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UK comic Mark Watson perhaps summed it up best.
“I’ve got three years of stuff to tell you!” jetlagged Londoner Watson told the sold-out Palais crowd, begging them not to applaud during his four-minute set. “There’s no time!”
With all the cancellations and digital pivots of the recent past, Melbourne International Comedy Festival has not been truly international for a while. At the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow on Wednesday March 30, Watson noted on his return to Australia that he had “not seen the sun since March 2019”. At it was sheer relief that fuelled many of the 24 acts marshalled to the stage by neurotically dapper host Rhys Nicholson, along with their reports on how Covid has been for them.
While South African superstar Urzila Carlson reflected on her new appreciation for her wife’s role as a stay-at-home mum (not as gratefully as you’d expect), and laconic Melburnian Kirsty Webek extolled the unexpected benefits of cutting your own hair while homebound, Joel Creasy spotlighted Melburnians’ perverse disappointment at being superseded by Buenos Aires as the world’s most locked-down city.
Anti-vaxxers did not get any kid-glove treatment – but then, as a sparkly suited Zoe Coombs Marr quipped: “They’re not allowed in here – we can say what we like!” UK double act Flo & Joan offered an eviscerating musical tribute to the vaccine averse, showcasing their incredible lyrical dexterity.
The gala format has its pros and cons. Rapid mic handover means it’s impossible to get bored, but also that the deeper engagement with a talented storyteller that marks a memorable standup gig is missing; it’s the TikTok-or-Tolstoy thing. Some acts simply don’t work as excerpts, and some lesser-experienced comedians struggle to make an impact, leaving the old hands to excel through a combo of audience recognition and finely honed skill in making a joke land perfectly on a very short runway.
It might be Hughesy saying that kids who don’t like to see their parents kiss are like bacon fans who don’t want to see how the pig is killed, or David O’Doherty comparing Australian politics to a blocked Portaloo, or the effortlessly brilliant Becky Lucas on why sharks are losers.
Themes of ethnicity got a good-natured workout. Dilruk Jayasinha received a rockstar-like reception for his takes on Tinder racism; Annie Louey gave the crowd a micro lesson in Asian stereotyping; and Indigenous comedy legend Sean Choolburra bravely addressed the N word, (Covid-) ‘Negative’.
Two other acts made a huge impression in a minuscule timeframe: slightly dazed Kiwi Guy Montgomery, and brand new Australian Ivan Aristeguieta. Venezuelan-born Aristeguita’s old-school observational routine on Aldi stores – and how their surreal approach to shelf stacking has been preparing the world for the unexpected for years – might just have propelled him to hot ticket status.