The nominees for the 16th Annual Helpmann Awards were announced this week and one production has already surged ahead – Matilda. The musical has garnered a staggering 13 nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The Roald Dahl adaptation earned nods in each of the Musical specific categories as well as getting recognition in…
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As the 30th Melbourne International Comedy Festival drew to a close, thoughts turned to the annual awards ceremony and the announcement of the recipient of the prestigious Barry. Named for festival patron and Aussie icon Barry Humphries, the award recognises the Most Outstanding Comedy Festival Show. The 2016 award went to Australian Zoe Coombs Marr, for her show Trigger Warning, making…
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Both Simon Cumming and Perri Cassie greeted the audience, all very much ready on stage, with some light chatter about the etiquette of introducing their show as they walked into the room at Grand Mecure, and then well… introduced us to their show through a unique little sketch-stylised bit. The sketch stuff was tossed aside from…
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When you speak to Steen Raskopoulos, there is a calm demeanour about him – a very different way that he performs (or ‘play’) on stage. The accomplished improvisor is expanding his world to sketch and other forms of participation in the shows which he’s presented at former Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. Last year, he honed…
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Melbourne will be playing host to a celebrity wedding on Friday night. But this isn’t quite the stuff that celebrity gossip mags are made on. This wedding is a protest wedding! Comedian’s Zoe Coombs Marr and Rhys Nicholson will get married on Friday at the Festival Club in a wedding ceremony designed to highlight the…
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Australian comedy legend Barry Humphries this week announced the nominees for the 19th annual Barry Award – an award named in his honour – as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Barry Award is one of the world’s most prestigious comedy awards. Launched in 1998 as the ‘Stella Award’ it was renamed in…
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Cabaret performer Shirley Gnome brings her show from Vancouver, Canada to debut in Melbourne this month. After making waves at the fringes in Perth and Adelaide, the production has been accepted as a late-addition to the festival with three shows scheduled. The performance is a an exciting blend of bawdy music, clever lyrics and profoundly smart insights…
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After appearing in last year’s season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Joel Creasey has fast become one of Australia’s favourite celebrities. Creasey’s show at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival is appropriately titled The Crown Prince because, well, why not? This latest work from Creasey details all the highlights from his…
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Foxtel has announced that it will broadcast the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s 30th Birthday Bash as a six-part series, made exclusively for The Comedy Channel. The comedy festival hosted by Tommy Little was filmed last Friday in front of a live audience at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre. Each episode will be made up of a selection…
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In his first Australian solo show, one of the UK’s most energetic and charming performers Joel Dommett is bringing us Conquer as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He was kind enough to answer five quick questions, like we have done for many other acts during MICF. What do you personally find enlightening about comedy today?…
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So the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is continuing on with the lols and we had some very good shows getting some awesome attention. At this half-way point, so many acts are looking to change styles, evoking a kind of journey with their careers each and every year. Aunty Donna likes to change things up to…
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Hannah Gadsby current comedy show Dogmatic won’t leave the audience feeling warm and fuzzy inside. While a far step away from her manic-depressive character she has become synonymous for playing in break-out success Please Like Me, Gadsby is organically inclined to draw distinction to the somber over the sunny. A self-aware comedian, reflecting on shows…
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Boy, was it nice to put a 3D human being to the voice that is Matt Okine. Over the years we have become so fond of his vocal prowess and Instagram snaps, but seeing the boy wonder himself in the flesh, staring us right in the face, was an absolute delight. Having spoken to Okine…
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Since the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is in full swing, we here at the AU Review have decided to give a whole bunch of performers who have travelled far and wide to the most funniest month in Melbourne’s year five quick questions ahead of their performances. The first of these is with Alex Edelman who…
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London’s hilarious and refreshing comedian, Luisa Omielan is in Melbourne for this years International Comedy Festival from March 30 until April 9. In 2015, she visited Australia as part of the Comedy Gala with her hit 4 minute video clip Thigh Gap, that accumulated over 30 million Facebook views, expanding her presence on the Australian comedy scene. Following on…
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The National Theatre Melbourne for the first time in its history, has been transformed into a hub for 30th Melbourne International Comedy Festival, hosting five shows over the course of the festival. CEO Nic Clark has said that the affiliation with the iconic Comedy Festival has allowed The National Theatre to offer a variety of…
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If you’d like to get quite a bang for your buck in seeing two acts within the one show at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, then Melbourne comedians Simon Cumming and Perri Cassie have got you covered with their show Simon & Perri Go Large. The show is set to be full of exhilaration,…
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Bugle Boys really should be the first name you’d think of when creating a tribute show to the Andrews Sisters. Of course that’s the name – Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy is their most recognisable song. But really, the Andrews Sisters had such a wonderful back catalogue of harmonies and soul-stylin’ sounds. The close harmonies throughout their…
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A seasoned comedian, David O’Doherty is the force de jour in musical comedy. Returning to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival after two years back in his homeland of Ireland, O’Doherty settles back in seamlessly, in an hilarious night of observational comedy- with a healthy sprinkle of melodic ramblings. Still sporting his keyboard from 1986, wearing…
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The legacy of Tom Green is one marked by a no-holds-barred approach to bold and often bonkers comedy. A preeminent influence on prank culture on MTV and YouTube, from his web series, to his cult-favourite film Freddy Got Fingered, his comedy walks its own path for its sheer absurdity and willingness to explore the unpredictable….
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After two months in Africa, Joel Creasey has returned home and boy is he happy. So much so, that he even had bestie Chrissy Swan asleep in his spare room because they had a sleep over the night before #BlessTheirCottonSocks. So much to chat about, so let’s get to it. Give us a debrief of…
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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and it’s been announced that the hosts for the evening will be Cal Wilson and Tommy Little. Many legendary comedians have also been revealed for the lineup, which is set to include Eddie Perfect, Rich Hall, Greg Fleet, Wendy Harmer, The Umbilical Brothers, Luke…
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The two members of EastEnd Cabaret, Jennifer Byrne & Vicky Falconer-Pritchard, are currently in Australia performing their show Yeti’s Demon Dive Bar – a musical sketch show which delves into the lives of characters enjoying themselves within a bar set-up on stage. “We did three sort of work-in-progress shows back in London at Soho Theatre,…
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If you’re looking for a good variety of Australian comedy during this year’s MICF look no further than 3 States of Comedy/i>, a triple headliner of very promising comics representing Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia. Opening the show on this particular evening was Geoff Setty, whose punchy one-liners got the crowd going early…
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Chimp Cop – the love child of Melbourne comedians Timothy Clark, Ben Vernel, Adam Knox and Rosie Vernel, is a hard-hitting and hilarious tale of corruption, friendship, and bananas. A well-constructed hour of silliness that parodies just about every cop drama truism in the book, Chimp Cop moves through its influences, picking them apart and…
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There’s something about the way Ronny Chieng yells at you that’s so endearing. The multi-award winning comedian has a knack for picking on the flaws of a generation who don’t know what they’re talking about, in a way that makes you feel both guilty and amused. His stage persona of a faux egotistical comic is…
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The Comedy Zone is made up of five of Australia most promising comedians each coming from different parts of the country to deliver a varied palette of humour. Matt Ford (QLD), Jacob Lingard (QLD), Ciaran Lyons (WA), Nina Oyama (NSW) and Matt Stewart (VIC) are a collective of young comedians who has already started to…
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“Don’t worry, you’ll get home in one piece” Corey White assures, as he delves into things he could have possibly said to put a woman’s mind at ease after he realized he had accidentally been following her for several kilometers late one night. Ultimately he knows there’s nothing he could have said, he knows even…
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Now I only read about Set List just before it was announced, so I was pretty excited when I got handed the interview, tell me a little bit about it? Where was the initial idea conceived? The idea is the product of evil genius Troy Conrad, who created Set List. He invited me to come…
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Tim Key is somewhat of a peculiar comic. His trademark quirky, untraditional-styled poetry, delivered with impeccable timing, makes his new show Masterslut one of the must see shows at this years Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I chat with the British comic while he’s unpacking his belongings. ‘Oh did you just get in?’ I ask. ‘No’…
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