Welcome to Who's On First, an Australian Comedy Blog!


Salutations dear reader and welcome to Who’s On First, an Australian comedy blog. I was at a comedy show the other night and the man with the mic proclaimed that in the Entertainment field, Comedians are only one rung above… magicians and what’s next, talk of mimes? So with this in mind, I decided to create some of my own web real estate solely for one area of the arts, known to some as COMEDY.




The aim of the blog is to provide a weekly comedy gig guide and reviews of comedy shows and products like new DVDs, books, etc. To begin, it is only going to focus on shows in NSW but we just never know where this rather odd journey will take us.



Now some of you may be wondering what the name “Who’s On First” actually means. That can be simply answered by directing you all to the classic comedy duo, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello who had the classic baseball routine, Who’s On First.




So we have decided to use this as our namesake given its comedic connotations and the fact it can be used as a spotlight to highlight some hilarious comics that may not necessarily be found on mainstream television. Oh and for the kiddies out there, Pete Townshend’s first solo album was titled “Who Came First” which one could perceive as similar to our moniker. (Yes I am a tragic music fan in my other life!)




So without further adieu, welcome and be sure to drop us a line about anything and everything at whosonfirstblog AT gmail.com In fact, it might just be nice to know that someone is actually out there reading this. In the meantime, just to whet your appetite, in upcoming months we will have reviews of some of the Cracker Comedy Festival and Big Laugh Riverside shows including Ross Noble and Dylan Moran. There will also be plenty of DVD and book reviews for works by The Chaser team, Wil Anderson, John Safran and many others. So go to the shops, recline in a discarded arm chair, drink milk, go for a ten mile run or simply read the blog. But whatever you do, you should read the blog. No pressure of course and we might just send you that complimentary set of steak knives.


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Thursday, April 5, 2007

Event Review: Akmal @ Riverside

Artist: Akmal Saleh and Joel Ozborn

Title: -

Date: 28 March, 2007

Venue: Riverside Theatre, Parramatta

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As a Riverside Theatre virgin it was with a degree of curiosity that I approached the show by comedians Akmal Saleh and Joel Ozborn on March 28. As this was the first occasion I had visited the venue I will spare you a long diatribe about the facilities. However, I will note that being seated inside this particular theatre was a little like being on the set of The Muppet Show thanks to the royal, plush chairs and three tiers of seating. And whilst I’m using the Muppets as an analogy, another apt description of the night would be best offered by the two older men from Jim Henson’s puppets, who typically sat up in the wings, “They weren’t half bad;” because while the show wasn’t the most hilarious one that I have witnessed, there were a few good jokes in the mix to keep the audience amused for an hour and a half.

The first comedian, Joel Ozborn, had a few reasonable jokes even if I had already heard some of the material in another incarnation by a different comedian. A prime example of this would be Joel’s talk about the name of the sporting goods store, The Athletes Foot. Now forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure it was Jerry Seinfeld or possibly even Kenny Bania who made this observation on the sitcom Seinfeld back in the nineties.

Another unfortunate thing about Ozborn’s set was his song at the very end. Whilst I don’t doubt that the lyrics would have been amusing to hear, unfortunately I was unable to catch many of them because of the twangy vocal style Joel adopted. And judging by the audience’s reaction to this number, I don’t think I was alone.

Then it was time for Akmal. When he first came onstage he pretended that the video behind him was representing what he was actually thinking at that given moment. I found this to be initially interesting and a rather novel idea. However, after a few minutes it became apparent that Akmal was simply using this to have an egoistic argument with himself. This medium also ruined the of one of Akmal’s best jokes about a Spanish Firefighter. Thankfully, Akmal pulled the plug (literally) on this routine. punch line

Akmal’s repertoire of jokes was of a reasonable standard but they typically centred around capitalising on stereotypes (insert your own jokes about Campbelltown here to get a better idea.) There was also his observation about the suburb, Seven Hills and the fact it had no hills despite the name and that this was because quote, “the people from Blacktown stole them.” Unfortunately, another substantial part of Akmal’s set was devoted to banter (or should I say picking on) an audience member, “Adam.”

At two other points of Akmal’s set I was reminded of Ross Noble, who I had only previously seen live at the Enmore Theatre. This linkage was most salient during the talk about scuffles with customs officials. In addition, there was an extra joke from another one of Noble’s shows where he spoke ill of Fundamentalist Muslims only to pretend that he was scared, as he believed that these typical suspects would go to see one of his shows while en-route to some new terrorist act.

Finally, the evening ended with Akmal asking the audience if they had any questions (something I have noticed both Ross Noble and Danny Bhoy do during the encores of their performances too.) Moreover, Joel joined Akmal onstage where they gave the audience an interesting insight into life on the road and more specifically, the game these two comedians have devised and enjoy playing. The rules are that they have to go into various charity shops and purchase the most outrageous objects so they can be used in the show to hopefully generate a laugh from the audience. This was funny, albeit a little juvenile, and to be honest it is nothing new, as one only needs to watch some old Tommy Cooper routines to see a comedic master’s own eclectic array of props.

I personally loved Akmal’s sarcastic observation when he pulled out a rather long, odd-looking hairy piece of material. He apparently had asked the shopkeeper how much it was and when he was told that it was only twenty cents he acted shocked because (although he had no idea what it was) he had apparently been looking for something just like it all of his life. And there was one more sarcastic endorsement as the pair spruiked the virtues of an allegedly highly collectible vinyl record. This piece was considered so rare and widely sought after that this duo had felt extremely privileged when they had managed to acquire not one but five copies. Here’s to the next hundred kilometres where they might find another two copies to make for one full set, for every mood and weekday and because after all, this is what we call the Muppet show!