Club Briefs - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

The boys from Briefs are gracing the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with three shows this year: The Second Coming, Brat Kids Carnival and Club Briefs. If you've seen a Briefs show before and don't have children, then you're best to go straight to the Club Briefs offering. If The Second Coming is to be considered your main meal, then Club Briefs is the dessert that you crave with the Briefs boys performing a variety of acts that are more extreme and risqué and with a lot more skin on display.

Louis Biggs opens the show with some cheeky rubrics cube puzzle solving and lollipops that end up in places they shouldn't. Biggs is the poster boy for naughty fun and stirs a buzz in the audience that sets the precedent of expecting the unexpected. Evil Hate Monkey similarly uses an act he's known for and takes it to the next level with his array of banana tricks and a climatic finale that fills the Spiegeltent with horrified laughter.

There are also a number of special guests in Club Briefs and on this evening we were treated to Dylan Rodriquez and his commanding static trapeze act, Luke Hubbard showing strength and flexibility with his handstand cane act and Jane Doe performing the pleasurable burlesque she's come to be known for.

While the audience learns to expect the unexpected, so too does the cast of Briefs where at one point the sound cuts out, leaving the performers without music. While there was no doubt much scrambling going on backstage to resolve it, with a little improvising - and some complimentary sparkling - our charismatic bearded lady Shivannah ensures that she show goes on and shortly after power is restored.

Which is extremely fortunate as to miss seeing Thomas Worrell closing the show with his stunning hoop act would have been sorely disappointing. Worrell takes a medley of songs consisting of Frozen's "Let It Go", Sia's "Chandelier" and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" and performs a hypnotic routine in which the human body spins at speeds I've not witnessed before. The choreography is expertly executed and you could easily watch Worrell move and contort his body to the music over and over.

For all its entertainment though, Briefs - and Club Briefs - retains its purpose of celebrating difference and diversity. The performers and acts are a constant blurring between what is masculine and feminine, and between gender and sex. With only two more opportunities to see this scintillating show, best book your tickets as soon as possible. 

Venue: The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne. 
Season: 13 and 20 April | Sat 10:30pm
Length: 90 minutes
Tickets: $25
Bookings: MICF website