This post has been updated to add new performance photos

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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

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• 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!

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

The Grand Final is on Saturday Dec 6th at the Enmore Theatre.

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Image Credits for performance photos: all images used with permission. Jackie Loeb at A Mic in Hand courtesy of Liz Christie, Theatresports Semifinals photos courtesy of photographer sgr.com.au and Impro Australia.

Tags: A Mic in Hand, Comedy on the EDGE, Cranston Cup, Dave Jory, Ewan Campbell, Grand Final, Jackie Loeb, Jane Simmons, Jason Rushton, Jonas Holt, Julia Wilson, Peter Green, Peter Meisel, Repechage, Schools Champions, Shane Matheson

Gagging For It now has a Tours listing page. So far the list is quite limited! Please let us know who’s on tour and where they have a listing of their tour dates online.

Tags: tour listings

“…is a wonderful thing to see.” ~ Carl Reiner

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?

For the next few Sundays at Belvoir Street Theatre until the Grand Final on December 6th at the Enmore Theatre, teams of improvisors try to knock each other out of the running for the Theatresports(R) Cranston Cup.

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!

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.

Elsewhere

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Tags: A Regular One Night Stand, Cranston Cup, Full Body Contact No Love Tennis, Gorilla Theatre, Impro Australia, Impro Melbourne, Impro Vice, Kookaburra Challenge, Open Mic Improv, Scared Scriptless, The Big HOO HAA!, Theatresports(R)

Big night at Comedy on the Edge at the William Hotel on Tuesday 11th November (8pm). Peter Green and Domenick O’Kieran will discuss The Last Legs Comedy Tour, Greeny will talk about the book, Special guests Jonas Holt and Peter Meisel will do a set and there are rumours of a surprise special guest as well!

“Are Youse The Comoydians?” is the true story of the Last Legs Comedy Tour, the most ambitious stand up comedy tour ever attempted in Australia.
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Tags: Add new tag, book launch, Domenick O'Kieran, Jonas Holt, Last Legs Comedy Tour, Peter Green, Peter Meisel

DATE: 28/10/08
SUPPORTED BY: James Rochford, Matt Dyktynski & MC David Smiedt

On its second ever comedy show, the Marble Bar sold out and was standing room only. Given that there’s a nice long bar to lean on, standing room isn’t too bad at all! The night began with a soft jazz musical act to wind the crowd down a bit after their day at work, this week guitarist Roger Black did the mellow honours. Then it was on with the funnies.

Every mum in Australia should be grateful to Fiona O’Loughlin for showing that mothering doesn’t have to be taken oh so seriously. By her own report her style of parenting evokes the escapades of a St-Trinian’s-4th-former, which must startle the neighbours at times. O’Loughlin claims to not make anything up because she says she can’t write, so she just tells real stories.

Cynic that I am, I strongly suspect that occasional events may just be a wee bit exaggerated for effect, and that her children do in fact not run entirely feral while she just drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney, but who cares when the anecdotes are delivered so charmingly and with such scalpel precision in structure and timing? She made the whole room absolutely roar with laughter.
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Tags: David Smiedt, Fiona O'Loughlin, James Rochford, Marble Bar, Matt Dyktynski, melbourne cup, Roger Black

Two shows on at the Opera House Playhouse for a limited time only - you could make a really big night of it and see one show straight after the other if you wanted! With only 13 dates over the last week of November and the first week of December, these shows are sure to sell out the best seats fast - we don’t see either of these favourite acts often enough.

THE UMBILICAL BROTHERS - “DON’T EXPLAIN”

• Helpmann Award Winners - Best Comedy Performers 2008
• ARIA Nominee’s 2008 for “Don’t Explain”

The Umbilical Brothers are a global comedy phenomenon, having delighted fans around the world as they twist theatrical rules and everyday situations into comedy triumph. As a result of them winning the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performers 2008 and for their ARIA Nomination for “Best Comedy Release’, they are bringing their classic show “Don’t Explain” back to the Sydney Opera House in November and December 2008 for a very special one off season.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION:
VENUE Sydney Opera House - Playhouse
DATES Tuesday 25 November-Saturday 6 December, 2008
TIMES Tuesday 25 - Saturday 29 November 7.30pm, Sunday 30 November 5pm, Monday 1 - Friday 5 December 7.30pm & Saturday 6 December 2pm
TICKETS $39.50-$44.50
BOOKINGS 9250 7777 or [link]

The Umbilical Brothers are touring in London and Spain before the Sydney Opera House season. For details see A-List Entertainment [link].

JIMEOIN ON ICE

Catch Jimeoin in his new show, “Jimeoin On Ice”, a five star hit at the Edinburgh Festival! See Jimeoin gracefully skate through brilliantly funny observations on the absurdities of everyday life. Jimeoin’s strength lies in his detail. His routines are sustained solely by the most subtle of facial expressions, as he explains the fine line between looking cunning or appearing sleazy, and why our hope is stored below and despair hovers above. With previous sell-out seasons in Montreal, Edinburgh and London, you will not want to miss the brilliance of Jimeoin.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS:
VENUE Sydney Opera House – Playhouse
DATES Tuesday 25 November – Saturday 6 December, 2008
TIMES Tuesday 25 - Saturday 29 November 9.30pm, Sunday 30 November 7pm, Tues 2 - Sat 6 December 9.30pm & Sat 6 December 7.30pm
TICKETS $34.50-$44.50
BOOKINGS 9250 777 or [link]

Jimeoin is touring in New Zealand before and after the Sydney Opera House season. Check details at A-List Entertainment [link].

Tags: Don't Explain, Jimeoin, Jimeoin on Ice, London, New Zealand, Opera House, Playhouse, Spain, Umbies, Umbilical Brothers