Greg Larsen – Revolting

Greg Larsen dressed in a suit and tie; he could easily be mistaken for a sleazy and or cheesy salesman. He begins his show with talk about the ancients and the oracles, he continues his fantasies of other centuries while claiming his era has no place for him.  Then he takes us on a journey back to his youth, a period in his life that led to his wisdom that paved his hard-earned way into comedy.

Originally from Ipswich, Queensland, he grew up in the aftermath of the right-wing Bjelke-Petersen state government and the seventies and eighties era of great Australian punk bands such as The Saints. He tells us of his hazy days as a teenager and later in his early twenties when he performed as a front man in a Brisbane based Anarchist gender-bender punk band The Feminazis. He reminisces with frantic jovialness, spouting his wild crazy stories of sex, drugs, and punk music.

There is a big screen monitor on the stage looping TV advertisements from the eighties and the nineties before he hits the stage, such as the Slip, Slop Slap, McCain Corn, late night porn ads. Some audience members including myself felt nostalgic and other younger members enjoyed the moment. He has plenty of back up material on screen if his audience shows disinterest in his life story woes of ‘missing the boat’. He waxes lyrical about his obsessive need to make content, in thoughtful consideration of the malaise of the modern information age. He challenges his audience to laugh at him, with him and maybe get them to think outside of their own box.

Larsen is a mixed bag of anarchic revolt, spoof-goof, and ugly culture. He is a defiant gargantuan, chews himself up and spits it out like dragon on heat. He has no shame, no remorse and has no regrets. He is hilariously funny, and his audience love him. He also offers a hard sale at the end of the show promoting his  own ‘merch’, his hand drawn dick poster, at a dirt-cheap price.

Some of us may know him from the BBC One TV drama thriller The Tourist, he plays the character of Ethan Krum. He is a man of many talents, and his new show REVOLTING is a clever comical show on how hard-earned experiences can determine your destiny. He has a string of award-winning comedy shows and has recently won an award for his short new film 21C (2023).

His show is a well spent hour at the school of hard laughs.

Flora Georgiou