A-List Comedy Sampler

Welcome to this year’s A–List Comedy Sampler hosted by the one and only, all time seriously funny guy Lawrence Mooney, reminding us that the Melbourne Comedy Festival is like a box of Whitman’s chocolates and please excuse any obvious reference to Forest Gump.

A choice sampler of all-sorts packaged and distributed for us at the Athenaeum Theatre; it does not get any better. Short- twisted-bitter-sweet loose vignettes   delivered by the so called tentative crème de la crème line up of damn funny, witty, crazed comedians that hit this city for some serious comedy.

Lawrence Mooney begins with his classic stand up routine, moaning about his family and how children know how to fuck up your life and the mindful hiccups of living in snotty- nosed Brighton that are so far removed from his humble beginnings back in bogan Bayswater.

The quick- witted Simon Taylor has a series of hilarious children’s book routines that address gay marriage and racist grandmothers. While the upfront and wacky modern thirty something Rose Callaghan packs punchy comments   at the older generations’ claim on property and her destined life in the shabby rental market. Tahir knows how to stir the crowd into a laughing frenzy with unconventional racial typecasts!

The acerbic tongued Bev Killick takes a blunt swipe at the yummy mummy while coping with her messy teenage kids, and has us all guffawing at her smoking, drinking crummy mummy self titled crown. Jimeon is an old hand at the Irish jig – so damn funny!

Steph Tisdell, the wild and talented up-coming Indigenous comedian and Deadly Funny award winner is downright in your face as she mocks interracial relationships, her white fella boyfriend and her One Nation people. And on the opposite side of the pole we have Nicky Osborne. reeling in the crowd with her eye candy Barbie good looks and classic low life bogan humour.

Arj Barker, an ever popular stalwart favorite back in this “bad ass city’ of Melbourne, sets the house on fire with road work and yoga jokes and his recent marriage. Jimmy McGhie is brilliant (Best of the Edinburgh Festival). Hailing from London, he’s deeply concerned about his looming mid life crisis, disposable income and the future of the “Samsung generation”.

Nurse Georgie Caroll has some serious funny fare about her nursing job, mothering her two teenage sons and playing wifey to her husband. Akmal takes his time and exceeds his short and timed skit by a long shot and the audience just can’t get enough of his travels around the barren landscape of his beloved new country and the confronting tsunami of bogans at the V8 annual car rally in Adelaide. Finally The Stevenson Experience are a musical twin duet that take the mickey out of their identical looks while creating hilarious havoc on stage.

There are a lot of great talented acts and this is only a smattering of what is on offer. And l enjoyed the lot, can’t wait to catch the rest.

Flora Georgiou