The Pun

Glenn Wool: Where Is Hell?

By Alex Murray ⋅ April 27, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

The Powder Room in the Melbourne Town Hall is muggy. Its hot and smoky moisture hangs heavy in the air. The stage backdrop is adorned with a black sign with silver letters that simply say ‘HELL’. Sweating, I do a quick stocktake of my recent behaviour and begin to worry.

However when Glenn Wool arrives on stage (looking nothing like his poster) I relax. It’s just a poorly ventilated room, and a loose theme that ties together a bloody funny hour of comedy.

Where to kick off a show is always difficult. It can take a little while for a Melbourne crowd to warm up and get nice and vocal, although Wool (a Canadian of sorts) was helped by his deft dealing of an early interruption by a mobile phone, a beeping ticket scanner, and a police siren.

Spanning the topics of race, religion, drugs, sexuality, and a Scrabble joke, Wool pulls together a tight, energetic show that asks where hell is and just who exactly might be there. Wickedly droll with a no taboo policy, Wool attacks his targets with well-aimed daggers and no regrets.

Lambasting the audience early on for their own prejudices, (Am I allowed to say I enjoyed the Jewish jokes?) Wool then charms, manipulates, and performs an AC/DC tribute, which left me with sore cheeks and wanting more.

Oh, and if you want the full Glenn Wool experience, make sure you sit up the front.