The Warehouse Comedy Festival is my godsend. When I found they were recording two shows I had missed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Celia Pacquola’s Delayed and Frank Woodley’s Bemusement Park, I snatched up tickets immediately.

This “festival” is held in order to record shows by some of Australia’s A-list comedians for DVD sale by Madman. This is a genius move on their part. Up until recently, comedy shows would come and go and never be seen again. A large part of Australian culture was disappearing without a trace. This year I noticed they are also taking punts on a few B-list comedians. I’m overjoyed this included the supremely talented Michael Workman.

The Setup

For those of us in the A-list wannabe category, it’s worth knowing what is done and how to make these DVDs, because nothing says you can’t do the same thing yourselves. If not for a DVD, you really must make a sampler reel of your work for YouTube to interest audiences and producers in your shows.

Hey Hey had a large recording studio with automated fly systems; numerous cameras on cranes, trucks, dollies, and the like; and loads of microphones. In television as with the rest of life, you either spend time or money. With ongoing productions it’s worth spending the money in order to buy more time, since your schedule is tight. Spicks and Specks was similarly outfitted, though with a few cost cuts here and there.

The Warehouse Comedy Festival was on an even tighter budget and barely had a fly system. The recording outcomes have been fine, but from personal experience, I’m certain editing is a longer process for them. This is acceptable, because they aren’t on a tight schedule.

The festival had one low camera on a dolly to the left of the audience, a higher camera on a dolly to the right of the audience, and a hand held camera. They may have had more, but I couldn’t see because my eyes were focused on the performance, which was my job as the audience. They also had a microphone on the audience, a boom mic, and a head mic on the comedian.

Filming with Audience

ABC News frequently gets away with single camera recordings, because they need to capture the moment fast, they are capturing a slice of life and so situations are allowed to be messy, and people are used to cheap quick interviews with post-recorded “noddies” edited in (a way to fake a two-camera effect).

When recording standup comedy, you should always have at least two cameras, since one camera needs to be dedicated to recording audience reactions. The same is true for microphones: at least one for the comedian and one for the audience. I know people deride laugh-tracks, but audiences really do need to hear the laughter of other people to enhance their response. Very few shows use laugh-tracks these days, instead they bring in live audiences whose “laughter levels” they carefully check to make sure their mirthful guffaws are fully captured.

That audience response is so important, every television comedy show I have been to has had an up-and-coming comedian warming up people before the show. Madman was a little stingy in this regard, but Pacquola came out and told a warm-up joke before her show. With Woodley it was hard to tell, since his show was largely about getting things started and messing it up. However, to maintain the energy of the room, whenever Woodley or Pacquola had to wait for technical issues to be sorted, they would start humorously improvising to keep the punters on side.

The Shows

Celia Pacquola’s recording was mostly straightforward. She delivered her show Delayed with delightful aplomb. Despite self-deprecating jokes about awkwardness, Pacquola took the stage with an easy slow grace. Her eyes and her smile were where all the vibrant energy concentrated, making it easy for the cameras to follow her. She re-did only a few jokes. At the end the producer asked for two moments to be repeated: her silly dance routine, which would benefit from inter-cutting various angles, and the appearance of her giant hand prop. We were allowed to leave the building (and I do mean allowed) only five minutes later than estimated.

Frank Woodley’s recording of Bemusement Park was an entirely different story. Woodley doesn’t focus on standup, as such. He is largely a physical comedian, and he repeated much of his antics to get the timing right. Also key to Woodley’s performances is that he enjoys improvising. So, when he started improvising with a little boy in the audience, the film crew had to have the boy repeat some of what he said for the camera. A continuity person actually read back to the boy his own words.

Woodley is an endearing performer and a longtime favourite with the Australian public. Which was useful that night, because he had a lot of goodwill to ride on when he took seventeen takes to get a particular shtick to work. I would not have been so brave. One of the crew asked Woodley, “How many times did you tell us this bit worked?” Woodley sheepishly replied, “One in eight.” We left his show an hour later than estimated. I don’t think anyone begrudged him the extra time, we were all too busy smiling.

If you get the chance to see a live recording, I highly recommend it. The insights it gives you into the television industry are tremendous. It’s also a lot of fun. If you end up buying any of Madman’s DVDs for Sammy J, Celia Pacquola, or Frank Woodley keep your eyes open for a woman in the audience with a big white ribbon in her hair on the back of her head…that would be me.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

Madman Warehouse Comedy Festival

Saunders clips to the curtain behind him a list of topics his show will be covering, such as awareness, names, exercise, and technology. He then begins each topic with a short story about his cat, then follows this with stories about how humans fit within that same topic. We don’t fare well in the comparision.

The show is well-calculated to start out by bringing the non-catlovers on side. He clearly understands that some people are dog people and some people are unenthused by cats, but funny is funny no matter where you find it. He also demonstrates that cats have a certain machismo as well, if that’s important to you. His own cat, Jerry, has a frown so deep it sucks all the negativity out of a room.

Once people are comfortable with the humorous combination of bloke and cat, Saunders weaves more of Jerry into the stories. He then caps the evening with the story of how Jerry came into his life. It’s real edge of seat stuff. You want him to find that cat and make his life complete.

The jokes in The Cat’s Meow are down to Earth and accessible. The storytelling action and humour steadily rises and rises. Saunders expertly keeps you anticipating the next set of anecdotes. He then ends on a memorable high note. Perfect.

Steele Saunders can be seen year-round performing at Comedy@Spleen.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.steelesaunders.com/

Timing.

Gorman maintains a brisk even pace throughout his performance. He relies largely on anecdotal humour with the odd one-liner. If a joke falls a little flat, it still forms part of a larger story structure, so people are willing to take it onboard in anticipation of a bigger payoff. His story about happy clocks and the absurd lengths marketing has taken that concept had a beautiful snowballing effect about it whereby the laughter just got louder and louder.

He has an excellent ear for hearing the ebb and flow of people’s reactions. He is also skilled at using those tides to push the humour even further.

Maintaining centre of focus.

Many comedians grossly misuse their multimedia elements. The images in Powerpoint Presentation are well realised, crisp, and easy to interpret. Gorman at no point loses his audience as they try to disentangle the meaning of a poorly designed slide. A common problem other comedians face.

All images are in support of Gorman’s jokes. You have to pay attention to Gorman if you want the payoff. Though he changes images, generally Gorman is the only one moving and not the pictures. This is important because the instant anything on the screen moves, it’s more interesting to the audience than the live human being.

Surprise.

This is where you separate the entertaining from the outright LOL-meisters. Gorman would set up a joke and you would think, I know where this is going, then take a left-angle turn into something relevant but completely unexpected.

Certain subjects are funny enough we laugh even when we aren’t surprised. When Gorman throws out a few jokes of this nature, he takes you to the punchline and lets you fill in the blank. I think we all relish this respect for our intelligence. But his surprises are masterful sleight-of-hand that give the world a magical sparkle I believe we all crave.

If you are a budding comedian, I would strongly suggest watching some of Gorman’s performances to set the bar for yourself. Dave Gorman and Powerpoint Presentation are superb.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.davegorman.com/

The media focuses people on the intense and the extreme, turning people into drama junkies. Marshall focuses on savouring the everyday—a focus of sanity and even fulfilment. This doesn’t make it devoid of ups and downs. Marshall speaks poignantly about the death of his father and the birth of his son. You just have a better sense of the continuousness of life. We laugh, we cry, we learn, we move on.

Marshall is at his best when he illustrates his points with vignettes. His characterisations are lively and full of warmth and energy. I would love to see him explore this sort of comedy more. I was particularly charmed by his portrayal of a shopping expedition with his son.

Small children don’t understand our cultural codes to do with gender or status, and just like what they like. A girl could want a football helmet as a hat, a boy could want his toy car in pink without a second thought as to any implications. It’s an honest way of being. Marshall’s moment of letting go of social rigidity and learning from his son is both touching and a belly laugh.

A point I would make with Marshall, because I’ve seen several comedians in need of this same advice, is pull in your chin.

I call it “computer chin” because people often jut their chin out when they are sitting in front of a computer, then wonder later why they have a headache. Pull in your chin and tip your head so that it is perpendicular to your eyeline. That way people see your facial expressions better and you come off as more personable. Muppeteers are taught the same thing with their puppets for the same reason.

Left: strained neck, features not visible to audience. Center: optimal. Right: optimal for audience when they are seated below your natural eyeline.

Marshall is an amiable storyteller. If he tours Father, Father, buy a ticket, buy a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy the journey.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/in-father-father-cam-marshall/

The Information is a fun evening of light entertainment. Watson is an affable performer with a great sense of play. The journey on which he takes his audience concerning the daily ways in which information is collected and used is important. He makes very real the consequences of our cajole and control society. Companies jolly you into saying too much about yourself, then use those details to make significant decisions affecting your life, such as whether or not you get a bankloan.

The points Watson makes are so important that I wish he provided a few moments for people to really consider what it means to them. I loved his story about calling an information line for luncheon meat. The story almost makes the whole information exchange thing seem harmless, but by the end a sinister edge takes over.

I know young people who feel we should let our lives hang out, because we should learn how to accept our differences and our humanity. Certainly, some wisdom can be found in this attitude. The problem is we don’t live in an ideal world and people need to be able to get a job, acquire living quarters, and generally be treated fairly.

Free access to a broad range of information about people means people can be discriminated against in more and more subtle ways than they have before. Also ominous are companies using information to track our vulnerabilities in order to exploit them for profit. If you have a problem with drinking, they can use it to sell you more drink. You’re an easy target for this form of money-making. In the meantime you have a difficult time becoming sober and recovering your life.

Mark Watson has opened up a significant subject. I hope it opens up conversations amongst his audience. People need to think about how they can change the nature of our information society, rather than with a laugh sadly accepting what they feel is inevitable. You do have a choice. Thank you Mark.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://markwatsonthecomedian.com/

Both shows could be good in their own ways, but if one far outstrips the other in some particular area, then I find I am giving the other show a less glowing review than I would if I had seen it any other night. Because I’m relying on a festival pass to see most shows, I can only vaguely arrange my schedule and hope doubling up doesn’t happen too often.

Andrew O’Neill in Alternative blew me away. His comedy is smart, original, thoughtful, and insightful. And as the saying goes, other comedians pale in comparison.

Another female comic and myself were complaining that if we heard one more comedian make a joke about how women go to the toilet together, mayhem could well ensue (I’m tempted to say, after which we went to the toilet together…but no, we are not cheap stereotypes). O’Neill started to tell a story that included his wife. Before getting far he suddenly went off on a rant about how most gender differences are contrived and he wasn’t going to stoop to tired meaningless clichés just to get an easy laugh with some of the guys. You could almost hear people blink as his words settled in, then three quarters of the audience, women and men, erupted into cheers. That felt so good.

Of course he didn’t stop there. He went on to declaim about classism, religion, and the media. Whether or not I always agreed with him, he had something interesting to say and wove in hilarious observations and absurd asides. “Of course Jesus could walk on water. It’s a scientific fact that he had inflatable feet!” This makes the show sound like it’s political observational humour, but it’s much more.

Alternative describes both O’Neill’s lifestyle and the style of comedy he’s presenting. He bounces back and forth between hyper-rational thought and supremely silly surrealism. Describing a spider’s tiny swimming gear was one of my favourite moments. He really should be touring universities, since some of his greatest fans may well be found there.

Andrew O’Neill comes across as a passionately caring man. He’s also out to be 100% authentically himself. That sort of journey always includes a lot of exploring and testing different ways of being, modes of thought, and groups of people. In the end you get material ripe for good comedy or a good novel. I’m happy to see him do both.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/alternative-andrew-o-neill/

When I briefly met Rob Lloyd two years ago at Melbourne Fringe, my first thought was, yes, he looks a lot like Dr Who actor David Tennant. My second thought was, I bet he is told that way too many times. When he then produced a show about Dr Who, I was a little surprised. Turns out, he’s a big Dr Who fan from way back. He just lucked out with the resemblance to a recent Doctor.

Who, Me is a loving homage to all things Whovian: from early Dr Who series, to the paraphernalia, to conventions, to the modern series. I loved Lloyd’s photographs of himself at nineteen dressed up as the Jon Pertwee doctor. Also funny were the many many photos of Lloyd pimping himself out as Tennant for fan pictures.

But Who, Me is not just an orgy of science fantasy nerdiness. Lloyd also weaves into the subject stories about how he used his love of Dr Who to help him grow as a human being. Especially touching was his story about how the values held by The Doctor helped him become a better secondary teacher.

I loved the audience Lloyd attracted to his show. I am fond of multi-generational crowds. When you’ve got mum, dad, the grandparents, and grandkids all in one room smiling and laughing, it’s one of the most joyous things in the world. I love Weird Al Yankovic concerts as much for the audience as for Weird Al and his songs. I envy Lloyd that audience and would encourage him to keep aiming at that lot. The sense of fulfillment from pleasing them is tremendous.

And please them he did. Lloyd is a master at audience interaction. He had people singing, dancing, and most of all, laughing at all the right spots. His genuine good nature, human connection, and charm brought people together and created a warm memorable evening.

Rob Lloyd is so good, I truly hope he starts becoming more loved by audiences for being himself, as well as being a Doctor look-alike. Go see Who, Me. Help make this show a big hit. Help Lloyd get to Edinburgh Fringe and become all he can be. You won’t regret it.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/who-me-rob-lloyd/

Idiots of Ants start with their strongest and lengthiest sketch, which is set in World War II, then move on to a series of sketches covering traditional comic material. It would have been nice if they had ended with another corker, but they do bring the show to a nice climax by finding ways to cleverly involve the audience.

Sketches included training for dads to be, how to execute fart pranks, and strange new 3D console games. At first the segments could be shown on any early evening television show. People laughed loudly and there was a delightful sense of being able to relax and have fun. Then the sketches started wandering over into blue material, and though it was funny too, I felt disappointed. These guys have the skill and talent to make adults laugh through genuine wit. When you have such a clear advantage, why not run with it?

I did take exception with one of their sketches about a hens night. I will pass on the lecture that was given to me and a classroom full of comedians by the male owner of a comedy restaurant. When you tell deeply sexist jokes or perform deeply sexist caricatures, the men will laugh and you may think “people are laughing.” In fact less than half your audience are laughing. Women are much more likely to go to live events than men. You alienate the women then neither they nor their husbands or boyfriends, who they jollied to go along, show up at your venue again. The women will be very polite about it, but the restaurant starts having a hard time getting sufficient punters to sustain itself. You don’t have to be a feminist to recognise the economic reality.

A certain amount of gender caricaturisation is fine. We laugh at the absurdity of misunderstandings. At some point gender humour becomes a form of mockery and bullying, either direction. If you aren’t certain whether you’ve gone too far…just find people of the relevant gender and ask, “Do you find this insulting or off-putting?” You will have people who say, “it’s fine” while thinking it’s not and some who will get upset at anything, but at least you have a greater chance of finding out where the balance lays.

One point I would congratulate the Idiots of Ants performers on is their use of multimedia. Computers and digital projectors have become ubiquitous at comedy venues. Most of the time they are used badly. Comedians let their amateur film productions do too much of the work for them. Worse, if they run moving images while they are performing, it will almost always upstage their live work. Sadly, people are more likely to be glued to the screen than you.

Idiots of Ants not only used their multimedia to enhance certain sketches, such as the console game segment, they also found ways to make it an interactive tool to include their audience. I was genuinely surprised by their real-time photo manipulations.

These guys are a talented bunch. I’m certain they’ve got solid comedy careers into the future.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/idiots-of-ants/

What is most admirable about both Dan Allemann and Simon Godfrey is their passionate desire to experiment. Not all comedians are that brave. Instead of going with safe material which generates easy laughs, they create surreal landscapes, invest them with emotional overstatement or understatement, and see what works.

Boneshaker is a roller coaster ride of relentless comedy. With only a couple boxes and themselves, they create one absurd situation after another in a nonstop flow that is both dizzying and dazzling. In one moment they are creating tea from tears and in the next they are building a new suburb of Melbourne on Venus. The sort of intense creativity required to develop a show like this is impressive. They point to Dudley Moore and Monty Python as their inspirations, but they seem much closer in spirit to Spike Milligan.

Let me warn people, this show is intense and has its dark moments. It’s also a superb work of comedy. Their skilled caricaturisations and outlandish accents are worth the price of a ticket alone. These guys completely deserve their Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Award. See them quick before the festival ends.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/boneshaker-this-is-siberian-husky/

The styles of comedy in this show varied widely from bogan humour to European burlesque. The performers themselves were varied in age, ethnicity, and gender. In fact the day I went the show had a slight female majority.

My first vote for closest to professional take off is Ivanna, our European burlesque fairy, who was able to lift her character from just a sexy stereotype to something warmer and more human. She has a number of avenues she can pursue to further her career including Melbourne Fringe, The Butterfly Club, and Red Bennies who I hear are looking for female MCs.

Also worth noting are the intelligent stylings of both Mayuki Nobetsu and Sophie Prints, the cheeky girlish puns from saucy lass Gabe Hogan, and the laconic silliness of Damian Snell. Everyone did an admirable job and should give themselves a pat on the back. Lines were remembered, performances were lively, and conduct was utterly professional.

We are all allowed to be beginners before we become experts. And as comedians we all need places where we can hone our skills. If you are a beginner, being a part of a group show at the comedy festival is a great way to convince your family and friends to support you, and for you to gain some confidence. Ordinary pub gigs aren’t always as appealing to our peeps.

If you are reading this because you are looking for a show to attend, group shows are always worth a punt. I would strongly encourage going to at least one a festival. The next wave of comedians needs your support. Besides, afterward you can say you knew so-and-so before they were cool.

Peace and kindness,

Katherine

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/a-mixed-assortment-100-nuts/