THE OTHER WOMAN - film

This chick flick with Cameron Diaz at the helm is predictable and lame.

As the woman sitting next to me said as she left the cinema... "What a pile of crap".

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Tegan Higginbotham in 'Game changer' - MICF show

Tegan's a young Aussie comic, this is her third MICF show. I saw her first show as there was a bit of buzz around how good it was and I thought she was great that year. Unfortunately this show doesn't live up to that for me. It's not without laughs and she has a commanding stage presence with great capacity for physical comedy and amusing facial expressions but her show last night just didn't fire. There was quite a few jokes that were a bit niche and clearly went over heads. I got the Harry Potter stuff but jokes that required knowledge of Star Wars, Dr Who and even some about AFL passed me by. I felt for her, it was a small and tough crowd including one rather unhelpful guy who kept checking his phone even after she'd called him out on it who also chimed in with a couple of attempts at humour of his own. She didn't let it derail her too much but I think it just added to the awkward feel of the show. At $24 for a ticket, I'm afraid I'll have to file this under 'give it a miss' this time around but I'm confident she'll be back with great shows in future.

Justin Hamilton in 'Johnny loves Mary forever 1994' - MICF show

This show is beautifully done. Justin in an Australian comic who, though not overly well know, has been at it for about 20 years. You don't have a career that long if you're not any good at your craft! This show is in large part about Justin's experience performing comedy for soldiers in Afganistan. A review of it that I read made the observation that though it's a nicely crafted show, the subject matter just isn't actually that funny so I actually went in not expecting to laugh all that much but I was pleasantly surprised - there's plenty of laughs.
Happily recommend this but it's probably not quite up there with my favourite shows this year such as David O'Doherty and Celia Pacquola.

Tommy Little in 'Middle class gangster' - MICF show

Tommy is just delightful. I challenge any of you to see this show and not like him. The show got funnier and funnier as it went along. Chatter with the audience is high risk territory but he does it effortlessly. Some material on sheet thread counts really tickled my funny bone in particular. Middle class indeed. 

The pedant in me couldn't help but be a teeny bit disappointed by a joke at the expense of the older people in the crowd referring to them going home to watch The Bill. The Bill hasn't been on TV for almost four years! It's such a small thing it seems silly to even mention it but it just took the sting out of that little bit of the show for me. Doctor Blake or Foreign Correspondent or something would've worked better. 

With a 4.5 star review from the Herald Sun, I doubt you'd be disappointed by this.

David O'Doherty in 'David O'Doherty will try to fix everything' - MICF show

David is an Irish comedian who's been visiting the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for many years now and I think this is about my fifth year in a row seeing him. I try to mix it up when the festival rolls around and see different people but the fact that I see this guy year after year speaks volumes. He's one of my favorite comedians, I would never hesitate to recommend him as he is reliably damn funny. Traditional stand-up mixed with some really witty songs where he accompanies himself on a small plastic keyboard make a killer and unique combination. This show has received a 5 star review in the Herald Sun.

What more do you need?! Go see this guy.

Em Rusciano in 'Divorce the musical' - MICF show

Loved this. As the name makes clear, it's not a stand-up comedy show, it's a very funny musical show chronicling Em's journey to divorce and ultimately the show she's performing before you.

Some of you might remember Em from an early series of Australian Idol. I'm not an Idol watcher so I hadn't seen her sing before this and HOLY MOLY, the girl can hit those notes! That alone is worth the ticket price. She's accompanied by her dad who's a handy little guitarist and back-up vocalist. If they were ever to release an album, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

If you love a good show, the bells and whistles kind with OTT costumes, fun songs, high kicks and plenty of laughs, then this is for you.

Dave O'Neil in 'Back in my day' - MICF show

Dave is a classic stand-up comic. No bells and whistles, just a guy with a microphone telling funny stories. And funny they are! I'd happily recommend this though not for the young folk... As the name of the show suggests, it skews towards people 30+.

Celia Pacquola in 'Let me know how it all works out' - MIFC show

Best show I've seen so far this festival! It has everything. Fabulous delivery and belly laugh after belly laugh.

This show is masterfully crafted, clearly honed over many stand-up gigs in the lead up to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

After Celia's show I felt just like I did after Wil Anderson's show last year - that I'd just seen one of the best in the biz. I hope Celia's performing to crowds as big as Wil's soon, she deserves it.

Highly recommend this show (der)... go and see it!

Karl Chandler in 'Karl Chandler's got talent' - MICF show

This show documents Karl's ill-fated audition on a talent show and if any of the judges from that show who made his life difficult saw this stand-up, I reckon they'd be feeling pretty stupid because it shows he's a bloody hilarious comic. I laughed heaps and heaps - arguably the most accurate measure of how good a comedy show is. He makes a living from comedy (performing and writing for TV etc) but without a huge following, the tickets to his show are damn cheap. You won't regret what you spend on seeing this.

Lawrence Mooney in 'A stupid liar' - MICF show

I'd read the Herald Sun's review of this show before I saw it so I went in with low expectations - they gave it 2.5 stars. But I already had the ticket so away I went and you know what, I bloody loved this.

It's a bit smutty and crass in places but I laughed a lot and loud and what better measure of a comedy festival show can there be than that?

I was surprised by how many empty seats there were (especially given it was tightar5e Tuesday)... what's wrong with you, Melbourne?! Get amongst it!

Adam Richard in 'Gaypocalypse' - MICF show

Adam Richard has been doing stand-up for 15+ years and it shows. He's smooth as thanks to the years of practice. (As a side note, can I also just say he looks a million bucks, I suspect has lost a bunch of weight.)
Like Cal Wilson, I saw Adam this year because he's on of those ones who's been around for yonks and I'd never quite got there. I watched this and enjoyed what he delivered (some of it a bit odd and some of it definitely GROSS!) but it wasn't until I went straight into another show and was cacking myself laughing in it that I realised that was what had been missing from Adam's show. Laughs. I enjoyed listening to him, it was well-crafted and well-delivered but I just didn't actually laugh that much.

Luke McGregor in 'I worry that I worry too much' - MICF show

I loved this. Every awkward, unprepared, hilarious moment of it. And it was unprepared - he referred to notes many times and it seemed a bit all over the place! But this is what happens when you're so nerdish and lovable... people can see past it or forgive you for it.
For those unfamiliar with Luke, he has OCD and comes across as very awkward and nervous. As I observed when I saw him for the first time last year, somehow it just works.
Go and see this guy. His star is on the rise!

PS. The one complaint I do have about this show was that the room he was in was so cramped it was utterly ridiculous and it was so hot in there I really thought someone might pass out. I have since read on Twitter that he's moved to a bigger venue - thank goodness.

Cal Wilson in 'It could have been me' - MICF show

For years I've been meaning to see Cal Wilson do stand up comedy. She always seems so damn funny, lovely and smart when I see her on TV, read her writing in The Age or hear her on the radio. I decided this was the year and bought a ticket without so much as reading the name of her MICF show, let alone what it's about. Now, that was a bit of an error because her show involves playing characters which isn't really my kind of thing. I also missed the first 10 minutes of the show (was 5 minutes late and had to wait a further 5 (totally fair) before being let in) so I missed what seemed to be the critical set up.
So all in all, I'm sad to say I didn't love this. It's not without laughs and clever moments, but just didn't love it and nor did I laugh all that much. Others in the crowd did, in the interest of balanced reporting!
I've never been late to a MICF show and won't be again, I promise! I also promise, for what it's worth, to see her do comedy again some time when she's doing straight up stand up.