Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

It’s an odd premise for a comedy show – yet also not odd enough: Grace Hogan has had the idea of making handbags from the packaging Woolworths uses for its whole roast chickens.

Lest she undermine her whole show, she doesn’t mention the fact she’s following in the footsteps of Balenciaga, who’ve sold a $1,800 handbag looking like a crisp packet, or German supermarket Lidl, who’ve tuned their pain au chocolate bag into a proper accessory. Many other companies and designers have done similar, which makes the comedian’s endeavour pointless, even as a pointless endeavour.

There are some fun elements of her story, such as obtaining the bags from Woolies in the first place, which she captured in a bit of guerrilla filmmaking However the futility of what she’s doing – presented as a perfectly valid idea, not some odd obsession – is overwhelming. 

Between telling this story Hogan inserts some peculiar bits of stand-up that aim for absurdity, but don’t ever land, such as telling how sometimes, to mix things up, she lets her bed sleep on her. That’s topped by her describing each level of sheet, doona and mattress. It’s dull detail when it should be either extravagant oddness or credible quirkiness.

In the most ill-considered section, she relates how she got her extended family to guess how many grams of protein there are in an egg, then shares the guesses of all ten of them, until we learn who was right. Then she does this price-is-right segment again with the cost of a chicken. And that’s it. Still, fills a few minutes, doesn’t it?

A few bits, such as the buffed-up manosphere inhabitants of her native Gold Coast taking part in ju-jitsu, apparently unaware of its homoerotic overtones, are illustrated with cheap AI images, which is a black mark for someone aiming to be a creative.

There are some positives to the hour. Hogan’s an endearing, low-key presence who can transform into a rock goddess, with powerhouse musical performance skills. But only for two songs. Compared to these high points, her comedy is very thinly stretched, bearing all the hallmarks of a newcomer who’s debuted way too early in her career.

• Grace Hogan: Hot Chicken Bags is on at the Motley Wherehaus at 6.15pm until Sunday

Review date: 8 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett