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 resilience. No one else, he says, came to help those managing the catastrophe, so they helped themselves. In encounters with local doctors, neighbours, friends and residents reconstructing a damaged bridge, Anderson reveals the wisdom within the rhetoric. Even if we’re not stupid enough to believe, as some in his new community do, that vaccines erase the memories of children, he’s quick to remind us that we’ve all believed in dumb stuff and grabbed on to hope in extraordinary circumstances.
Wil Anderson is a master at finding humanity in the strangest things, and while there may be a few easy targets here (Joe Rogan, Q-Anon, crypto-bros), they support his prevailing point. We’re almost certainly fucked, but if we band together, you never know what bridges we might build and rebuild.
This show was reviewed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2022.