Little Running Bear

8:15pm 7 April, Supper Room, Melbourne Town Hall

It feels like I’ve gone through my life only thinking I knew about comedy. And the.n Tig Notaro came to town and totally schooled me. Actually she schooled us all.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve heard a whole room roar, snort, guffaw, yelp and sigh so much. She’s listed as deadpan but that doesn’t even begin to describe her. Descriptions will never do this show justice.

That might sound like a cop-out. “Come on, Josh. It’s your fucking job to describe things so we know what to expect.” The problem is that Notaro knows that the one important part of her job is to subvert our expectations. She is always one step ahead. Every single joke is perfectly crafted to mess with the audience.

There’s no messing with themes to combine the show together. She’s not a theme-style comedian. She moves too quickly for that and can’t be tied down to a single concepts. Even her one liners take small diversions. I know what you’re thinking: “But Josh, they’re one liners. There’s no room for a diversion.” Let me tell you, friends. She’s found a way.

She is an extraordinary user of her craft and an absolute pleasure to watch. My cheeks still hurt and I left the room 30 minutes ago.

Written using the WordPress iPhone App on the Pakenham train back to the station where I parked my car.

Read some of my other MICF reviews.

9:45pm 6 April, Powder Room, Melbourne Town Hall

Doc Brown, not his real name, used to be a rapper in the UK, toured with De La Soul, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, and Mark Ronson. Now he considers himself to be “unfamous” (rhymes with “infamous”).

Through a combination of rap and stand-up, Doc Brown tells the story of his life to this point. Here are some answers to some pretty obvious questions:

• Yes, it only takes an hour to get through some 30 years of life.
• Yes, there is live and earnest rapping in a very intimate environment.
• No, it’s nowhere near as awkward as one would think.

In fact, it’s so different to awkward that it’s actually really enjoyable. He comes on stage and starts rapping straight away and it’s almost rewarding; He is so good at it that he commands the room from the moment he steps on stage.

He swaps from stadium-style rap performance to intimate story-telling mode so easily and gracefully that watching him is an absolute pleasure. The narrative lacks a certain amount of cohesion and the jokes are not breaking any new ground but Doc Brown’s charisma carries the show. If he can get the other elements working he’ll blow minds but in the meantime he leaves the audience with smiles on their faces; In that respect his job is done.

Written the next day, using a combination of Mars Edit and Textmate, after some much needed sleep and getting some actual proper work done.

8:15pm 6 April, Lunch Room, Melbourne Town Hall

There was going to be trouble from the moment we stepped in the room. It’s a small room and even then, it’s barely a room. All those pipes and the proximity to the loading bay, The Lunch Room is, at best, the preparation area for catered functions.

Half way down the rows of seats was a woman applauding people coming in, saying: “Yeah, come in. Yeah, this is going to be great.” She was unseasonably enthusiastic for before the show had even started. Also, someone seemed to have dipped her in rum.

The show starts and Melinda Buttle took the stage. She quickly identified the hooping and hollering. In only her second comedy festival show, it’s unlikely she’s had to contend with the kind of heckling that I’ve only ever seen in Melbourne: enthusiastic and supportive.

It got to be a bit much for MB and she didn’t really know how to continue. The offender was eventually ushered out and the show could continue. Unfortunately it was now a little bit broken.

Melinda Buttle’s been writing a blog for about a year. A lot of it is about her life living with her father and that’s what this show is about. In fact, a lot of that material is the same. This is probably fair enough. A lot more people are likely to see the show and be introduced to Buttle’s work through exposure at the comedy festival. It’s a lot easier to be told the stories, and a lot nicer, than to sift through blog posts to read them.

And here’s the kicker; The stories are funny. Melinda Buttle’s dad is hilarious in his old man nuance. It’s a nice change from the tired old “I never knew my real father” comedy routines we’ve seen so much of in the past. Unfortunately it’s also a little bit “Shit My Dad Says” and stupid-father syndrome. So while the material is funny and really well performed, I’m a little bit fence sitty about it.

Still, nobody does gen y white-girl rap like Melinda B. She’s the Princess of Self-deprecation and the Minister for Buffalo Stance. That gets her a pass in my book. Plus she was faced with a shitty situation, dealt with it and gave the people a show they paid to see.

She should have won best newcomer for her show last year and, while this isn’t as strong as her debut, is still worth it to get a taste of the future of this country’s comedy.

Written while lying in bed, having also seen Doc Brown in the meantime.

DISCLAIMER: Soupgiant created Melinda Buttle’s excellent website.

9:45 pm 5 April, The Quilt Room, Trades Hall

I’ve known Charlie for a very long time and I’ve seen him do some great comedy festival shows. Unfortunately this was little more than a lazy hour of stand up. He can do better and I hope he knows it.

So, in the spirit of that laziness, for the rest of this review I’ll just put up some of my mnemonic-style notes and you can imagine what you want.

• No offense work harder.
• Hindenburg
• Hoddle St
• Floods
• Christchurch
• Japan
• 5 year old rope
• I wish the show was called “what’s your name captain”
• N word
• N bomb
• Attempts at connecting
• Entertaining the troops

Barely written, while in bed, having seen three shows in one night and not able to be bothered any more.