Miriam Reynoldson
The Pun 2007 Reviews »
I was disappointed to find that I had gone to a sell-out comedy show, only to watch jokes I’d already seen performed on TV.
Stephen K Amos has done some brilliant work’brilliant enough that I’ve got tapes of his routines from various comedy festivals, including his set for Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Great Debate in 2005, which I also saw live. The topic was ‘Does God have a sense of humour?’
Unfortunately, this just means I have video proof that Amos’s routine this year was peppered with stale material. His latest set …
The Pun 2007 Reviews »
This year, rookie comedian Kent Valentine answers the eternal questions: ‘How can I live without you?’, ‘Should I stay or should I go?’, and ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor?’ The answer: roll him on his side so he doesn’t vomit on himself.
Kent is as amiable as Adam Hills, as raw and energetic as Wil Anderson, and as dorky as a young Rove McManus before his move to Channel 10. But he’s not them’he’s him.
Valentine has based his show around the guiding premise: what would Jesus do? However, …
The Pun 2006 Reviews »
Kent Valentine’s set is essentially an autobiographical narrative about his love life. It’s a clever format that means that even when a joke fails, the audience’s interest is kept alive by the story itself. Valentine swaps poses every now and again, from loud and tightly wound joker to confidential storyteller on bent knees.
There are a handful of guffaws in the set, my personal favourite being a depiction of the ‘Interventionist God’ working away at his world computer (with a cameo by Allah). In fact, while Valentine does not alter his …
The Pun 2006 Reviews »
The Big Laugh Out is a free sampler of various acts from the Comedy Festival, hosted by a mildly amusing Justin Hamilton. It’s usually held in Federation Square, but in case of rain will be relocated to BMW Edge. The comics may change from night to night.
On Friday 14, the opening act was a very family-oriented number by the The 4 Noels. Their set was not so much a comedy performance as an exercise in audience involvement, entitled ‘Karajoke’ (Kids from the audience read out donated material from other festival …
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