MICF: Neal Portenza is Joshua Ladgrove

MICF
Neal Portenza is Joshua Ladgrove
Neal Portenza and Joshua Ladgrove5 April 2019
Chinese Museum – Silk Room
To 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Neal Portenza as Joshua Ladgrove

My review is in Time Out.

MICF: Fafenefenoiby II

Fafenefenoiby II: Return of the Ghost Boy
Neal Portenza
Neal Portenza and no one else even
7 April 2018
Melbourne Town Hall, Backstage Room
to 22 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Neal Portenza. Front row photo by Richard Watts

My review in Time Out.

We will never forget the Portenza years.

Fuck mediocrity.

MICF: The Music comedy festival edition

MICF 2018
comedyfestival.com.au

We're counting down to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and getting some sleep in while we can.

If you haven't picked up a paper copy of The Music's MICF edition – look at that cover! – you can read it here on issu.com.

I interviewed Tessa Waters, Laura Davis and Showko, and there are a pile of great interviews with  SM favourites like Zoe Coombs Marr, Jean Tong, DeAnne Smith and Neal Portenza. And lots of others. If the festival guide is a bit daunting – bloody terrifying – start here and get to know the performers from more than just a blurb.

How to Fringe 2017: Neal Portenza

Joshua Ladgrove by day
Neal Portenza by night
Comedian*

SM: The Melbourne Fringe finishes on Sunday (most shows close on Saturday), so you still have time to see at least 15 more shows (three a night is easy).

How to Fringe 2017 finishes with the person who got my only 5-star fringe review last year. It was everything wrong about fringe festivals (why do some rooms fill up and others stay empty?) and everything right about how do deal with everything wrong. He's not doing a show this year (Edinburgh Fringe is too close to Melbourne Fringe for sanity).

Joshua Ladgrove

The Melbourne Fringe in three words.
Inclusive Arts Festival.

A favourite Melbourne Fringe memory.
Winning the Melbourne Fringe Best Comedy award in 2012 was a really unexpected delight. One of my favourite memories and I was completely overwhelmed with emotions. It’s highly likely I peaked at that moment.

Your experience as an independent artist being part of the Melbourne Fringe.
One of exploration and discovery. Some festivals really feel like you’re part of a sausage grinder and the pressure to perform can be immense. Melbourne Fringe never had that pressure for me. Possibly it’s because where Neal really started back in 2010 in a small gay bar in Collingwood that is no longer.

What makes the Melbourne Fringe unique.
I think the city gets behind it. You can still put on a show in a small out-of-the-way bar and people will come and take a punt. It’s not too big, it’s not too small and it has never had the stain of being overly commercial.

Your advice for choosing what to see in the Melbourne Fringe.
Pick something that sounds weird and go for it. Life is too short to be boring. You can see the opera or ballet year round, but how often can you watch a man stick a well-lubricated microphone into his anus?

(SM: Twice.)

Do you think there’s a better system than star ratings for reviews?
A friend of mine is completing his PhD on this very issue. I’ll be sure to hit you up when he’s done.
In the interim, I think star ratings are odd. I’ve been the beneficiary of lovely 5-star reviews and of harrowing 1-star reviews, so I have no skin in the game anymore, but I think it turns the arts into a sport, to a degree. Art is supposed to be subjective, yet, there are times when clearly, the overwhelmingly majority can agree that a show is worthy of 5 stars, so it does sort of make sense. Maybe a show should just be labelled as ‘Highly Recommended’ if it’s great?

Five shows/events that you will not/did not miss at the 2017 Melbourne Fringe.
Full Metal Jacket and other impractical fashions by Willem Richards
socially (un)acceptable
Josh Glanc: Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chamedian
Can I Get An Amen?! Inspired by the memoirs of Whoopi Goldberg 
Dr. Duck


* Everyone has been asked "What do you do in the arts industry?"; I edit to a short answer.
But: You sound like my mum. This question has just sent me into an irrevocable depression spiral. What indeed…

Here's me thinking I was the hip and groovy writer...

Review: P.O.R.T.E.N.Z.A

MICF
Dr Professor Neal Portenza
P.O.R.T.E.N.Z.A
7 April 2017
Melbourne Town Hall, Backstage Room
to 23 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Dr Professor Neal Portenza

I was far too scared to tell Gary Portenza that I like fruit and nut chocolate.

My review is on The Age.

What to see on the last day of the Fringe

Melbourne Fringe

What to see on the last day of the Melbourne Fringe?

Tessa Waters

Most of the Melbourne Fringe is over BUT not all of it. I'm off to La Mama to see Blaaq Catt and Hart. 

Those shows are sold out, but you can still see Neal Portenza...Tracey at 8.15 and Tessa Waters: WERQ in Progress at 7.15 at The Courthouse Hotel – where there's also good food, good beer, board games and $10 Espresso Martinis.

I've seen 38 shows this Fringe. If I can* get from Carlton to North Melbourne, I am going to try to get to Tessa and Neal AGAIN. Tessa's in a work that changes every night and I really didn't see what Neal's Tracey has turned into.

And they are two of the funniest and smartest clowns around.

#SeeTessaAndNealTonight

(*My La Mama show finishes 5 mins before Tessa's starts, so unlikely.)

Review: Neil Portenza ... Tracey

Melbourne Fringe
Neal Portenza has run out of room for his full show title. Tracey
Neal Portenza
29 September 2016
Courthouse Hotel
to 2 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Neal Portenza. Photo by Kristy Sheilds

Even though The Courthouse Hotel has $10 espresso martinis and is a 30 second walk from The North Melbourne Town Hall, the Fringe crowds haven't drifted over.

As the Town Hall shows have closed, TODAY is Melbourne's opportunity to make Neal Portenza has run out of room for his full show title. Tracey a standing-room only performance.

If you regret it, I'll shout you an espresso martini and a turkish delight.

My review is on The Age/SMH.

We will forever be known as the Portenza Nine.

MICF: Neal Portenza

Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza. Tracey.
2 April 2016
Melbourne Town Hall, Backstage room
to 17 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Neal Portenza

I've been earning my Feminist Fright Bat wings by writing about amazing women comedians this festival, but some of the blokes are also far too wonderful to miss.

Josh Ladgrove's beret-wearing Neal Portenza blows me away every time I see him.

With a design including balloons, some lovely interactive modelling clay, and a bit of blood, he's a bit calmer this year, so he's like a puppy – on speed. A super-smart puppy who understands the world far too clearly and decides to deal with it by re-interpreting the rules of classic clowning.

The illogical insanity of his show makes complete sense when you're in the moment. I could try to describe Pokégoth, but I'll get the same odd looks as when I say that the only thing funnier than one squeaky rubber chicken in his underpants – there is near-nudity –, is four squeaky rubber chickens.

And no one else asks their audience to add a bonus comic timing moment, or to make racist or bad jokes punishable.

Neal Portenza puts the W, T & F into whimsy. This is indie original comedy that defies sensical description and takes a lot to be beaten.

And Nathan the tech is back to help.

MICF: Luis & Luelin, Dave, and Dr Prof Neal

MICF
12 April 2014
Tuxedo Cat

By Myself
Lessons with Luis
to 20 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Dave
Zoe Coombs Marr
to 20 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Dr Professor Neal Portenza Performs his Own Autopsy Live on Stage. One Night Only. (Obviously).
to 20 April
comedyfestival.com.au

One night, one venue, one room. So much easier than trying to Tetris in shows all over town. And every show being shriekingly brilliant didn't hurt; I don't apologise for my over use of "genius".

The Tuxedo Cat in the city has established itself as the venue that welcomes artists who want to experiment far away from the dullness of stand up. Here is where you'll see the work that no one else dares to try; work where artists trust that being their authentic self or finding that character who has been screaming to live is the only way to reach the hearts of your audience.

Luis loves cats. I love Luis. It's that simple.

Inspired by Jerry Seinfield, in By Myself  Luis tries his hand at more funny jokes and stand up. Little brother Luelin is crew and they do an early show so that they can get home on the train.

Being so experienced, Luis knows to mix up the observational humour up with music and story. There are songs from his favourite cassette tape and a story about a dinosaur and a caterpillar (acted out by a plastic dinosaur and a caterpillar puppet that you'd never believe was once a sock), Luis dresses up in a brown-velvet striped fire cat costume he made himself (craft IS art), and we learn a bit more about Luis and Luelin's mum (who isn't with them anymore).

If the success of character comedy lies in believing the characters, then I suspect that my want to make the boys a tray of lasagne and sew up the holes in their jumpers means that it's working. And I'm still a bit sad that I don't have one of Luis's cat badges.

To find the line where it's ok to laugh ourselves sick as a struggling boy cries because his brother doesn't care is as close to genius as it gets. The Lessons with Luis comedy is lame, but to enable us to laugh with and support it's lameness is as sophisticated as serving a Vienetta on a silver platter for dessert.

Next was Dave. He's unshaven, crude and makes pussy jokes that might confuse Luis and Luelin. I'm worried that he'll scare the boys during their show crossover.

Hoping for Footy Show scouts and Wil Anderson to be in the audience of hipsters (can't call them faggots anymore), Dave is used to six-minute spurts at comedy holes and filling an hour isn't as easy as he thought.

Dave is all the-fellas-know-what-I-mean and everything else that makes drunken pub stand up and a few festival shows something to be avoided.

He's also Zoe Coombs Marr, who's best known for her work with Post (feminist performance artists from Sydney). If Dave ever saw a Post show, he'd... I have no idea what he would do because it's beyond his understanding of the world.  This is the guy who's be pretty sure that Amelie is a lesso film because a girl he tried to chat up said it was her favourite.

The genius of Dave is that it's far more than parody. It's easy to make fun of men like this (and there are men like this) but the genius of this work is his winning of the audience's love. Like Luis, Dave finds that line where there's nothing we want more for Dave than for Wil Anderson to see his show, buy him a beer and invite him to support him on the next Wil he or Wil he not? tour.

Next, the room belongs to Dr Professor Neal Portenza and he Performs his Own Autopsy Live on Stage. One Night Only. (Obviously).

The Doc Prof says he's an actor called Josh Ladgrove, but Josh can't get in the way of the Dr Professor's insane magnificence.

Dr Professor Neal likes ultra blue eyeshadow and a red lipstick to match his beret. His rhythmic gymnastics is exquisite (he uses the ribbon), his portraiture worthy of a discussion by Hannah Gadsby and his maths proves that he's a 5-star show. ("5 blinding stars", A-M, SometimesMelbourne".)

The audience play a huge part in the Dr Professor's partly-improvised autopsy and even if you're not chosen as a beautiful princess, there are plenty of opportunities to join in – and even the most hesitant will be clamouring for one of Gary's pool noodles. I can't tell you who Gary is.

This is clowning so original that it'll re-ignite any lost passions for the madcap.

While booking for the wonderful Doc Prof, add a ticket for the truly Divine Come Heckle Christ on 20 April (if there are any left). And yes, it is on Easter Sunday! Jesus is also an actor called Josh Ladgrove. Adelaide got its knickers in a knot without bothering to see the show. I saw it in Melbourne. It's more ask Jesus questions than heckling him and the one person who never looks like a dick is Jesus.

This was on AussieTheatre.com. 

MICF: Em, Nick and Sarah, Alasdair, and Jesus

MICF
Divorce the Musical!
Em Rusciano
comedyfestival.com.au

Pajama Party
Nick and Sarah
comedyfestival.com.au

Success Arms
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall
comedyfestival.com.au

Come Heckle Christ
Jesus
comedyfestival.com.au
6 April 2014

Sunday night at MICF. Trades Hall, Swanston Hotel, the Forum and the Tuxedo Cat. I started with the awesome Em Rusciano, whose Catholic upbringing offered a couple jokes about going to hell, and ended the night heckling Jesus, who will always welcome Em – and me and all the sacriligious – with open arms.

I kind of remember Em Rusciano from Australian Idol and saw her show because I heard good things about her last year. Turns out that she's rather awesome and a performer who's not afraid to share her true – loud, campy and wonderfully scary – self.

But for all her awesomeness, Em hasn't had a good year. And by not good, I mean shit and Divorce the Musical! shares how she got through the shittiest of times, while looking after her daughters, losing her job, packing up the marital home, going to a night club in her mid-30s and dealing with her only band member heading to Canada for love (selfish!).

She did what we all do to cope: swore to get skinny and have lots of sex with gorgeous men (while really eating trays of lasagne and sitting on the couch), made a sequinned bridal outfit guaranteed to attract the most gorgeous of drag queens and party buses on hen's night, and wrote a new show about it. OK, most of us never get past the lasagne.

Divorce the Musical! finds the ideal balance of personal story, stand up and song – she can sure sing – but even the pink sequins can't hide that the content is still close and raw. And it's this vulnerability that gives Em's show the kind of heart that makes it so much more than a series of jokes about losing the love you thought you'd never lose.

And there's Vince. Vince is Em's dad. He's a bloody legend.

But the bitch left me humming "Wrecking Ball" and that's not good in public.

Sarah Jones and Nicholas J Johnson's Pajama Party was only on for a few nights, but hopefully it will be back because it's far too lovely and weird to not be seen by many more lovely and weird people.

Best friends, Nick, a magician, and Sarah, a ventriloquist, have everything they need for a pj party, except guests. But it's not as twee as it sounds. Sure there's an endearing quaintness, but it's quaint from the dark side of the rainbow where the black mangy unicorns have horns dripping with blood and the fairy bread sparkles from the crushed glass.

With a chemistry that makes it seem like they've worked together for ever, the surprises of this show are how many twists Sarah and Nick pull on expected jokes and scenarios. Who knew pass the parcel could be so creepy!

Melbourne comedian Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall gets to perform in the Ladies Room (the nice room where women hang out on the way to the loo) at the Forum. Sure it's small, but even on quiet nights, that has to be neat.

In stand up, there's a hard-to-find line in between showing your self and showing off. Alasdair's Success Arms lost its balance at times, especially as the show is still somewhere between sketch and stand up, but with plenty of good material to work with, he righted himself when he tripped.

He has some genuinely original and very funny material (mostly about his own bumbling stumble into his 30s, adulthood and possible sexual competence), but he needs to work on giving the material a narrative (add joke to story, not story to joke) and to decide if he's going to be a character or himself on stage.

There's only one chance left to Come Heckle Christ this festival. It's on 20 April: the last day of the festival. If his first crowd is anything to go by, you will need to book because Jesus is as popular as ever.

The conceit of this show is simple: Jesus is on his cross and will answer whatever his audience ask.

He rang his mum yesterday morning, Judas is a good kisser, he microwaves his hot cross buns (I KNOW) and he gave me the following words to share:

"Five Stars."

Hey, Jesus told me to say it and as I learnt more in an hour than I did in my 12 years at an Anglican school (including winning the Religious Ed prize in primary school), who am I to argue.

Jesus also says that everyone should see Dr Professor Neal Portenza, who is apparently as genius funny as JC.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.