The Pun

Polycomic

By Brianna Summers ⋅ May 5, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Polycomic’s offer of three comedians for the price of one is a bargain that would make Dimmeys proud. Not two, but three likely lads make up a local laughter deal that simply won’t last. Just like a factory direct outlet, Polycomic is cheap, and although it contains lots of outdated fashion, there are still hot items to be found.

Direct from his day job at a paint store, Ian Messig plays MC to Cameron Marshall and Karl Chandler in a tiny theatrette at Loop bar. The show is very DIY, as the comedians also double as ticket collectors and ushers. It’s not the best comedy choice if you’re into dazzling colours and theme music’it’s more of a raw white light, blank backdrop, casual clothes affair.

Although this is amateur comedy, all three comedians avoided (for the most part) sinking to the cheap smut genre made popular by Elephant and Wheelbarrow-style jokesters. Marshall favoured a kind of gag-punchline observational humour, which drew from popular culture. Chandler played up the role of the downtrodden storyteller but has not quite perfected an illusion of sympathy-inspiring insecurity, occasionally portraying the real thing instead. Messig is to be applauded for sheer nerve - he sings joke lyrics to Sinatra’s ‘Chicago’ completely a capella.

All three of these dollar dazzlers have some strong material, but their delivery is often not powerful enough to induce the laughter they deserve. Just like Easter eggs, these guys are on special. Check them out if you’re into inexpensive local laughs.