Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Audacious festival debutant Caitlin Duff has created a strikingly original clown persona in Freidah, fully committing to both the weird, commanding and playful alter-ego and the peculiar world she inhabits.

She makes her presence felt before we see her – a very familiar trick of the Gaulier school – but once we do make her acquaintance, any fears she’s going to be derivative evaporate instantly. 

Freidah looks fantastic: panda eyes, bejewelled pillbox hat, black velvet gown, a pink tutu pressed into service as a ruff around her neck, her fingernails as sharp as talons – which will be essential in a later routine.

She prowls the room, scrounging drinks, sizing us up. She’s prickly to react if we don’t please her or offer ‘an assist’ to help her on and off stage. Peer pressure and the fear of falling foul of her intimidating marble-eyed stare soon kicks in, and everyone complies. But despite her demanding personality, we feel relatively safe in her transgressions, pushed a little out of the comfort zone of proper behaviour but not too far.

A brilliant running joke has her slurping extravagantly and disconcertingly every time an audience member takes a sip of their beverage. It’s one of several simple but incredibly effective affectations, small added contributions to the oddness every couple of minutes.

Why are we here? It soon transpires that we’re all dead and waiting for our transport across the river to the netherworld. But Freidah operates a distinctly unofficial ferry service to the other side, we just have to kill a little time till the boat arrives.

Cue digressions such as her adopting the strangulated strains of a pub singer, overseeing a surprisingly rambunctious game just to win a sticker, or rustling up some unusual Vegemite-based hors d'oeuvres. This involves her letting a microwave run for three minutes, while nothing much else happens. It’s testament to Duff’s control over the room that this doesn’t feel unreasonable. 

Preparation of these snacks, which is unlikely to meet food hygiene standards, becomes a Sisyphean task – although on this occasion the joke that it goes on too long, did go on too long, but it’s a rare misstep. The other was playing a real humanitarian message from Liam Neeson on behalf of Unicef, which altered the mood abruptly.

Duff does not just lean on physical clowning and their immense presence for the laughs. A Q&A session proves they're able to improvise, while badinage with the crowd is always sparking, often sprinkled with – in their own words –  ‘a little light misandry to bring us all together’. 

Who knew being dead was so much fun?

• Caitlin Duff: Freidah Will See You Now is on at the Motley Bauhaus at 9.40pm on Saturday

Review date: 14 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival