Date: 20 February, 2007
Artists: Wil Anderson + MC Justin Lodge + supports: Nick Sun, Professor Hughbert and Sam Bowering.
Venue: The Roundhouse, UNSW Kensington
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University comedy shows are an odd conundrum often presenting themselves as a polarity with two very distinct parts. On the one hand they have the potential to showcase and nurture young, talented and creative individuals. Conversely, they also have the potential to present unamusing amateurs. Unfortunately, the comedy night that was part of UNSW’s O-week celebrations, with the exception of the headliner, tended to primarily fall into the latter category.
Having arrived fifteen minutes prior to the official time for the doors to open, I was surprised to see security allowing people into the venue to witness a group performing Impro Comedy and attempting to interact with the audience. In hindsight, I probably should have remained outside because this amateurish group was difficult to watch for two reasons, 1) most refused to use microphones despite being drowned out by lage numbers of patrons entering The Roundhouse and others continuing to chat with their friends and; 2) they were neither amusing nor interesting to watch. One friend of mine said that they were students and that the audience should give them a break. Upon reflection however, another friend replied, “But the sad thing is, they don’t look like they’re students.”
As security showed no sign of turning patrons away, more seats were brought in and some people were forced to assemble on the mezzanine. The combination of too many bodies in one space and the lack of air-conditioning meant that the room was stiflingly hot and the solitary bar that lay in the wings on the other side of the venue seemed like an unattainable oasis, on account of the sea of bodies and chairs obstructing the path to it.
In essence, the feelings expressed by people in the room were of general discomfort, which detracted away from an ambience one would typically associate with a comedy night. To alleviate this loss, many individuals decided to drink copious amounts of alcohol. Instead, this turned a significant proportion of them into drunken, vocal louts insistent upon disrupting many of the acts. Thus, MC Justin Lodge did not have an easy job during this show. But he also did very little to assist the audience by opening with the derivative, “Are you ready for some comedy?” before launching into tedious jokes that dragged forever.
He certainly did not win the crowd over but rather pitted many of them against him from the outset. The biggest reaction he got all night was when he asked the crowd of students if they had any children. He was “dismayed” to find out that they didn’t have any. He was confused because he had told a similar joke at UWS and had received a far stronger reply from the group assembled.
Generally speaking, Lodge’s jokes were met with laughs of pity and weak chuckles. A group sitting next to me initially said they felt sorry for him. Yet they were among the first bunch of people who climbed over chairs to exit the venue when he returned onstage after the headliner, Wil Anderson had finished.
The first act was Nick Sun, a previous Raw Comedy winner who did a fine job of winning over the disaffected youths in the audience with his cynical observations about topics such as Valentine’s Day, night clubs and the death of Anna Nicole-Smith. In the case of the recently deceased, he chided himself for having a brain that encoded information about someone like that in the first place.
The second act was a recently appointed lecturer at the university who was attempting to explain a system he had developed regarding the mechanics of humour. This spiel might have been interesting to listen to in a lecture theatre where the students could be engaged (albeit some who only listened as preparation for a final exam.) But in a comedy night, this did not wash well with a crowd that were already proving to be pretty tough. As such, most of his talk was met with drunken, obnoxious yobbos yelling at him to get off the stage or who clapped at inappropriate points with the aim to patronise the poor man.
It was after this flat act that the crowd really turned on MC Justin Lodge. Amidst taunts to leave the stage, he said that he would bring the next act out only after he had delivered twenty more jokes. He was serious! I realise this guy had a contractual obligation to fulfil, but this talk only taunted and further infuriated the audience.
The final support act was Sam Bowering, who received a reasonable reception, presumably because compared to the MC and previous act some might have considered him to be a Comedy God. Although I beg to differ with this evaluation, as his observations were neither witty nor intelligent as he spoke at length about sex and masturbation. And I am not a prude, as I don’t have a problem with observations about these topics. However, it does become a bit much when an entire set is about this and where it was merely facetious, cheap shots at humour rather than cleverly written and delivered jokes.
Finally, the MC returned once again only to break into a verbal tirade against the audience. He basically told the hecklers to “F-off.” Thankfully, Wil Anderson was ready to come onstage to save the night.
Anderson’s set instantly won over the crowd with some of his best material from his previous two comedy shows, Wil By Communication and Kill Wil. In addition, Wil’s choice of attire, a shirt with an American flag in the shape of someone flipping the bird could be considered as symbolic of the fact that he was not going to allow hecklers to overtake his show. However, he need not have worried, as he was extremely charismatic with his amusing personal stories and observations. For example, his story about being stopped by police at the Big Day Out because he appeared crooked while he searched for his missing ring, made you wish you were his mate so you could have helped him out of this bind.
Then there were the fantastic puns he delivered which derived from the observation that parents are now naming their children after large corporate brands. In print the joke is not given justice, but here is a small sample of the gag about a possible teacher getting annoyed at a class of mischievous children with strange names, and these monikers appear below in italics:
“Red spot, sit down, you’re not special! Lipton, stop jiggling and both of you stop throwing shit at Target. And Xerox, stop copying!”
Anderson’s jokes, which included beautifully scripted puns, were well received by the crowd. In addition, he mentioned that Michelle Leslie had become so paranoid about the letter E (thanks to Ecstasy and what had happened,) that she had changed her name to “Mishll Lssl.” The crowd roared laughing as Wil admitted that that was his favourite joke of the show. I also enjoyed his impersonation of Leslie telling the court she was such a devout Muslim that she had been celebrating the Ramadama-ding-dong holiday.
Furthermore, Anderson shared his quips bout his clash with Shannon Noll. He noted that he felt unfairly challenged to a boxing match because he knew Noll would pulverise him. So what was Anderson’s solution? “Why not choose something we’re both bad at… like singing.”
Add to this mix some new perspectives on the oft-discussed topic of talkback radio and its interesting litany of callers and you had a set that was pure comedy gold.
In sum, the earlier comedians forming part of the O-week celebrations were substandard and disappointing but Anderson was the saving grace who ensured his performance was a memorably hilarious one for the punters.
