Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

If Lily Kaye didn’t exist, you would be afraid to invent her for fear of creating a unrealistically exaggerated grotesque. 

The mother of musician-turned-comedian Charlene wants to control every aspect of her daughter’s life, as she’s set on creating a mini-me she can live vicariously though, right down to insisting that she should get the same Anna Wintour bob cut. At 70, she’s a camp glamourpuss, even when on a trip to the dentist, who orders bizarre Photoshopped images and hilariously awful portraits of herself that have to be seen to be believed.

That’s why there’s a PowerPoint presentation here, for Kaye Jr to present the plentiful evidence of her mother’s pushiness, quirkiness (that’s the kind word for it), and disappointment. Following a fragile career in music was certainly not what Lily wanted for her daughter, having scrambled up from poverty in Singapore to set up a new life in the States, and the raunchiness of Charlene’s performance and publicity shots attracts only further judgmental disapproval.

So when it comes to this addition to the catalogue of ‘my bonkers parent’ shows, Kaye has no shortage of eyebrow-raising raw material. That’s combined with calamities from her own life, from a woefully inappropriate version of a Ludacris song at a school concert to a disastrous haircut.

Beyond laughing at her mum’s many, many idiosyncrasies, Kaye offers context and affection, even in the most infuriating moments, that flesh out the portrait of such an unusual character. Ultimately, we get to understand what makes her tick, even if it seems it to Kaye a long time to get to that same place.

And yet as a show, Tiger Daughter doesn’t quite resonate as strongly as it could, thanks to Kaye’s very measured delivery. This is more of an actor’s one-woman show than a stand-up’s. It’s meticulously scripted with little fluidity in the rather formal performance. Even when she’s rocking out with her guitar, which you would think is her natural home, it feels more of an act than it should, though in part that’s down to a reticent midweek crowd providing little energy.

But the portrait of cross-generational baggage, which runs deeper than first appears, is authentic and entertaining in equal measure. 

Review date: 4 Apr 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival