Melbourne International Comedy Festival review by Steve Bennett

Dr Professor Neal Portenza, the scarlet-cheeked alter-ego of Josh Ladgrove, is among the vanguard of performers bringing playful, absurd clowning back to comedy.

His latest offering, Performs His Own Autopsy..., continues that tradition with a fun hour of loose, dynamic horseplay that’s heavy on the audience interaction. Tonight’s midweek show proved a solidly enjoyable romp, but only fleetingly hit the very peaks of carefree abandon that the form, at its best, can engender.

The good Dr Professor is not the only character in an hour which also features Stavros, an archetypal swaggering young Greek-Australian, full of immature machismo and endearingly naivity; a dodgy French portrait artist; and Neal’s deliciously diabolical brother Gary, a modern-day Dr Evil who steals the show. Members of the audience provide the full supporting cast, however unwittingly.

They are cajoled – some may say bullied by peer pressure – into becoming the object of Portenza’s affections or distain. Clowning is all about safely transgressing social norms, and he certainly does that here. For example, it’s always uncomfortable when a comedian grabs a woman’s handbag and goes through it, although Portenza does spare the poor sap’s worst embarrassment and the result is ultimately harmless

Other victims are self-selecting, either by being just a bit to vocal in the more boisterous sections, or daring to give our despotic host a taste of rebellion. Even though we are invited to rate each set piece in turn – the autopsy promised in the title – Portenza is quick to respond to unsanctioned dissent, not so much with a zinger but by making the poor unfortunate the subject of a more thorough dressing-down on stage.

It’s all done with a shambolic charm that extends to some technical snafus, since slickness is never an option with a Portenza show. Ultimately he is the punchine to his own joke, and however foolish his ‘volunteers’ are made to look, he will always look more ridiculous. This reaches its apex in a brilliantly rowdy, cathartic finale when inner frustrations are allowed to be unleashed on our host/captor.

The highly participatory nature of the show will lead to a different dynamic each night, and this particular performance felt as if there may have been a gear or two higher which remained unused. Even so, this is a buoyant hour of entertaining high spirits.

Review date: 9 Apr 2014
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett