Nikki B

Phil Wang is a Melbourne fan, and he's ready to indulge. A staple on the UK comedy scene and well known to Australian audiences through his appearances on Would I Lie To You, The Last Leg, Taskmaster and more, Wang takes the stage again at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a brand-new show and a brand-new book.  The Real Hero in All This follows Wang’s hugely successful Philly Philly Wang Wang, a record-breaker at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe and now available on Netflix. Philly Philly Wang Wang showcases Wang’s ability to effortlessly blend incisive considerations on race, morality and the pandemic with jokes about farts and balls. The new show promises to expand on both with routines Wang considers some his favourites to date.  Alongside his two-week run of shows, Wang will appear at the Wheeler Centre with comedian Jennifer Wong in a one-night-only outing to discuss his memoir, Sidesplitter. A 2021 Times Book of the Year, Sidesplitter is a moving and hilarious examination of Wang's British-Malaysian heritage that also offers extraordinary insight into the intimacy and connective power of stand-up. Time Out interrupted Phil Wang’s sightseeing for a quick chat about his return to Melbourne. First things first: please tell us your favourite things about Melbourne? What are you most looking forward to on this visit? The food in Melbourne is insane. Maybe the best I’ve ever come across. I eat so much in Melbourne it is genuinely a detriment to the quality of my perf

Wil Anderson’s new show is about survival. From Covid-19 and the NSW floods to the Ukraine war, Anderson’s subjects are heavy ones, and, at times, the comic’s outlook is unreservedly bleak. “I’m fucked,” he says, almost as soon as he takes the stage. “The world’s fucked, everything’s fucked.” It’s clear from the jump this is not your average hour of comedy. True to form, though, Anderson finds the funny in the weightiest of topics. We laugh in commiseration, in recognition, and with stark empathy because, let’s face it, we’re fucked, too.  Just how fucked? Well, that’s different for different folks. The point is we’re all fucked together, and how we get through will often depend on those around us. If Wilogical has an overriding theme beyond measures of fucked-ness, it’s how community sustains us, even if such a thought may not seem likely at a glance. Case in point is Anderson’s move to rural NSW and his attempts to fit into an area where reason appears scarce: “I moved to the anti-vax capital of Australia at the start of a pandemic,” he says, before proceeding to deconstruct the anti-logic of locals who resist mask mandates, contest science, and share misinformation with the disclaimer that they’ve “done their own research!” Despite all this, Anderson’s new community will surprise him. While clear in his stance that anti-logic is lunacy, he gives credit where it’s due. He marvels at the fortitude of flood-affected residents and notes community bonds as the key to their resi