1 April 2011
The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre
to 24 April
www.comedyfestival.com.au
Review by Josephine Giles
When researching Dead Cat Bounce I came across a definition
of the term in, of all places, a site called Investopedia. In the world of
finance it means: A temporary recovery from a
prolonged decline or bear market, after which the market continues to
fall.
Considering the stellar reviews
which DCB garnered in their previous visit to Melbourne, I’m beginning to think
the finance market may not be as stupid as it seems. This “international rock
and roll comedy supergroup”, as they describe themselves on their website,
feels like it peaked some time ago. Their new show, Caged Heat, has several
clever songs but the concept lacks unity and is crying out for a strong
directorial hand.
The four member of DCB continue a tradition of rock parody
made famous in the movie This is Spinal
Tap. In songs ranging in style from stadium rock, rap, boy-band and even
love ballad, the general tone is in the “offend as many people as we can” vein –
reinforcing the image of the faux group as testosterone charged, morally
vacuous, wannabe rock gods.
The strength of DCB lies in its songs, which are far better
developed than the links. Led by the attractively pouting Jim
Walmsley on guitar and vocals, the band give creditable renditions of the variety
of styles. Despite the generally puerile humour, probably best appreciated by folk
much younger than myself, some lyrics betray an underlying intelligence and
even sensitivity to gender politics. "Overly Enthusiastic
Contraceptive Lady" should be required listening for any bloke on what not to do, especially if planning a
visit to Sweden (I don’t want to get sued here, but just think Wikileaks and
join the dots...).
The show falters in the banter between the group members
between songs. By flagging and then over explaining songs that should be
allowed to speak for themselves (like the surprisingly historically accurate
and informative "Easter Island Song’"), they give the impression they
are desperate to let us know that they are actually really nice guys just
pretending to be arseholes. Maybe they’re just getting to old for their own
brand of humour.
This review appears on AussieTheatre.com
PS: I also saw DCB and "ditto" to everything Jo says. If you keep telling us that you're a joke band, then the band really does become a joke.
