Anthony Morgan
It was a slightly different Anthony Morgan that graced the stage of Vic’s Bar. Deprived of his cigarettes (he offered to take the show outside to the gutter), he drank a single stubby of light beer and as he mentioned many times during the show, was happy.
His happiness was a source of concern for Anthony as almost all of his previous work was based on anger, but he needn’t have worried. The audience still hung on his every word as he told tales of life in rural Tasmania, his trip over to Melbourne and his views on topics that he considered important.
For those who haven’t experienced the magic of Morgan, be forewarned that he can sometimes be an acquired taste. Don’t come along expecting a highly polished set of stand up. He doesn’t tell straight up jokes, instead conversing with the audience as if he was simply chatting to them. In the old days you could have considered him to be the interesting drunk guy at the pub who wants to let you know what’s on his mind, but this sober Anthony now comes across as a kind of uncle figure.
Anthony often asked questions of the audience which went unanswered either due to the shyness of the crowd or everyone assuming that they were only rhetorical. Maybe everyone was just in quiet awe of him, I know I was! It didn’t stop him in his tracks, instead he would try to pull an answer of sorts from his own head. Seeing him flounder, usually in an entertaining way, someone would eventually pipe in with a suggestion. Usually it wasn’t what Anthony was looking for, but eventually the story would somehow get back on track.
In trademark Morgan style, he often took off on tangents from which he eventually returned. Upon checking his list at the end of the show, realized that he had forgotten to talk about quite a bit of stuff that he wanted to cover. If it wasn’t for his Tech Guy’s time reminder, I’m sure that he would have been quite happy to keep talking for longer. That is, if his Nicotine cravings didn’t kick in.
It was good to see Anthony back in town and how he has adapted successfully to the hour long show. Back in the day, he was only warming up an hour into a set! Hopefully he can pay us a visit more often, but I’m sure the wait between trips only makes us warm to him more.
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