Tuesday 9 April 2024

Goof review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

The lights dim and the audience eagerly awaits Oliver Coleman to appear on stage, and he does appear. But at the back of the room. Wearing a landing pad. With an imaginary hawk. And that pretty much sums up the shenanigans of his comedy show Goof.

Coleman seems to be playing a heightened version of himself. A loud voice brimming with confidence and wearing an eye-catching green suit that is extraordinarily dashing. I could write a full review about that green suit. Paired with a red tie and orange socks, it's a colour clash that works for Coleman's style of clash comedy. It may seem like it's off-the-cuff stand-up with drizzles of desperation but it's an extremely considered performance where every beat and step is planned. Speaking of steps, his constant pacing and movement on stage is a cross between Danny Zucko from the T-birds and a TV evangelist, another clash that pairs so perfectly together.

He is whip fast with the jokes and quickly changes topics. We don't know when one story will end and the next one will start, adding suspense and anticipation as to what the punchline will be. We move rapidly from bus trips and body odour to love poems at 19 and the ever-controversial question of whether you eat your ice cream in a cup or with a cone.

Coleman builds excellent rapport with his audience even with minimal audience interactions. At one point he asks the crowd a question about his namesake where two audience members respond with the same answer. They are the only two people to respond because it turns out they completely misunderstood that it wasn't actually a question. It causes Coleman to drop the persona and let out genuine laughter which makes him even more endearing.

Goof offers some hilariously eccentric observations of Coleman's world, regardless of if they are real or simply fabricated, the laughs that are had in the venue are 100% real and you can't go wrong with watching this stand out stand-up in his dashing green suit.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: The Westin, 205 Collins St, Melbourne
Season:
 until 21 April | Tues - Sat 8:35pm, Sun 7:35pm
Duration:
 60 minutes
Tickets:
 $27 - $32 Full | $25 Conc and Tightarse Tuesday
Bookings:
 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

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