MICF: Keep – Daniel Kitson

MICF
Keep
Daniel Kitson
21 April 2019
Coopers Malthouse – Merlyn
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Daniel Kitson

I was always going to finish MICF with Daniel Kitson. It was tempting to go earlier, but it's hard to follow Kitson.

He doesn't do media or have a media night any more, even if some review him anyway. Instead he does lots of shows in a good-sized theatre and sells tickets at an accessible price. I don't think there were many spare seats for the entire season, and everyone I spoke to who saw it said that I had to see it and that they weren't going to say any thing about it. And that's without him giving out #KeepTheSecrets badges.

As a media, it's sad to not create a wordgasm about him and see a quoted row of stars that I assigned.

As a media, it's a fucking relief to not even have to try to summarise the complexity of the structure and interweaving themes and the goddam joy of spending over two hours with a middle-aged man who has listed every thing he owns and typed them up on cards in an old library card catalogue.

I haven't written much about Kitson, but I always see his work and his work inspires me when I want to walk away and never write again.

And I need something to link to when I list it as a favourite at the end of the year.

MICF: Rock Out With Your Bok Out – Lauren Bok

MICF
Rock Out With Your Bok Out
Lauren Bok
Crowded
21 April 2019
Crowded in the Vaults
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Lauren Bok

On Sunday night, when performers and audiences are counting down the minutes until they can sleep, I took my own advice and saw #OneMoreShow. One more Gibbo-award-nominated  #kickarsefeminist show where the audience were singing along to Queen before the show even started: Rock Out With Your Bok Out.

Melbourne comedian and performer Lauren Bok's thought her new show would be tits and puns, but you need a bit more to get one of those award nominations. So she put a Led Zepplin t-shirt over her creation-myth-inspired sequin pasties and added some rock-star stories, her personal learning curve of the mastery of the rules and lingo of polyamory, and her nephew's potty training.

The connection between some of her stories doesn't always add to her bigger story, but who cares when there's mime to make a narrative connection. It's not good mime, but it's wonderfully hilarious and I'll be back next time if only just for the mime

MICF: Vanity Fair Enough – Margot Tanjutco

MICF
Vanity Fair Enough
Margot Tanjutco 
20 April 2019
Malthouse – Mini Merlyn
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Margot Tanjutco

Another night at MICF, another kick-arse feminist musical comedy show by another kick-arse middle class anarchist feminist.

When Margot Tanjutco (from Romeo is not the only fruit) discovered that fashion can be far more than something to attract people, she found a new home on Instagram. And she's winning Instagram (@margotxmargot) in a way that might get me away from the middle-aged-journalist haven of Twitter.

So to prepare for Vanity Fair Enough, she shopped. The transparent green plastic bum bag (I can't call it a fanny pack) was totally worth it just to hold her sunnies. She'd ordered the pants she wears within a minute of seeing them on Instagram. She also knows her shopping and regular re-branding is assisted by her still living in her childhood bedroom in a two-income household where neither are hers.

Identity and how we express it. The conflicting pressures and assumptions never go away.

Margot quickly found out that being queer woman of colour meant she wasn't going to be allowed to simply tap dance and sing roles written for young skinny white women pining for handsome men. When Margot studied musical theatre, there was all this pressure on her to think as well.

And write.

When the canon doesn't acknowledge you, you create work for your voice and experiences.

Margot embraces and rejects and questions and loves all her contradictions. You can want to end the use of all plastic packaging and get over excited at a package arriving and wrapped in more plastic than all the single-use bags you haven't used at the supermarket this year. It's possible to have an identity that isn't what the world expects you to be.

MICF: Either Side of Everything – Wil Greenway

MICF
Either Side of Everything
Wil Greenway
Crowded
20 April 2019
Crowded in the Vaults
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Wil Greenway

Describing a story can never do it justice. Like describing the taste of a ripe warm fig picked from a tree or a cheese sandwich made with homemade bread and butter, words can only hint at the experience.

Wil Greenaway tells a story, or four stories, in Either Side of Everything. There are figs and cheese sandwiches. And two friends in a car on a road trip, an old woman with spiky white hair and "fuck the police" tattooed on her ankle, and a bug called Brian. And it floats and leaps through time and makes you know the entree you want for your last meal. (Vegetarian Su Roll from Ying Chow in Adelaide or vegetable tempura from anywhere in Japan.)

The story is sad and still makes you wonder why you don't feel that happy all the time, even if you're wiping away a tear. It's just a silly story, but it's a story we are told. I will read a story to any child that wants to hear a story because it's one of the most lovely things to do. Greenaway lets us feel like a child curled in a lap of someone who loves them and being told their favourite story.

Sorry, that's taking the metaphor too far. This isn't like that; it's a story for adults and it's damn funny. But it is really lovely to be told a story.

While not comparable, Either Side of Everything reminded me of the story telling by Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn. (I'm seeing Kitson tomorrow, so have no idea what his show is about this year.), Kitson himself is a fan Greenway. As now I am, too.

He's in a small room by the river where 30 people would be a crowd. The only fair way to end his run tomorrow is to overcrowd the room.

Fit another show in. You won't regret it.

And, you can sit here before or after and have a beer with a toastie or a cheese platter.

View from Pilgrim bar. Phone snap by A-M Peard

MICF: I Have A Face – Jude Perl

MICF
I Have A Face
Jude Perl 
The Butterfly Club
14 April 2019
The Butterfly Club
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Jude Perl

Jude Perl's I Have a Face won the 2018 Best Cabaret at the Melbourne Fringe and has been winning Green Room awards since 2016. This was the first time I've finally been able to see her do a full show.

It wasn't a show that wanted a review this festival, but of all the musical comedy I've seen recently hers are the songs I've been singing to myself all week.

I loved it. Her work is personal and vulnerable and questions so many of the ridiculous expectations about femininity and sexuality that face women every day. I'm saving the review up for her next show.

MICF: Patrick Collins Mime Consultant

MICF
Patrick Collins Mime Consultant
Enter Closer and Crowded
19 April 2019
Tasma Terrace
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Patrick Collins

When I hear the word "mime", I smile politely and try to scrub out the memory of Marcel Marceau's Bip trapped in an invisible box that you can't put a blanket over to calm him down.

I don't know why I do this because mime is the best. Mime shows are ones where I have been blown away by the original approach to old ways of telling stories and laughed so much that I'm genuinely embarrassed (Trygve Wakenshaw). And at the blurry end of the comedy festival, Patrick Collins did the same.

Patrick wears a shirt and tie because he's off to the office where he's a mime consultant. He knows mime IS important and that there are mime emergencies and run-of-the-mill questions that need answering every day. And, of course, mime artists can talk and interact and get out of their invisible boxes.

Sitting on his office chair leaves the audience grateful for the-most-uncomfortable-chairs-in-any-festival-venue but what takes his mix of stand-up and sketch it to a Golden-Gibbo-award-nomination level is story and character. Fortnite dancing is so much better with a story about teenage boys and the best belly flop ever would just be "do-that-again!" if it didn't happen on a cruise.

Throw in magic, erotica and some things that really happened to Patrick and this mime consultation lets us see the invisible from a new perspective.

MICF: Garbage Monster – Alice Tovey

MICF
Garbage Monster
Alice Tovey 
Hot Mess Productions and The Butterfly Club
18 April 2019
The Butterfly Club
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Alice Tovey

One day, singer and feminist super hero Alice Tovey and her music director feminist super hero Ned Dixon will have to move to huge theatres. But this weekend they are still in the kitsch heaven of The Butterfly Club where you can see the stage and have a cocktail.

Garbage Monster is about what we don't put in the bin, what we keep next to the bin, what we recycle and what we leave festering at the bottom because we don't use plastic bin bags to get the slimy gross stuff out of our lives.

Alice begins her bin dive with an outfit made from bright-orange plastic temporary safety-fencing, but this is far from a safe show.

First to be dropped are some of those celebrities – mostly men, but this is a genuinely equal show – whose repulsive behaviour and ideas have ruined some of our favourite films and tv shows*. IN THE BIN they go.

Then she makes room for the people who think they know her and somehow think that their opinion of her matters. They may STFU and get IN THE BIN as Alice sings about the "lies" women tell and how, maybe, performers really do perform on stage.

But that's just the beginning. It's easy to dump people we don't know. It's harder to squish down the rubbish and make room for people we know, even if they treat us like they found us in a bin. We all know someone who has stayed in a damaging relationship. Alice has. I have. And we're certainly not the only ones. Getting them in the bin is the first step. Then comes the work or keeping them in there and making sure that bin goes out on bin night.

And that's before we rubbish ourselves. We may claim to be totally ok with our bodies but still spend far too much of our time trying to change things that will never change and wearing a '"shame bra" that's too far too tight. It really feels great to stop apologising for everything, wear comfy underwear and know that there's room in the bin for anything that belongs there.

Alice has a voice that should echo in the souls of anyone who rubbish others. And Garbage Monster's mix of theme, personal story and zeitgeist anger is the perfect mix to make the kind of compost that's guaranteed to turn shit into stuff that makes everything thrive.

*And theatre. The famous actor isn't alone in the bin.

MICF: The Ballad of John Tilt Animus – Justin Hamilton

MICF
The Ballad of John Tilt Animus
Justin Hamilton
Token
The Toff in Town
To 16 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Justin Hamilton

My review in in Time Out.

MICF: Garry Starr Conquers Troy – Damien Warren-Smith

MICF
Gary Starr Conquers Troy
Milke and Damien Warren-Smith
10 April 2019
Malthouse – The Tower
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Garry Starr

During festivals, there's always a show that gets lost in the deluge of exhaustion and other stuff*.

But I loved every second of Gary Starr Conquers Troy as he confirmed every secret belief I have that acting is just a big game of pretendies.

Here's Myron's review instead.

*I think he'll forgive me because I was writing about the treatment of women in our theatres

MICF: Misery – Neil Triffett

MICF
Misery
Neil Triffett
Enter Closer and Crowded
17 April 2019
Tasma Terrace
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Neil Triffett

There have been a lot of positive upbeat isn't-life-awseome shows this festival, so it was great to get back to the real source of comedy: Misery.

Misery, a keyboard, a ukulele and an opening song that's about being a self-indulgent performer.

Neil Triffett has had some difficult times, even if he is a white bloke in his 30s. There was being nine in 1996 and living in Port Arthur in Tasmania. It wasn't so much the horrendous massacre, but the assigned school counsellor with large breasts. And the later regret of not buying a goat in India.

Neil is at his best when he's singing. He songs are full of wit and character and are totally sing-along-able. He's also at his best when he's telling stories about himself. But this is a new work. There are lots of ideas that are still finding a way to come together and tell the bigger story that's clearly hiding in there.

It's also a personal work that leaves many questions unanswered. Neil genuinely connects with his audience, who are on his side and want to gang up on the people who have caused him misery. But we want to know more about his mum not being ok with him being gay, and the double punch of a break up at the same time a feature film didn't find its audience. When an audience are left guessing, they don't have the space to really connect with the performer. Or, audiences are total nosey parkers and want to know more.

And give Emo the Musical a watch on Netflix. Just because some critics were "ouch", doesn't mean there aren't lots of people who will love it.

MICF: Nerds are Sexy – PickUp

MICF
Nerds are Sexy
PickUp
The Butterfly Club
14 April 2019
The Butterfly Club
to 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

PickUp

Nerds are Sexy. Derr!

What's not hot about someone who enthusiastically shares their passion and is prepared to really know – really know – how to do something really well.

Rock's also sexy.

And the combination of both can be too much!

Alia Vryens and Colin Craig have no shame in being nerds. Nor in being positive and enthusiastic about sexuality and about having sex. Last year, their first full-length show was about their polyamorous relationship and welcomed questions from the audience. They've since toured to festivals and host and curate the semi-regular Funny Music Mondays at The Butterfly Club, where Melbourne's best cabaret artists try out new work or simply let loose and be funny.

There's no wrong way to nerd. If you play games on tables or online with many stranger, love cosplay, can explain D&D or have watched every episode of Dr Who (and read all the books, listed to the audio series and judge your friends based on their opinion of Russell T Davies), you'll be with your tribe – and maybe get the chance to talk about your own glorious obsessions.

They also rock with songs about the likes of pinball, getting dumped by your Dragon Age boyfriend, and why women's armour doesn't cover their boobs.  And if you think it's all about Colin and his guitar, you haven't seen Alia with her ukulele.

But don't worry if you're not a nerd. Come on, who are you kidding? You're reading a nerdy theatre blog. You're one of us.

PickUp are creating a wonderful on-stage relationship as they decide which one of them is really sexier and smarter. I'm looking forward to seeing how their stage story develops and grows, especially as they are beginning to find a loyal audience who are going to obsessively love them a bit too much.

Opinion: #IStillStandWithEJ. Rush wins defamation case

Make some noise. Let women know that they are believed and that their safety and wellbeing are far more important than the reputation of a powerful man who can afford good lawyers.

Eryn Jean Norvill outside of court. Source: AAP

I wrote this during the trial.

The judge released his verdict on 11 April. There was some outrage, but a lot of silence.

I wrote this for ArtsHub about the verdict.

MICF: Poopie Tum Tums – Honor Wolff, Patrick Durnan Silva

MICF
Poopie Tum Tums
Honor Wolff and Patrick Durnan Silva
The Very Good Looking Initiative and The Butterfly Club
13 April 2019
The Butterfly Club
To 21 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Honor Wolff and Patrick Durnan Silva

My review is in Time Out.