The Breakup Variety Hour review | Ariana and the Rose | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Trades Hall

Break-ups and heartache are rarely neat, they tend to be chaotic, messy, and experiences that many people spend a lot of time trying to make sense of. Coming all the way from Brooklyn, Ariana and the Rose brings her cabaret The Breakup Variety Hour to Melbourne, attempting to turn that turbulence into something structured and digestible. Using a mix of storytelling and 80s-infused pop songs, Ariana guides audiences through the six healing steps of a breakup, reframing recovery as a kind of staged journey.



The show struggles to establish a solid narrative backbone grounded in personal history. Ariana offers glimpses into her own romantic misadventures, but these instances are fragmented and missing a central thread that would allow audiences to connect more with her. Instead, significant time is spent outlining each step in detail, explaining what it is and how to move beyond it. Rather than seeing these stages lived and embodied, they are largely described, which reduces their impact. Like the tile, everything is laid out, leaving little space for nuance or discovery.



Australia's Worst Journalist review | Sweeney Preston | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

For three years, Sweeney Preston worked at PEDESTRIAN.TV, Australia’s largest youth publisher, as a journalist, breaking stories like “There’s Been Yet Another Explosive Development In Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Family Saga” and “A Well-Known Aussie Gym Chain Has Finally Had It W/ Influencers, Banning Tripods At Its Gyms”. He also wrote dating advice articles, ironically while his own love life was in need of a rewrite. In Australia’s Worst Journalist, Preston blends his time in the newsroom with his mishaps in love for an hour of light-hearted comedy.



Preston’s delivery stays relaxed and aware throughout, which suits the material and keeps the tone grounded rather than overly stylised. His energy is consistently high, giving the set a sense of drive, even if the material doesn’t always match that momentum.



VHS review | Alexei Toliopoulos | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Melbourne Town Hall

Having worked in a video store, a Video Ezy to be specific, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia the second I took my seat for Alexei Toliopoulos’s VHS. On stage sat an old-school VHS player, not a DVD/video combo, just pure VHS. Scattered around it was a pile of tapes, many of them films I had watched endlessly or once owned. On the TV, instantly familiar old classification ads played. I’d seen that family on my screen countless times, gathered at the video store, only to dwindle one by one as the rating crept closer to R. It sent me straight back twenty years, no rewinding required.



But this comedy show isn’t just about a love of movies, it’s about what makes them resonate, like a film’s score or that one piece of music that can completely reshape how a scene is felt. Take “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter, his stirring 2004 composition that has become synonymous with emotional weight on screen. Here, Toliopoulos delivers an engaging and insightful discussion on film scores, how they are chosen, and the way they are woven in. He balances this with a great dose of wit, particularly when reflecting on its use in Hamnet, drawing out both the impact and the familiarity of such musical choices. I could have sat there and listened to him talk about this for a whole hour, but there's a lot that Toliopoulos has to get through.

Puss Puss review | Natalia Sledz | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

Natalia Sledz unleashes a chaotic, keenly observed feline world in Puss Puss, blending physical comedy, music, and surreal imagery into a largely silent hour of gleeful, unapologetic absurdity. It quickly establishes a distinct setup, inviting the audience to experience this reality through Puss Puss’ warped, instinct-driven lens.



At the centre of it all is Sledz’s skilfully measured performance. She captures feline behaviour with remarkable precision, from her fixation on noisy toys and anything that glints to her perfectly coughed up furballs and when an audience member sprays her with water. Every movement is intuitive, detailed, and finely tuned for maximum comedic impact.



MagicSafe: Conjuror vs Corporate review | Liam “LJ” Jumpertz | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Speakeasy Theatre

Work retreats. Enough said. Framed as a corporate-style seminar, MagicSafe: Conjuror vs Corporate turns the spotlight on workplace compliance culture in a world where even magic comes with regulations. What begins as a straightforward, safety-approved presentation gradually slips off track as bureaucratic interference creeps in, drawing on recognisable frustrations, policies, power trips, and performative professionalism, with a mix of light theatricality and well-executed illusion.

The conceit of MagicSafe frames the audience as magicians attending a multi-day retreat on how to perform tricks the “safe” way. Liam “LJ” Jumpertz leads as the seminar’s safety demonstrator, guiding us through a deliberately dry, chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint. As this is a Level 3 rating, we are ushered into the “advanced” content, covering supposedly high-risk acts such as mentalism, escapology, and the perilous card trick. However, LJ’s efforts are continually undercut by Todd from Corporate, an obstructive overseer whose strict adherence to bureaucracy threatens to derail the session at every turn.

Recovering Eldest Daughter review | Rachel Tunaley | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Spielhaus

Through centuries of daughterhood, the eldest daughter has been destined (or cursed?) for a life of perfectionism, high achievement, and anxiety. Rachel Tunaley is no different, as the eldest daughter of her family. However, when her sibling comes out as transgender, she believes she has been freed from the expectations that once defined her. Little does she know. In her new cabaret, Recovering Eldest Daughter, Tunaley takes the audience on a candid, humorous, and personal journey through mental health, identity, and the process of unlearning lifelong pressures as she searches for who she is beyond the role she was raised to fulfil.



Now the middle sister, Tunaley gleefully visits the Prophet of the Eldest Daughter to relinquish the eldest daughter label, only to be informed that too much time has passed and the title cannot simply be given away. No, there is only one way this can happen. She must learn to heal her inner child. Easier said than done. This prompts her to examine her past behaviours, thoughts, and relationships, confronting the patterns that have shaped her and the anxieties she has long carried.

Little Devil and the War Machine | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

Little Devil and the War Machine is set during the peak of political instability in Renaissance Italy, when Florence was frequently involved in conflicts and shifting alliances. This reimagining draws on the spirit of commedia dell’arte to explore the dynamics between four key figures, intellectual inventor Leonardo da Vinci, political strategist Niccolò Machiavelli, military ruler Cesare Borgia, and the mischievous apprentice Gian Giacomo Caprotti (Salai).



Rather than a straightforward historical retelling, the production reinterprets the era through a queer lens, questioning how identity and power are constructed. With mask work, bold physicality, and scenes of heightened comedy, it builds a vivid interplay of relationships where status, desire, and power are constantly negotiated onstage.