Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

If it’s too loud, you’re too old. Or maybe Mel and Sam just got lazy. 

I’ve previously been drawn to their high-energy chaos, but No Hat, No Play! The Cabaret prioritised noise over content, with the lack of discipline proving their undoing this time around. The hour is a cacophony of yelling characters - often overlapping their shouted dialogue – and pumping music whose lyrics are often lost in the mess.

Yet again, Mel O’Brien and Samantha Andrew  are back at school, in Year 6 of Rochdale Primary to be precise. This is the comedy of nostalgic remembrance of butcher’s paper, pasta art, temporary tattoos and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards.  Recalling these days might bring a smile to your face, but comedically, it’s little more than a catalogue of shared reference points in need of a joke.

They act fast, cramming a lot into their hour and leaving no time for the audience to catch their breath nor to wonder where all this is going and realise just how many of the ideas are half-baked.

Some are promising, such as an anti-bullying musical based on Chicago, but it was too quickly dispatched. A jazzy version of The Last Post in the Anzac Day assembly was probably as funny as it was disrespectful, but again the sketch lost its way. A bulimia skit elicited the wrong kind of yuks. And I have no idea what O’Brien pretending to be a horse led around the oval by Andrew was meant to be all about. 

Presumably this is all a celebration of carefree childhood mucking-about for no greater purpose than to entertain themselves - though you might hope for more from adult fee-charging performers. 

At one point event they lament: 'I can’t wait for this sketch to be over.' Many a true word...

There is the loosest of plots involving the shifting loyalties of fickle schoolgirl friendship groups, but don’t hold on to that too much. Even they don’t stick to the script, easily distracted by the stream of punters heading too the loo, for example.’ And when they more formally try an improv section, the results are even more aimless.

Tellingly, the pair reveal at the end of the hour that this was the first show they ever wrote, back in 2020, but never got to perform because of Covid.

But you would have hoped they had developed over their first five years as comedians – so no wonder this felt like a massive step backwards for a charismatic pair who are better than this material. Their chaos can be appealing, but it can’t ALL be chaos.

Review date: 15 Apr 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival