Wednesday 5 April 2023

Back From The Bed review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

English comedian Seann Walsh is tired. A lot. After all, he is 37 years old. No longer is he able to party like a 20-something year old, and with his stand-up show Back From The Bed, Walsh presents a humorous lament to the years gone by and the frustration of what awaits when you start to have less future and more past.

Despite the casual approach to his routine, and a voice that at times feels like he's just woken up, Walsh has complete control of the situation and knows exactly what he's doing. At one point, an audience member knocks their glass over and Walsh's immediate response of "dad's home!" shows that he is always on the ball and gives us a brief insight into Walsh's personal life. His banter with the audience displays his ability to improvise and go down an unknown path before getting back on course.

His impersonations throughout the show are very well done, especially that of a pregnant woman, and having googled what a Henry vacuum cleaner is, can fully appreciate the discussion around the issues of vacuuming. Perhaps his best impersonation is the one that hits closest to home: drunk eyes. The way Walsh recreates this is so frighteningly accurate and hysterical to watch because we're all guilty of having done it once or twice or a large number of times, over the years.

While Walsh gets angry and sad about nearing his forties and how he's accomplished nothing, there's a little twist in the second half that makes us think that maybe things can happen after your 20s that can give you just as much happiness and a sense of achievement.

Walsh tells us he'd much prefer to be in a warm bed sleeping than being in Australia and doing his stand-up, but lucky for us he is, because Back From The Bed is an extremely enjoyable hour of stand-up of trying to get ahead in life when things keep working against you. That or just being relieved that the shit that's happened to Walsh has not happened to you. Hopefully. Either way, a great way to spend an evening where you can be in bed and asleep by 10pm!

SHOW DETAILS

Venue:
Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton
Season:
until 23 April | Mon-Tues, Thurs - Sat 7:45pm, Sun 6:45pm
Duration:
60 minutes
Tickets:
$39.90
Bookings:
Melbourne International Comedy Festival

1 comment:

  1. Saw the show tonight and thought it was hilarious - was crying with laughter at times, thoroughly recommend.

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