Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

The Headliners showcase gets a new line-up of American comedians for the second half of the festival - though the struggles they have in building momentum are the same; a combination of a sluggish audience and acts not always able to adapt to that, especially with no compere to manage the energy levels.

It’s an issue that affects the comedians with a more relaxed pace the most, including tonight’s opener, Sara Schaefer. Though she hits the ground running, with an hilariously literal interpretation of a rap song’s ridiculously braggadocio lyrics, most of her other premises involve a slower set-up, which could be sped along.

They are - usually  - worth the wait with offbeat payoffs going against the direction of travel she’d established, such as her selfish reason to become a mum. Elsewhere, an oft-overlooked aspect of misogyny in Food Network programming is targeted, demonstrating her peculiar take on the world. It’s enjoyable, inventive stuff, if without the wow factor

That comes courtesy of Daniel Koren, the revelation of the season, drenching the audience in his refreshing, high-impact, multi-media performance, with ceaseless volley of silly jokes to match the wizz-bang presentation. There are jingles, PowerPoints and a trio of mini-dancing Daniel Korens, sans torsos, like an acid-trip version of the Bohemian Rhapsody video, and that’s just the tip of it.

He mimes to a soundtrack of his own voice – a sweetly endearing, imprecisely foreign burr – cracks silly puns, and sings a wonderfully preposterous ditty about tomatoes, such a change of attitude from the conversational comedy club norm.

It’s a brilliant fast-paced blast of super-creative silliness that serves as an excellent calling card for his unique blend of livewire comedic talents. More please!

Ian Edwards performed in the first half of the Headliners run, too, although in the last fortnight has developed a skilful bit of local material about Melbourne’s laneway culture that hits home with the natives.

Some of his relationship material isn’t exactly super-progressive when it comes to male and female behaviour, but he cuts through any nervousness with a brutal line about abortions which gets a shocked laugh for its sheer awfulness. So the audience can laugh at insensitivity, despite him earlier having to appeal ‘loosen up and deal with it, people’ when his non-PC stuff fails to fly.

Much-tipped Mark Normand goes just as dark to try to get a reaction, though it would wrong to label his whole gag-packed routine as bad taste. Reasoning that after ‘the woman, the Jew and the black guy’ on the bill, he has no angle, so instead assaults the audience with a quickfire array of quirky observations on the everyday. 

There’s no strong agenda or viewpoint, which might be considered a drawback, but his expert writing skills are more than enough compensation, the memorable bon mot about the idea of having a gay son being a case in point. But for an insight into his offbeat mind, just know that ‘vagina buffering’ is in his set list, and that’s gotta be intriguing, right?

Review date: 18 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett