believe in his world as well.

Great story isn’t just good plot. The same night I saw Denise Scott make community circus sound fascinating, and Sam Simmons bring Adelaide’s most bogan-filled Westfield to vivid, almost fit-inducing life. Randy’s story is more interesting, but Denise and Sam made their worlds and their unseen characters live. Postcards from Purgatory is perfectly told by Randy, and worth going just for the telling, but the story needs more detail to make it soar.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Sammy J’s Wagon of Friendship

Sammy J’s Wagon of Friendship
November 29 2008
The Speigeltent

Hail down Sammy J's Wagon of Friendship before it high-tails out of town and Sammy is forced to cut off his limbs in order to please his family for Christmas.

I first saw Sammy J early this year when he sang about shagging Brittney Spears and Germaine Greer (not at the same time). Now, after a journey through the Forest of Dreams, he’s singing about his soon-to-be wife, and not embarrassing her at all.

Every time I see Sammy, I like him more. In the course of a few months, I’ve gone from a (possibly condescending) ho-hum-to-OK to a (genuinely enthusiastic) oh-my-god-don’t-miss Sammy-J.

My cheap rhyme of OK with J was inspired by Sammy’s lyrics. Anyone who rhymes Ingrid with fingered has to be on the road to stardom - or infamy.

From his opening auction of a comic routine (a giggle won’t win, but try a chortle and see what happens) to the metaphor challenge and it’s devastating consequences, Sammy J effortlessly charms with his blend of slightly-naughty cabaret and I’m-trying-to be offensive-but I’m-just-too-nice stand-up. Even the cunt jokes are as welcome as the cute, furry shoulder-sitting mole meditation. (Not sure about the rape joke though. It needed more context to make it funny, rather than just under-grad annoying. Germaine would agree with me.)

We were expecting Sammy-J and his piano to be driving the wagon alone, but Randy (ably assisted by puppeteer Heath McIvor) insisted on a roadside hijack, decked out in a how-can-you-call-this-racists ‘Red Indian’ costume. Randy isn’t as loveable as Terry the squirrel (from the brilliant Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams), but he’s still pretty cool and the unique McIvor/J pairing is as endearing as Bert and Ernie – but with more swearing and less homoerotic undertones.

Along the way, Sammy’s wagon found Ali McGregor hitching hiking along Swanston St and offered her the guest-spot of the night (this time I loved the dress Ali), got the audience pushing when the road was a bit muddy, but failed to entice Geoffrey Rush into the cabin.

Sammy-J's Wagon of Friendship is parked at The Speigeltent until Saturday. You’ll only be disappointed if you decide not to go.

This review origianlly appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Sammy J in The Forest of Dreams

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2008

Sammy J and the Forest of Dreams
October 2008
Fringe Hub

Is it wrong to have a crush on a squirrel? Terry’s a lovely squirrel. He’s fuzzy, soft, has a great sense of humour, is easily manipulated, and appears in Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams.

If you have heard that Sammy J In The Forest Of Dreams is the must-see show of the Fringe - trust what you’ve heard.

Its ephemeral images delicately explore the role of fairy tales and childhood dreams in our contemporary existence...NOT! It’s an arse-raping, puppet-snogging, king-fisting hoot, that’ll have you snorting with laughter.

Local comedian Sammy J and puppeteer Heath McIvor made this show from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. All jokes aside, it demonstrates a solid knowledge of genre, incorporates original, authentic characters and is tied together with a well-told, complex and interesting story.

And it is funny. Very, very, very funny. Just don’t let the puppets fool you into thinking it’s a kid’s show. The opening “Fuck You Disney” song sets the tone – and it’s all down hill from there.

The Fringe season is sold out. So, sucked in if you missed out!

GOOD NEWS
The season is now extended. October 16 to November 9 at the Lithuanian Club.

PS: If you want to see a terrific interview with Terry the Squirrel,  John Richards had a chat with him for The Outland Institute.
 
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.