Top shows Chortle previously reviewed in Australia

Here are ten shows Chortle previously reviewed – and recommended - at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival...

1. Gillian Cosgriff: Actually, Good

The best thing Chortle saw at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year. And that’s not just our opinion, the musical comic’s joyous show won the award for the most outstanding show there. Based on compiling lists of ‘top ten reasons to be cheerful’ from the audience, it sidesteps any accusations of being glib or saccharine thanks to Cosgriff’s excellent songwriting and storytelling chops, forming the feelgood moments into something far more than the sum of its parts. Uplifting stuff. Review

Pleasance Courtyard 20:20

2. The Kaye Hole Hosted by Reuben Kaye

The comedy-cabaret star – who just announced a Southbank Centre residency in London this December – has an impressive solo show, The Butch Is Back, at Assembly George Square Gardens for the second half of the festival. But even better is The Kaye Hole – the decadent, outrageous and daring late-night variety show he masterminds. Its tagline is ‘late night done right’ and you won’t find much argument against that, with a show that shepherds together all the brilliant, provocative, boundary-pushing and talented performers on the Fringe. Review from Melbourne.

Assembly Checkpoint, 23:50, Thursday-Saturday only (not August 3)

3. Tom Ballard: It Is I

Firebrand Ballard’s no stranger to the Fringe, winning an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination back in 2016. His latest show dials back the rhetoric a bit, letting the politics surrounding elderly care emerge a bit more organically from his personal experiences – though he does help it along quite considerably with his passionate performance. Not that he takes himself too seriously, given that the universe is always there to knock him down a peg or two. Review

Monkey Barrel, 18:10

4. Anna Piper Scott: Such An Inspiration

It’s probably too much to expect a second trans comic to have a major breakthrough just 12 months after Jordan Gray had the best Fringe possible. But Anna Piper Scott’s brash, defiant ‘I’m trans, get over it’ stance is refreshing bit of straight talking in an often toxically polarised world – and as funny as it is blunt. Review from the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

House Of Oz, 20:00

5. Laura ​Davis: Well Don't Just Stand There Dancing

An ambitiously wide-ranging, seemingly chaotic stream of consciousness that turns out to be more considered and structured than you think. Davis was shortlisted at the Melbourne comedy festival this year - for the second year running – for this densely packed and rewarding show that takes in everything from spider-catching to conspiracy theories, Naked Attraction to the death of a friend (who many people in the comedy would know, despite her anonymisation).  Review

Monkey Barrel 14:55

6. Lou Wall vs The Internet

A frenetic mash-up of vacuous, attention-grabbing memes, insecure egotism and toxic jealousy - that’s both the internet in a nutshell and Lou Wall’s full-on show. It offers a wild ride into that world that will be awkwardly familiar to fellow Gen-Zers and beyond. Review

Assembly George Square, 19:50

7. Hannah Camilleri: Lolly Bag

OK, so the title might lose something in translation – a lolly bag is a kids’ party bag full of sweets – but this top-level character work will definitely land in with a UK audience. This breakout show won Hannah Camilleri (pictued above with Cosgriff) the Pinder Prize in Melbourne, named after one of the festival’s founders and geared towards helping a comic make the trip to Edinburgh. She has full control of her brilliantly observed alter-egos, from the nuanced to the larger-than-life, yet performing with an acknowledgement of  being in the moment with the audience that actors often struggle to manage.  Review

Assembly George Square 21:10

8. Dan Rath: All Quiet Carriage Along The Inner Western Line

Aussie comedy’s latest introverted weirdo, Dan Rath has a mind that doesn’t quite work like everyone else’s. Leaning into the outsider loser persona, he writes some excellent jokes from the bleakness. Sure, they come with uncomfortable silences, dead-end crowd work and weird non-sequiturs that won’t be for everybody,  but he’s forging a distinctive path, and many of the gags are excellently off-kilter. Review

Underbelly Bristo Square, 20:20

9 Alice​ Fraser: Twist

British comedy fans will know her from The News Quiz, or maybe the Gargle or Bugle podcasts, if not from the specials available on Amazon’s Prime Videos. A thoughtful comic, she combines emotional intelligence with pun-loving stupidity to sugar the more complex material she tackles. Twist sees her re-evaluate her place in the comedy world as her life takes a turn in a new direction… Review

Underbelly Bristo Square, 20:30

10 Dane Simpson: Didgeridoozy

Possibly the only indigenous Australian comic at the Fringe (the Aboriginal Comedy Allstars showcase having been cancelled), Dane Simpson makes his festival debut with Didgeridoozy. A personable, engaging storyteller – with many of the yarns revolving around his family – and a mean didgeridoo player, as you’ll find out in this entertaining introduction to both his culture and his life in Wagga Wagga. Review

Assembly George Square, 10:30pm, August 2 to 13 only.

Published: 20 Jul 2023