Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Hello out there. Let me start by saying a big sorry for not posting in, like, forever. I know, I suck big time. It's just that I've had a mountain of paperwork (or should that be labwork) to do. Blah, blah, blah, get on with it! So Eduardo and I went to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last Thursday night and we saw two shows. First up was Tim Minchin, who we had never seen before but he'd won heaps of awards so I figured he couldn't be all bad. Turns out he's f*#@ing excellent! He's not just your regular stand-up comedian. He is an accomplised pianist (yes, I said pianist) and singer/songwriter to boot! So his show is entertaining musically as well as being hilarious. Perhaps part of why I enjoyed his show so much is that at the age of 32 he is going through a very similar stage of life to myself. All the references and anecdotes I found strangely relevant (except perhaps the one about how he worries about whether he could perform sexually with another partner after so long with one partner, if for some reason his wife died or got a degenrative disease). Hmmmm not sure about that one. So any way his show gets a big 5 thumbs up from me.

So after that Ed and I were concerned that the next show wouldn't be as good and would leave us feeling disappointed. Not to fear, Ross Noble is here! This man is uber crazy. He said it himself when he said "If I ever get Alzheimers no one would notice". Ross's show went for over two hours with him talking non-stop about anything and everything in a very haphazard way. It's hard to describe his style, it's a bit like Billy Connelly on speed perhaps. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I laughed until I was crying. I laughed until I felt weak. I was trying to imagine what it would be like to live with him. I'm sure with him there is no on/off switch. I think I would probably kill him after five minutes. But for a two hour show it was awesome. I also give him five thumbs up.

I know it seems like I'm a bit easy when it comes to reviewing shows but most of the people that know me know that I am quite critical, especially with films. I have an ongoing debate with a friend about Daredevil the movie (the one with Ben Affleck) and how it is possibly the worst movie ever! He maintains that it is actually a very good film and he (supposedly) should know as he studied film at the Victorian College of the Arts. B'ah what does he know? The kid playing the young Daredevil (or whatever his name is) before he grows up and becomes Ben Affleck is much more convincing as a blind person than Ben Affleck will ever be. On reflection, perhaps it is Ben Affleck that I just can't stand. So anyway, where was I? A friend asked me which comedian was funnier and I found that Ross Noble made me laugh more (although a lot of the time it's because he is just so bizarre - I was just speaking to my brother who went with me to see Ross at the Festival a couple of years ago and the only thing that either of us can remember about it was something to do with facial meatflaps - hmmmm, don't ask me) but that I preferred Tim because with him you get to watch a music concert as well as laugh (I apologise for the length of that last sentence, if it was in an academic essay it would have to be ripped to shreds, but this is my blog so I'll do what I want, of course I realise that this whole rant thingy is making it even longer, oops again!). So, anyway the festival has been awesome and I highly recommend going to see either of those shows.