Corinne Grant: Have My Stuff

Note: This review is from 2007

Review by Steve Bennett

Corinne Grant is something of a comedy star in Australia, thanks to a string of telly shows. But when she visited the Edinburgh Fringe last year, she failed to make much of an impact – possibly because the title of her show, Nice Friendly Lady Hour, suggested something way too bland and way too nice for hard-bitten comedy fans.

Back on home turf, she’s proving that isn’t the whole story. Sure, she’s not the most groundbreaking comic you’ll ever encounter, but she has more of an edge than the chatty, eager-to-please delivery first suggests.

This show, ostensibly, is about her hoarding instincts. A self-confessed ‘stuff slut’, over the course of her life she’s acquired a houseful of junk that she has finally, and reluctantly, decided she must part with. From a stick in a yoghurt container she’s had since school to empty chocolate wrappers, it’s time for it all to go. Some has gone to charity stores, some to eBay – an empty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-branded juice carton from 15 years ago fetched around a fiver – and the rest she’s giving away in an ad hoc gameshow based around Australia’s new citizenship test for immigrants that injects a bit of fun at the end of the hour.

So far, so good, as Grant wrings her confessions about her embarrassing stockpiles of detritus for plenty of laughs. But she has also managed to hang various unrelated stand-up routines onto the premise, without it seeming too contrived. She starts with a amusing anecdote about confusion over the abbreviation LOL has caused and ending up with her unlikely feud with one-hit wonder Joe Dolce, of Shaddupya Face infamy, but spends much of her time taking potshots at a certain horse-faced current affairs presenter for whom she has nothing but contempt.

It’s solidly funny stuff, skilfully delivered. Grant has first-rate timing, especially when it comes to the pregnant pause, and a nice line in sarcasm which she hides just beneath her ‘nice friendly lady’ veneer. There’s no great revelations or ideas here, just reliably crowdpleasing comedy from a stand-up who knows exactly how to get the laughs.

Reviewed by:Steve Bennett
Melbourne, April 2007

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

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