Linda (for one more week) review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Linda is dead. Except she shouldn't be. There's been an administrative stuff up and she's actually one week early. So, she is sent back to Earth. For seven more days, in which Linda decides to throw caution to the wind, quit her job at Harris & Ford, and book herself onto a cruise. What's the worst that could happen? While we never meet Linda in Linda (for one more week), we instead witness the interactions and stories of various people on board the Anders & Cooper cruise ship.

Andy Balloch and Justin Porter perform as all the characters, ranging from a frustrated magician and his assistant, to lifeguards yearning for something more, to wellness workers with big aspirations. The sketches are self-contained but gradually they become to intertwine and cross paths with others which leads to some interesting narrative threads. This also means quick costume changes for Balloch and Porter, as well as switches in movement and voice work, which they seamlessly accomplish, until they start having perhaps too much of a good time.

Karate Man: A Live-Action Video Game review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

It's 1988 and Karatetown has been overrun by pesky goons. Luckily Karate Man is here to save the day. But can he expel all the goons AND get the girl? Karate Man: A Live Action Video Game comes from the ingenious minds of BEAK (Daniel Scarratt and Bruno Dubosarsky) where the entire story takes place in the style of an 80s arcade game.

The audience gets to dictate the narrative and all of Karate Man's movements, because as the show title subtly alludes to, this is a live-action video game. We are given a demonstration of the controller functions and then it's up to us to lead our hero to victory. Through some creative use of Bluetooth technology, when someone presses 'punch", the word is boomed over a speaker and Karate Man punches. If "left" is pressed, then the word left is announced, and Karate Man moves left. It's a fantastic way to get audience invested and engaged in the story.

Please Clap review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

There isn't much of a description for what Reuben Solo's Please Clap is going to be about, except that it is likely to be a frenzied, disorderly series of live sketch comedy. Which is as accurate as you can get for a show that even though has a structure in place, seems to make a lot of what we witness on the fly.

Solo begins the show strongly with some fun audience interactions which includes moving people around, introducing him to the stage and having one person give him the harshest insult they can - and boy, did he cop it on the night attended with the most brutal sledge you could give to a performer.

When I Grow Up... review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

It's the age-old question: what do you want to be when you grow up? As a child, you might say doctor, teacher, police officer...but then there's also the kids that want to be famous, a rock star, an athlete or even a penguin. In Jeromaia Detto's comedy show When I Grow Up..., audience suggestions of what they wanted to be when they were children are played out on stage in an improvised hour of laughter.

It's evident from the second Detto appears in the room, he's here for a good time and that joy and sense of play spreads throughout the room. He's very talented at guiding the audience and letting them know what to do without putting them on the spot or placing any pressure on them. You're never uncertain of what your role is, and even if you are, Detto will find a way of incorporating that into the scene.

The John Wilkes Booth review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

The John Wilkes Booth takes place in a fancy French restaurant set in West Heidelberg. A bumbling waiter quickly takes us to our seats as he busily takes orders and serves meals, until a new customer walks in. Am imposingly tall American man, dressed all in black and carrying a briefcase. But not all is at seems in this comedy show about good food, mistaken identities and murder.

Alex Donnelly as Marcel, the questionable French waiter, is a pure delight. His over-the-top, frantic running around and servicing customers is reminiscent of a slightly less fumbling Manuel from Fawlty Towers. Lachie Gough as the restrained and matter-of-fact Texan oil tycoon is a perfect straight man foil to Marcel, until he has no choice but to join him in ridiculously funny scenarios of sheer silliness and slapstick.

Jon & Jero: Improv Narrated By Comedians review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

In Improv Narrated By Comedians, improvisers Jon Walpole and Jeromaia Detto have a guest comedian on stage who via different improv games, narrates stories for them to perform. They have brought together a variety of guests including Virginia Gay and Nat Harris and on the night we attended, we were graced with the presence of the wonderful stand-up comedian Anna Piper Scott.  

Piper Scott and Detto have individually been reviewed by My Melbourne Arts and they are both talented and funny performers but in this format, on this night, along with Walpole, the elements did not come together with many golden rules of improv either not followed or present.

To Be Frank review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

I was so incredibly tired heading into To Be Frank I thought I would actually fall asleep while it was being performed. But within the first second I realised that would not be possible once Michael Hockey's creature came barrelling out on stage with an impassioned roar.



For the next hour we join "Frank" as he begins to understand the concept of love, loneliness and belonging with the aid of a humble balloon. The show is heavily improvised but there is a story and Hockey presents a wonderful balance of both, at one point he leaves the room to follow an audience member who has had to leave early but it fits perfectly with this journey to find love. His clown and bouffon skills are put to excellent use as Frank non-verbally engages and interacts with the audience, who become just as invested in this odyssey as he is.

We're New Here review (Melbourne Interntational Comedy Festival)

For as long as man has existed, there has always been a rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. Even the recent news that Melbourne has overtaken Sydney to become Australia's largest city by population has been met boastfully by Melbourne and with derision by Sydney. Two people who have contributed to this "win" for Melbourne are Melbourne-based New South Wales-raised comedians Lotte Beckett and Lily Hensby.

In their comedy show, We're New Here, the two examine the intricacies of Melbourne culture and lifestyle, from our unhealthy obsession with good coffee and the unique experience of hunting for a rental property. There are some brilliant sketches, including scarily accurate digs at Melbourne's impro scene and the premier performing arts school of this city, VCA. Their description of Sydney and Nowra – with extremely detailed and intricate maps - are also a highlight, giving the audience a very clear indication of where they came from.

Songs from the Heart in the Hole of my Bottom review (Melboourne International Comedy Festival)

Sometimes a little bit of nostalgia is all you need. And thanks to Aiden Willcox and Isaac Haigh's Songs from the Heart in the Hole of my Bottom we are taken back to the New York jazz scene in 1973. With plenty of musical numbers, witty banter with the crowd and wonderful improvisation between them, it's an evening where you can forget your troubles and just get happy.

Willcox and Haigh are in their element in this setting. They were definitely born in the wrong decade as they show their love and affection for the people and the music of this period. Their costumes, physicality and vernacular are very specific and it's clear they have put in a lot of research into the genre and theme to create an authentic experience.

Vicky & Roger's Cattle Call review (Melb Fringe)

Who could ever forget the gorgeous Victoria Beavoir and the charismatic Roger Seahorse from when they wooed audiences in their 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival debut The Pageant? Well clearly the have as this creative duo have moved on to bigger and better things...theatre! Roger has written a play and after much searching, has found his leading lady in Victoria, but in order to get this show on the road, they need to cast 71 other roles, and so begins Vicky and Roger's Cattle Call.

Created and performed by Patrick Dwyer and Laura Trenerry, this is a mix of sketch, improvisation, guest comedians/performers and Australia's Got Talent as they go through audition after audition. But the unquestionable stars here are Dwyer and Trenerry to the point where you keep getting drawn to them even when they are sitting to the side, critiquing their wannabe thespians. They completely and utterly become their characters where a shared glance or the way they sit and take notes is all done in a style that is true to who they are.

Mush review (Melb Fringe)

Where has Jeromaia Detto been all my life? The actor / clown / improvisor has brought an incredibly delightful near hour of hilarity to the Melbourne Fringe Festival with his show Mush. Regardless if the title refers to something soft, spongy and shapeless or sickeningly sweet sentimentality, and to be honest, it's probably both, the laughs are plentiful as Detto takes us on a journey into his head and his way of seeing the world.

What's refreshing about Mush is that there is little to no "adult content", it's all such wholesome and innocent fun and it's a wonderful way to forget the stresses and worries of real life and throw yourself into the sketches of a waiter who thrives off applause or a conductor eager to get his rehearsals started. Character sketches follow one after the other as we take a seat inside Detto's wacky brain.

The tribe has improvised in Completely Improvised Survivor

31 May 2000. It was the day the reality TV world landscape changed forever with the premiere of Survivor, where a group of strangers battle it out as tribes and as individuals to outwit, outplay and outlast everyone else and become the sole survivor and winner of a million dollars.

Fast-forward 22 years and there's a new player in town with Completely Improvised Survivor. Created by Melissa McGlensey and Douglas Wilson, each night audiences are witnesses to a tribal council with flashbacks to events that have happened between the players. As the title states, this is all improvised and made up on the spot so the audience and the cast are never quite sure what they are going to get.

"Each show is the finale "episode" of a fictional season of Survivor. The players mould their characters on the spot based on audience suggestions and then perform a "previously on" montage, which fills in the backstory for the full season. Then they go on and play out the remaining immunity challenge, tribal council, etc, all while building on top of the backstory they just invented," McGlensey explains.

The Bride - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

Here comes the bride, all dressed in white. Your wedding should be one of the most memorable days of your life but for comedian Nadia Collins, this is most definitely not the case. In her new show for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, , Collins finds herself in a predicament that has her facing a transformation that she never thought possible. Blending physical theatre into an immersive environment, The Bride will have audiences eagerly waiting till the very end if she makes it to the altar.

Collins' The Bride was inspired by Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis, where a salesman wakes up one morning to see he has been turned into an insect. "My show however is about a bride who turns into a cockroach on her hen’s night. I’ve always been interested in The Metamorphosis as a story and the themes it raises. I love the idea that deep down we’re all cockroaches," she says.

In A Cage That Looks Like Freedom - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

Last year, comedian Isabella Valette told us just how far she'll go to get the job done in How Far I'll Go. Now, with her upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, In A Cage That Looks Like Freedom, Valette not only shows us how far she'll go but also how far she's come as she unpacks all of the mistaken ways we try to bring meaning in our lives.

"I wanted to create a show that encapsulates my fascination with what I like to refer to as ‘the glorious sea of the crowd'; events where people come together and fuse into one energy. What happens when we celebrate as a collective?" Valette asks. “I’m also interested in people who think of life as a game with different hacks to make yourself and your life better and be happy. My own ideas of happiness changed in the past twelve months, which was the impetus to write this show and it forced me to clarify what happiness is, but if you want to know the answer, then you’ll have to see the show," she laughs.

Ancient Shrines and Half Truths - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Presented by Binge Culture, Ancient Shrines and Half Truths is an outdoor audio experience that has participants listening to a narrator as they uncover the unheard and the forgotten history that surrounds them, in this instance, Werribee. Armed with an iPhone, headphones and an app, the tour is divided into four parts, with each part becoming more and more immersive and interactive until you reach its joyous conclusion.

From discovering the secret voices in post boxes, the animals that live by my feet and haggling for a coffee with a tree, every pit stop throughout draws me into a silly world that is treated with a sincerity and respect. By doing so, I start to see things that I would not have noticed before. At one point I am told that in order to blend in with the locals I should walk with a hand on my hip and the other swinging while I walk. No sooner do I adapt to this specific way of moving, that I witness a man coming towards me, walking just like me. We share a nod and smile and I wonder as he continues on his way if he was a local or a plant, but I guess I'll never know.

Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

After killing it at Melbourne Fringe Festival last year, the residents of Murder Village have returned to Melbourne for another season of murder most improvised. Presented by Dave Massingham, the premise of Murder Village is simple but incredibly effective; one where the audience individually vote for who they would like to see die and who should be their killer. After that, it's up to our improvisers to make the story come to life while keeping us guessing who the two shall be. It's all rather quite dramatic.

Amberly Cull, who plays village sleuth Jemima Marmalade, has been left in the dark as to who the killer is, and alongside Detective Inspector Own Slugget (Massingham), she interrogates all the suspects before gathering them together and confirming if she has unmasked the murderer or lynched an innocent person. The scenes between these two law-abiding citizens are a great example that these "people" are not stereotypes but characters with history and convictions, who just happen to be heightened versions of themselves.

At The Movies - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Going to the movies during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival can almost be considered sacrilege but Impro Melbourne have found a way to let the people have their cake and eat it too with At The Movies. Completely made up on the spot, the show is created from the first five minutes of a B-grade movie that no one in the cast has seen until that moment.

Our "director" Sarah Kinsella provides us with the synopsis of two movies in which to choose from and based on an audience vote, the favourite is picked and we watch the opening scenes. In this instance, it is the 1985 film Desert Hearts, in which a New York professor divorces her husband and has an affair with another woman in Reno, 1959.

Fran Solo - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

You may think you know the story of Star Wars but Fran Middleton is here to tell you otherwise. With her trademark blend of absurdism and improvisation skills, Middleton is here to present her version of this intergalactic story in Fran Solo as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 

Middleton is busy watching a film on her laptop and drinking a can of Solo – this show is full of puns - as we take our seats. Her laid back nature sets the tone for what we are to experience, and this is strengthened as she casually acknowledges each audience member with a nod and a greeting.

Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

We all enjoy a heartwarming murder mystery. Trying to spot the clues as they are laid out for us, or in some cases watching as the detective pieces everything together, can be a thrilling adventure. As part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, audiences have the opportunity to commit their own slice of murder with an improvised homage to Agatha Christie in Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit, a show presented by Dave Massingham and the iconic The Butterfly Club.

Massingham's love for the perfect murder stemmed from a childhood of watching them enacted on stage, TV and in board games. "Ever since I was a kid I loved the cozy murder mystery. Agatha Christie was a perennial favourite. Cluedo was always my preferred board game. I even remember watching episodes of Inspector Morse and Jonathan Creek with my family," he recalls. "When I became interested in improv comedy I knew that I would love to one day develop a classic British whodunnit format. In 2009 I came up with a show structure called Agatha Holmes and put it on with my old Brisbane improv troupe ImproMafia. That would be the bones that would eventually become Murder Village."

The Hilarious Duff Film Parody Festival - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

Hilary Duff may now be starring in the highly popular TV comedy Younger, but the American actress, singer, songwriter and author has had her fair share of movies and TV appearance that are probably best left forgotten. However, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Nicola Macri is bringing awareness to three of these films with The Hilarious Duff Film Parody Festival. Throughout the two week run of her "festival", Macri will be performing Not The Lizzie McGuire Movie, An Cinderella Story and Cadet Who?, all through a queer and feminist lens.

The question of why Duff was singled out for this festival - and why these films - is a no-brainer for Macri. "There’s something about Hilary Duff that has burrowed into the souls and psyches of my generation. The idea for the show sprung up spontaneously when I saw a GIF that reminded me of Cadet Kelly and thought “I want to do a show that is just re-enacting a bunch of Hilary Duff movies.” It just felt right in my heart. Give the people (a niche but passionate group of millennial women) what they (you) want."