Thursday 11 April 2024

Choosing The Wrong Story To Tell review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

Lewis Garnham has been watching the world around him and thinking about the daily interactions he has with others. His show Choosing The Wrong Story To Tell is an hour of philosophical stand-up with Garnham sharing these observations and encouraging himself (and us) to think of our contact with others and go off-script as often as we can to open ourselves up to authentic moments of connections.

Garnham gives us several small encounters in life where he has gone off script, that have surprised him or those around him. He recalls the time he absent-mindedly praised someone at work by saying "fuck yeah!", which isn't normally a huge cause for concern, but when you're a teacher's aide in a school and you're speaking to a student, then it can be a bit of a shock.

From there, we bounce around to various hilarious episodes of Garnham's life, including the demands of working at Coles to the historical significance of the screaming goat meme and an Uber Eats order that leaves him feeling all warm and fuzzy. He constantly finds ways of linking all his stories that results in engrossing storytelling that makes the payoff even sweeter for the audience. This is highlighted with a colleague from Coles who pops up in a few of Garnham's anecdotes which are effectively used as teaching moments for himself.

At one point Garnham mentions how we can be crippled by having so much choice in everything we do. The same can be said about the Comedy Festival, with hundreds of shows being performed and trying to select one. Choosing The Wrong Story To Tell is a very safe bet. It not only offers many laughs but with its subtle yet compelling call-to-action to go off script and choose the ‘wrong story’, it's also a wonderful opportunity to reconsider how we engage with the world around us.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Melbourne Town Hall, 100 Swanston St, Melbourne
Season:
 until 21 April | Tues - Sat 7:40pm, Sun 6:40pm
Duration:
 60 minutes
Tickets:
 $29 - $32 Full | $27 Conc and Tightarse Tuesday
Bookings:
 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

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