Comedy Festival, reviewed by Lynn Freeman

THE Comedy Divas were the perfect start to the second week of the comedy festival.
Just as physical and psychological fatigue sets in, the girls put on a great no holds barred show. Justine Smith had us in fits, Irene Pink, part Pacific Princess part Pacific Cougar, will have women signing up for their own cute personal trainer.
Jan Maree is rightfully confident in her material, and Zoe Lyons was a huge hit in a rollicking greet night out.  
Claudia O’Doherty is the first surreal comedian of the year, with her weird and wonderful story of being the only survivor of Aquaplex, an underwater facility that blew up leaving her the only survivor.
Now she has had to adjust to life on land and travels the world as an ambassador for her now lost community. It’s bitter sweet, genuinely strange, and the dream headsets she created for her audience are a work of absolute genius.
Josie Long packed out the odd Garden Club venue and overcame its obstacles – being long and narrow and extremely vulnerable to extraneous sounds.
She deserves her reputation as a ‘must see’, sharing with us her obsessions with the more unusual characters who cross her path, in the real or virtual worlds.
Long instantly achieves a rapport with her audience, you can’t help but warm to her and her quirky take on the world around us.
Now Chopper is an entirely different kind of comedian to, well, pretty much anyone else in the programme.
On the joke front he covered everything (with the visual aids of a projecter) from New Zealand’s drink driving ads to terrorism.
On the prank front, he got a couple of audience members to score him a beer, stopping the show until they did.
He’s known for his foul mouthed on stage persona and that’s exactly what he delivers, so he’s not for the prudish. But he’s got a huge following and a personality to match.
Last week I mentioned two of the three improv shows at Circa – Theatresports is running throughout the Comedy Festival season heading towards the grand finale.
This team is tight and brilliantly funny and the company’s years of experience just shines through on stage and in their interaction with the audience.
Steve Wrigley was the guest on our night, his years as a stand up stood him in good stead dealing with hecklers here. The audience was totally involved and a great night had by all – on stage and those of us watching.
Sammy J & Randy won Australia’s biggest comedy prize, The Barry Award, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane just before they brought it over here. You can see why.
The show stands out from the traditional Comedy Festival fare of stand ups, introducing both a story/narrative and puppetry.
We start with a failing law student who gets a job as a tax lawyer and it develops from there, with more law gags than you ever knew existed, and some playing within the play – like the black and white court room scene where even the purple puppet turned monotone.
The Aussies have such an aptitude for comedy, comedy that dares to go into whole new places.