That'll Teach Me - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Max Atwood has been a primary school teacher for five years and is living, breathing proof that while you can take the teacher out of the classroom, you can't take the classroom out of the teacher. So, before we begin today's lesson with his comedy show That'll Teach Me, Atwood advises us what our learning objectives are and how we will achieve those.

While Atwood shares anecdotes from his career (life?) as a teacher, the focus with this show rests with an incident between a student at a summer camp. When Atwood unintentionally offended a student by calling him a certain word, he allows the student the rare opportunity to call his teacher any name he wants - just once - without any form of punishment or consequence. It's a child's dream come true to tell their teacher he's a dickhead or an asswipe and not get a detention.

The show has Atwood talking directly about his experiences as a teacher and having to deal with the "kids say the darnedest things" moments and inadvertent innuendo they express. At other times, he talks about his own personal life, his relationships with his family and partners and how he can already feel the effects of ageing but the connection between the two is sometimes very tenuous, and so the momentum he has gathered is lost as we have to change tracks to keep up with the story.

Being a teacher, Atwood is quite comfortable talking in front of people and having all eyes on him. He has an affable nature to how he presents and the way he speaks about his job and his life. While the structure of That'll Teach Me and his delivery of some jokes still needs tightening, this is a pleasant hour of stand-up and for me personally, serves as a great reminder for why I did not enter the teaching profession. 

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Loop Project Space & Bar, 19-23 Meyers Pl., Melbourne.
Season: Until 20 April, Mon - Sat 7pm 
Length: 55 minutes 
Tickets: $25 Full | $18 Conc
Bookings: MICF website