This post has been updated to add new performance photos
Shows:
Peter Green Book Launch, Comedy on the Edge @ Hotel William Tues 11th
Jackie Loeb, Mic in Hand @ Friend in Hand Hotel, Thurs 13th
Theatresports Cranston Cup Semi Final #2 @ Belvoir, Sun 16th
Comedy on the Edge, upstairs at the Hotel William, is a big (big) comfortable space, filled with rows of sofas and a small stage. The audience for the book launch of Are Youse The Comoydians? were mellow and appreciative, anticipating a more laid-back night than your usual stand-up show, and so it proved. Fast-talking Jonas Holt and veteran Peter Meisel were delightful supports in the first half of the show, and then (proving room manager Mark Williamson’s maxim of “you just never know who may be dropping by the EDGE”) in the second half came the welcome surprise of “toughest woman in comedy” Julia Wilson doing a spot before Greeny came on to discuss his book with fellow cyclist-comedian Dominick O’Kieran (who also MC’ed the evening).
Peter Green
The Last Legs tour was obviously different: two comedians cycled across Australia and wherever they stopped for the night they put on a comedy show. Their own mishaps and the varied reactions and characters they met along the way make for a string of highly entertaining anecdotes. Chase down Peter Green and buy his book to see for yourself!
This week on Comedy on the Edge: “The Bad Boys of Comedy are back!! Featuring the Man, the myth the Legend Jeremy ‘Keasty’ Keast, Justin ‘D’ Lodge, all the way from Melbourne the Nelson Twins and your main attraction Barry ‘Hardcore’ Hamilton.”
A Mic In Hand: this room has built a strong reputation in the nearly six years it’s been open, offering crowd favourites as headliners and featured acts while providing a rising comics showcase as well. They always pull a good crowd, not least because top comedians often drop in unannounced to do a spot.
On Thursday, veteran Rob McHugh was MC, mixing well-refined material with the topical to good effect. The rising comics showcase offered the varied styles of Thomas Russell, Duncan McConachie, Hugh Cameron, Mikey Mileos and John Cruickshank to a generally strong crowd reception. Some material was slightly uneven but all had great moments. Dave Jory (triple j) dropped by to do a surprise spot, most uncharacteristically not wearing a suit, telling us he was too depressed to bother due to his Movember hairiness and the domestic tyranny of his cat, amongst other things.
Jackie Loeb at A Mic in Hand in 2007 (Liz Christie)
The featured acts were both musical comedians, but their styles are quite different. Supporting act Shane Matheson flashes an engaging cheesy grin to present as an amiably energetic lunatic with a keyboard and a ukelele, offering songs that are sometimes only one phrase long, and covering a plethora of topics. Transitions are abrupt and the laughs roll on top of one another. He was very well received. Headliner Jackie Loeb’s set, befitting her 14 years or so in comedy, was more structured and polished (especially in her use of audience banter), her absurdities and physical comedy sparkling amongst the trademark song parodies, most especially delighting the crowd by doing their requested Bassey song to end the show. [previous review]
This week at Mic in Hand: Peter Eigner headlining with David Smiedt as MC, plus rising comics open mic.
Theatresports Cranston Cup Semi Final #2 was a rip-snorting show last night, ring-mastered by the outstanding Ewan Campbell and Jane Simmons (pictures coming!).
Host Ewan Campbell & Timekeeper Jane Simmons (Source: sgr.com.au)
It started off as a fairly typical show, with the requisite chuckles and occasional guffaw, but by the end of the night the players were on fire, taking enormous risks with the challenges they set themselves and each other with absolutely hilarious results, enhanced by musical accompanist Jason Rushton. Winners on the night were student team Arabian Disko Knights from Blue Mountains Grammar School, a triumph richly deserved and truly memorable: for certainly the first time that either I or Impro Australia’s Geoff Bartlett can recall, the Schools contest winners have made it all the way through the heats to secure a place in the Grand Final: congratulations!
Arabian Disko Knights in action on Sunday (Source: sgr.com.au)
Teams now through to the Grand Final (at Enmore Theatre): Man/Raven. Dave Bloustein, Marko Mustac and Steve Walsh. North Sho’ Pimps. J Rex (Jon Williams), Lynch Pin (Steve Lynch) and Tao of Yao (Jeremy Yao). Super Love Ultimate Team (defending Cranston Cup Champions). Lee Naimo, Jordan Raskopoulos, Steen Raskopoulos and Simon Greiner Arabian Disko Knights (2008 Schools Contest Champions): Jimmy Tredinnick, Nadia Odlum, Ben Hunter, Lauren Moscovis
Teams in next week’s Repechage Playoff (at Belvoir Street): Osama Bin Laden Blues Exposion. Rebecca DeUnamuno, Cameron Knight and Dave Williams Obese People Can Be Healthy:Study. Grant Davies, Scott Hall-Watson, Matt Foster Pyjama Party. Lisa Ricketts, Amanda Buckley and Susie Youssef Unicorns Are Racists, Too. Alice Fraser, Tess McLellan, Mitchell Alistair and Carlo Ritchie
Manchoir: who knew there were this many blokey comedians in Sydney who can sing (acapella, too)? The video below was recorded at this year’s Celebrity Theatresports(R) at the Enmore Theatre. Manchoir are doing a few shows over the next two months (details below video).
Toorak’s Laughing Lion comedy room has moved to Friday nights, so no comedy at the Toorak Lion this Tuesday, but a bumper line-up on Friday 21st to make up for it: headlining Bev Killick supported by Xavier Michelides, Cathal O’Loughlin, Tom Middlebrook & Guests (find updates on the Laughing Lion Facebook group)
Comedy at BB’s (Bar Bondi) is now a weekly room, this week featuring Lehmo supported by MC Jim Rochford, Danny McGinlay and The Nelson Twins. If you guessed that you can find updates on Facebook, you’d be right.
Registrations are still open for performers for the 2009 St Kilda Laughs festival (Jan 30-Feb 7), also for the Comedy Convention taking place that first weekend, offering performance tips from top comedians plus a special workshop from Brad Oakes and more to be announced. Read more details at The Groggy Squirrel.
If you know of any more comedy rooms which have made some changes, or acts that rarely perform who are doing end-of-year/Xmas gigs in the next month or so, please leave details and a link in the comments section.
Tags: Bev Killick, Comedy@BBs, Grand Final, Laughing Lion, Lehmo, Manchoir, Quest For The Best
Ah, the US election threw my writing schedule totally out of whack! Apologies for the delays.
Acts reviewed: Axis of Awesome, Sugar Sammy, Harley Breen, Jacques Barrett, Diverse Theatresports(R) Players
Venues: Marble Bar, Comedy Store, Belvoir Street Theatre Read the rest of this entry »
There’s impro shows all over the calendar in Sydney at the moment (and in many other cities too), so if you enjoyed Comedy Slapdown this week on the Comedy Channel, why not come and see some live impro, and feel the fear right there in front of you?
Witness the thrills and spills as teams of comic actors create instant scenes based on surprise offers and audience suggestions. Putting their wit and courage to the test, the country’s top improvisers battle it out to get their hands on the biggest, ugliest trophy in Australia.
The Grand Final at Enmore Theatre always sells out, so get booking now, and you could always avoid disappointment and catch one of the Belvoir semi-finals first! I went tonight and had a great time, as did the rest of the audience.
If Sunday night isn’t your thing (or if you just want a bargain), the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe is serving up impro each week as well. On the first and third Tuesdays of each month, Full Body Contact No Love Tennis pits doubles teams against each other in a more long-form style of impro challenge to win something much less ugly (and less big (and less valuable)) than the Cranston Cup. (tickets $10 at door or through moshtix)
Full Body Contact No Love Tennis: pairs of improvisors compete for the tennis u/19 trophy while we dole out audience prizes. you may just win a gem…there’s still a dining table yet to be given away!
The Explosive Minds Team
On alternate weeks, A Regular One Night Stand sets the scene for the ultimate battle of the sexes on Thursday nights (13 Nov, 27 Nov, 11 Dec - tickets $12/10 through moshtix)
A Regular One Night Stand is a hilarious improvised comedy show which pits boys against girls, and sees the audience vote throughout the evening for who they think is the ‘funniest’ sex. The cast improvise scenes, make up songs and jokes and play solo and team challenges.
There’s also the classic weekly Theatresports(R) show, Scared Scriptless, Thursday nights at the Harold Park hotel in Glebe. This is Sydney’s longest-running impro show, and tickets are only $10.
Comedy on the Rox’s $5,000 Quest for the Best is in the last few weeks of preliminary finals on Wednesday nights, with the Grand Final taking place in a larger venue this year to avoid disappointment (last year many were turned away). All tickets for Comedy on the Rox events can be purchased through moshtix.
Here in Sydney the Comedy Court has just finished one $1,500 contest and has gone straight into another: it’s Heat 2 and every week 20 comedians will compete for a shot in this series’ final on December 24th. There’s also a competition for audience members - “In the Witness Box” - where they can strut their comedy stuff and have a chance to win prizes too. They’ve also got a huge New Year’s Eve showcase planned.[bookings]
The $2,500 Green Faces contest has finished, with the 2008 Winners as follows:
Winner - Jay Sullivan, Canberra
2nd Place - Brian Chandler, Sydney
3rd Place - John Robertson, Perth
Now running rooms on Thursday nights in Sydney and Melbourne! A Fitzroy local wrote a review full of photos from last week’s big opening at Vibe in Fitzroy, which went very well.
So what are they doing this week?
The original Sydney room at The Friend in Hand pub in Glebe offers the chance to catch Special Guest Wil Anderson’s new show Wilosophy before he takes it on tour. The night is headlined by Matthew Kenneally, MCed by Steve Sheehan and includes the usual open mic session, where you can catch some up and coming comics.
The new room at Vibe in Fitzroy offers this lineup for its second week:
Headliner Charlie Pickering
MC Daniel Moore
Also on this week is, Justin Kennedy, Adam Rozenbachs, Geraldine Hickey, Dave Bushell, Steele Saunders and Courteney Hocking.
You can find more details at their website, and hopefully Melbourne can forgive them for the error that originally placed the Vibe in Collingwood rather than Fitzroy - I’m sure the artwork will be fixed soon.
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