What's so funny!?

Danny McGinlay, up-and-coming comedy guy and part-time superhero. Looking up Danny on the internet, phrases such as ‘likeable’, ‘hyperactive’ and ‘over-caffeinated’ come up, but more recent reviews classify him as a storyteller “with the ability to weave a rollicking yarn”. Certainly this is consistent with Danny’s view of his own career. Doing comedy since he was 16, he started out in Class Clowns (a national secondary school comedy competition and workshop, run by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival) and has come a long way from those early days. He quotes Jerry Seinfeld “Audiences will teach you what’s funny about you.”

As his career has evolved, he’s become more interested in telling stories through his comedy. His first shows had themes, but were largely based around telling gags in between cooking and superhero mythos (Kapow – 2005) which he found “not very satisfying.” But as he’s matured, he’s taken on themes with a broader canvas in Star Spangled Bender (2007) – a road trip through the US paralleled with it’s history; Coming Soon… (2008) – the story of his long-dead grandfather told through movie trailers and his latest festival show, Food Dude (2009) – cooking food in front of an audience for each stage of the World Health Organisation’s five stages of intoxication.

Aspiring to be a comedic storyteller with a naturalistic style of Billy Connelly, it is easy to see that he is getting there, as he warmly regales me with story after story of his life in London, New York City, opening for Danny Bhoy, doing a presidential-style debate as Superman, his almost career for Fox FM and the romantic pursuit of his long-term girlfriend. For a guy who started out in an arty school and went into comedy because he couldn’t play an instrument or follow a script, he’s certainly come a long way.

Playing across Australia, go to http://www.dannymcginlay.com/ to check out his dates!

Ross Noble seems to turn up on Australian media throughout the year. This largely being that he has married a lovely Australian girl and lived in St Andrews outside of Melbourne. This was until his house burned down in the Melbourne fires in Feburary 2009.

He has recently been selling out shows in the UK and has started his ‘Things’ tour in Australia. I’ve seen him a few times live and have loved him and been a bit ‘ho-hum’ about him. I’ll be seeing him on the 27th of June in Melbourne. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy this clip about never putting a blanket on an owl. Hilarious!

June 18 Adelaide Entertainment Centre
June 19 Sydney, ACER Arena
June 20 Brisbane Entertainment Centre
June 24 Perth, Challenge Stadium
June 27 Melbourne, Hisense Arena

Book online or call 132 849

Dawn French is one of the most prolific UK comediennes of the past few decades. In an industry which is keenly male-dominated, she has made her way with her partnership with Jennifer Saunders which has been successful for over 20 years. More recently she has appeared as Vicky Pollard’s mother, Shelly in Little Britain and been the star of the Vicar of Dibley for 13 years.

This month she releases an autobiography Dear Fatty which takes the form of a series of letters to her late father.

[From the website]
Dawn French is one of the greatest comedy actresses of our time, with a career that has spanned nearly three decades, encompassing a vast and brilliant array of characters. Loved for her irreverent humour, Dawn has achieved massive mainstream success while continuing to push boundaries and challenge stereotypes. Here she describes the journey that would eventually establish her as a perhaps unlikely, but nevertheless genuine, national treasure.

Dawn began her career as part of the groundbreaking alternative comedy group, the Comic Strip, marking a radical departure from the more traditional comedy acts of the time. Later came the all-female Girls On Top, which teamed Dawn with Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracy Ullman and firmly established women in British comedy.

As part of the wildly successful and much loved duo French and Saunders, Dawn helped create a repertoire of brilliantly observed characters, parodying popular culture and impersonating everything from Madonna and Harry Potter to The Exorcist. Dawn's more recent role in the Vicar of Dibley showcased not only her talent but also her ability to take a controversial and topical issue and make it mainstream - and very funny.

From her early years as an RAF child and her flat-sharing antics with Jennifer Saunders, to her outspoken views on sizism and her marriage to Lenny Henry, Dear Fatty will chronicle the extraordinary, hilarious rise of a complex, dynamic and unstoppable woman.

Out 15th October

Judith Lucy is unarguably one of Australia's most talked about comediennes, whether it be for her candid discussion of her family background or the controversy of her hiring and then sacking from breakfast radio. In both situations she has been able to consistently turn the hardships in her life into comedy gold with one-woman shows such as Colour me Judith (2000) and I Failed! (2006).

This year she has come out with her story about her adoptive family and how her feelings about them go beyond the comedy references she has made about them in the past.

[From Penguin Australia's website]
Judith Lucy has been cracking jokes about her parents for years. But when a birth relative's casual comment implied that she despised them, Judith was shocked. Sure, she had been talking about Ann and Tony Lucy like they were one-dimensional Irish nutbags who'd ruined her life for years, but there was always more to them and her own feelings than that.

So Judith decided it was time to write the full story of her parents and her childhood. And here it is, a reference book on all things Lucy from:

A is for Adoption (she is) to C is for Cleaning (they didn't) and for Counselling (you'll find out why she had a lot of it) to D is for Diets (she was put on one at eight) to H is for Heart Attack (her father's) to M is for Make Up (her father's) to N is for Nuts (there was a falling out over testicles) to R is for Review (to do with Nuts) to T is for Tanscendental Meditation (it didn't work) to X is for Xmas (when a lot of this started) and beyond...

In amongst the gags Judith explores the people her parents were and the impact of finding out - at twenty-five - that she was adopted. We meet Judith's birth mother by learn that ultimately it was her very unusual parents who made her who she is today.

The Lucy Family Alphabet is funny and ruthlessly honest, but also a moving tribute to the lunatics who raised one of Australia's best-known comedians.

Judith Lucy Homepage

Out now!

Steve Martin, the original 'Wild and Crazy Guy!' has written an autobiography which is released in Australia on December 1.

Steve had the highpoint of his standup career in the midseventies, but then stopped in 1981 as he tried to pursue a movie career. Steve, an award winning author and comic recounts his early years as a young magician up until his mid thirties, along with the highs and lows of a comic career. Great reading if you've loved him since his first film role in The Jerk.

[From the website]

In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away."

Emmy and Grammy Award winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been awriter. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.

At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes.

Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times -- the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.

Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.

A friend lent me the DVD to Bill Bailey's highly successful tour in 2003. I saw Bill come out to Australia many years ago, doing a great bit of musical comedy as part of the Comedy Festival Gala. Love him :)

I decided to find his website and have a look at what it had to offer. I didn't know Bill had done so many other CDs and DVDs (not even mentioning the Black Book series).

Bill writes his own blog which looks pretty odd-ball. Make sure you check out the site, his disc- and DVD-ographies as well as some amusing t-shirts from his various tours - "There's no past, there is no future, just one pulsating present...please leave your message after the tone."

Check him out:www.billbailey.co.uk

Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky in 1926), one of the most prolific comics of the 20th Century. I grew up on reruns of Get Smart, films such as Young Frankenstein, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Space Balls. In the last decade he turned his hand to the world of Broadway musicals via the cult movie The Producers which was played to acclaim by Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. It played continuously on Broadway for 6 years (finishing in April, 2007) winning 12 Tony awards, the most for any musical.

While the comedy of Mel Brooks is never subtle, it is pervasive, with catchphrases entering modern popular culture. Whether it is someone who says "Missed it by that much." in their best Don Adams impersonation or "It's good to be the king.", it is hard to meet a person who doesn't laugh at some of his gags, or at the very least crack a wry smile. Who could forget the scene in Blazing Saddles where the sherrif takes himself hostage to get out of trouble!?

This biography by James Robert Parish traces the early years of Mel Brooks, through the peak of his film career in the 1970s to the low point in the mid 1990s and eventual rebirth via The Producers.

If you're a fan of the man quoted as saying "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.", then you better go out and get your copy now!

Available at all good booksellers

Finally I've gotten around to writing this. Rich Hall was the last comedian I saw of last month's Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2007.

I've always enjoyed Rich Hall's shows and was looking forward to an above average performance, from a man who was only performing three shows at this year's Festival.

If you don't know Rich Hall, he's been around for a while, working on such shows as Saturday Night Live, hosted TV shows in the states and and has written popular books including his sniglet series. Rich Hall is also puted to be the inspiration for Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons.

Check out these pics below, I can't see the resemblance!

Anyway, the show was at the The Forum and my group were lucky to get a good table. Rich was jet-lagged (performing in a sleep deprived state seemed to be popular this year!) and quickly set into self-deprication, claiming that he just couldn't perform in front of the grandeur of the greco-roman art that oddly adorns The Forum. Like Ross Noble, Rich uses his audiences as inspiration for his show - only a brave and experienced performer fishes for comedy in this way! Rich used some set pieces, talking about love, comedy and what it means to be an American overseas during the administration of George-Dubya. Setting up the audience to give certain answers that would guarantee him with material, he was undone again and again with audience members giving him the exact wrong answer.

Overall, his dry grizzled sense of humour is something that I enjoy each time I see Rich, and while a number of set pieces did fall flat - his self-deprecation (and audience deprecation), combined with his potty mouth and some good observations about everyday life won him some points from me. Good, but capable of more.

Rating: 7/10

I'm a fan of Peter Berner. He's been on the scene a number of years and is a central part of the success of The Cage, the breakfast show on Triple M. He has also been hard at work on the Einstein Factor on the ABC.

I hadn't seen him in a whole live set before, so on Sunday I was looking forward to a good laugh.

The start of the show didn't bode well, with only about a third of the room filled. Peter took it in his stride with his personable blokey everyman humour that he exudes so well on the radio. He covered topics that ranged from raising his son, terrorism, plane travel and carrying a brick (to belt stupid people!).

His jokes were amusing and well told, however, his observational humour which works so well on radio didn't translate well to his standup with few big laughs.

For such a seasoned entertainer I was expecting much more from Peter. I know he's capable of a lot more. I hope for more the next time that I see him.

Rating: 4.5/10

Last night I got to see Ross Noble at the Melbourne Town Hall. I'll admit that I wasn't the biggest Ross Noble fan to begin with, having seen him for the first time about 8 years ago in a triple billing you paid $15 for. Out of the three comedians, he was the funniest, but not that great.

BUT, in between I've seen and heard a lot from him on TV and radio. So I was definately interested in what he could do with a long 1.5 hour show (with interval).

Ross is definately a unique comedian, following the trend of many overseas comedians who have married a lovely Aussie girl and stayed. But what makes him unique is his take on the world. A surreal look at the way things tick and not really a 'joke' teller as such.

Ross started in the first half of the show with a loosely plotted script, but was more than happy to banter with the front row. While this was definitely funny, he did seem to get a little lost and at time take things too far with too few laughs.

However, the second set saw him work what appeared to scripted material interwoven with picking on/playing with various audience members that he built a rapport with in the first half of the show.

To enjoy Ross, you've really got to jump in with him as he goes on tangents, followed by more tangents and then more tangents. He plays on this beautifully, stating for the audience "For fuck's sake, he's not finished THIS story!" But to his credit he gets back to his original train of thought in time (even recruiting the audience members to remind him).

While not the funniest show I've seen, he's definitely made a convert out of me. I look forward getting his DVDs and having a laugh!

Rating: 7/10