The Melbourne international comedy festival is under way, leaving the city so crammed full of comedy that it is possible to see two or even three shows in a single night. With so many acts heading up to the Sydney comedy festival, then Brisbane comedy festival, it’s impossible to catch them all – but here’s a few that are worth taking a chance on.
Lou Wall: Breaking the Fifth Wall
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April; then Perth 10 May; Brisbane 15-18 May
Lou Wall was nominated for best show at last year’s MICF and for good reason: their style is slick and fast-paced, full of lighting cues and PowerPoint slides. Though light and frothy on the surface, their themes are often dark: in their 2024 show, Wall spoke about experiencing sexual assault in a sequence filled with pithy jokes and colourful lights – and, like that one, this is directed by Zoë Coombs-Marr. Weaving together trauma and heartbreak with jokes about Facebook Marketplace is a tricky tightrope but one Wall manages masterfully. – Alexandra Neill
Aidan Jones: Chopin’s Nocturne
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April, then touring Warrnambool, Bendigo, Brisbane, Albany, Newcastle, Canberra and Sydney between May and June
As a carrier of childhood classical music trauma, I am spiritually drawn to others who have been through the same. Aidan Jones failed his conservatorium audition when he was 18 – I didn’t even make it to mine, bailing a week beforehand. In Jones’s show, which premiered at Adelaide fringe and will tour the east coast over the next few months, he transforms the room into an 1800s salon. Sitting at the piano, he comedically deconstructs his favourite piece, Chopin’s Nocturne in Eb major – as well as the lives of both the composer and himself. Clever, quirky and earnest, this show debunks the myth that classical music is only for the elite, making it both accessible and sidesplittingly funny. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Julio Torres: Color Theories
When’s it on? Melbourne only, 15-20 April
The former Saturday Night Live writer and Fantasmas creator Julio Torres makes his Australian debut with Color Theories, exclusive to MICF. Anyone who’s watched anything Torres has put his hand and mind to knows to expect the unexpected – his surreal, absurdist humour finds magic and intrigue in the mundane. In this case it’s colours – what are their inner lives like, and what are their stories? It’s something he’s clearly been thinking about for a while and it’s time to see these colours come to life under the spell of this delightful eccentric. – GAN
Flo & Joan: One Man Musical
When’s it on? Melbourne only, until 20 April
If you’ve ever seen this British sister act perform, you’ll know how excellent they are at writing smart musical comedy (it was their song about anti-vaxxers, and its lyric “polio, oh no-lio!” that made me know I loved them). They’re back in Australia with their West End hit One Man Musical, a musical about the man behind modern musicals: Andrew Lloyd Webber, played with unhinged viciousness by George Fouracres. Over one snappy hour, the “king of the musicools” tells the story of his biggest hits – Cats, Phantom, Joseph – and attempts to skip over all his many, many failures. If you still need convincing – and this shouldn’t spoil too much – Tim Rice is played by an actual bag of rice. – Sian Cain
Vidya Rajan & Mel McGlensey: Greg
When’s it on? Melbourne only, 8-20 April
Rajan and McGlensey are both powerhouses in their own right. McGlensey was the joint winner of best comedy at last year’s Adelaide fringe and nominated for the Golden Gibbo (best independent show) at MICF. Rajan has won an Awgie for her comedy writing and has written and performed with the likes of Aunty Donna.
Both performers have a track record of producing surreal, off-the-wall comedy so don’t go to Greg expecting anything traditional or linear. Rajan’s debut show in 2022 featured an extended impersonation of a worm while McGlensey’s 2024 show featured her performing as a sexy boat for the full hour.
With backgrounds in improv and clowning, the pair rely heavily on their physicality, throwing their bodies around the stage in their first show as a duo. Delightfully weird. – AN
Laura Davis: Despair Is Beneath Us
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April; Sydney 26-27 April
Laura Davis is not a new face – in fact, they’ve appeared in a dozen shows over the years, several of which have won awards locally and internationally. But despite this, they are still something of a hidden gem. Davis says they are a “comedian’s comedian” – joking that they’ll never be able to fully break into the mainstream because they’re unable to go on television without talking about “how Australia is an elaborate Stanford prison experiment hellbent on roasting itself to death”.
Davis shows are frequently existential – dealing with deep-seated and complex fears about the way society is functioning. They are also very, very funny. They are artful at dragging audiences into the most confronting depths of the modern world then propelling you towards action rather than despair. Their new show, fittingly named, promises a practical dose of hope. – AN
Broden Kelly: Yabusele
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April; Brisbane 1-2 May (sold out) and 11-12 June; Sydney 3 and 10 May
You may recognise Kelly as Aunty Donna’s sort-of straight man: the expressionless guy with the very deep voice, the man behind Cowdoy and the star of some Coles ads a few years back. Before Aunty Donna’s next live show, Drem, he has launched his first solo standup show, which covers a lot of the bad jobs Kelly did before making it in comedy – including some excellent photo evidence he is all too willing to share for laughs. Yabusele is an exercise in defying shame, as well as a sort of potted history of Kelly’s life: his childhood, listless 20s and now his 30s, which he is spending on three different Facebook groups where fans post pictures of people that sort of look like him. – SC
Grace Jarvis: Just Because I’m Crying Doesn’t Mean I’m Not Having a Nice Time
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April; Brisbane 8-11 May; Sydney 14-16 May
This rising talent performs with the confidence of a much more experienced comic, commanding the audience with charm and gusto, both polished and erratic. Her energy is infectious and her jokes tightly wound. She toes the line beautifully between “traditional” standup and the fantastically weird. She’s someone you could take your mum to see (assuming you mum is up for hearing jokes about working in a sex shop). Jarvis also speaks about her autism diagnosis and the impact her neurotype has had on her life with humour and sensitivity. – AN
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins
When’s it on? Melbourne until 20 April, then Sydney 30-31 May
Damien Warren-Smith’s alter ego has previous with works of literature, having saved theatre in just an hour in his show Garry Starr Performs Everything. In Classic Penguins he takes on the serious task of saving classic literature by staging every novel in the Penguin Classic range – while naked but for a tailcoat and some orange flippers because he’s also a penguin. If you don’t love audience interaction, maybe avoid sitting in the front row – but if you aren’t afraid of the risk of being pulled on stage to act out some novels at high speed, this may well be the funniest thing you see this year. – SC
