2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Reviews

Evan Jones: Seven True Stories and One Massive Lie

Now, a problem with the title was apparent to pedantic old me, when Evan started the show by putting a board up with seven rows for the stories. This means either it should be six and one or seven with one.

The venue is upstairs at the Exford Hotel in Russell St. Some signage would be handy. Basically you go into the pub and wait, drinking, round the bottom of the stairs until the previous show finishes (20 minutes late). You then go up to a half-renovated bar upstairs (with a CHIPBOARD counter), and find a seat. You then try to watch the show while the heckler from hell (Jude the nutter) yells complaints at the suffering comedian, and finally gets kicked out after threatening a punter with a chair about half-way through.

Truly Evan did a marvelous job holding up under the pressure of this woman, who could still be heard five minutes after being ejected. It’s a bit difficult to review the show properly as I don’t think this would occur every night. But it did bond the audience and comedian together well.

The premise of the show is contained in the title (sort of, see whinge above). Evan tells stories from his life living in shared houses, squatting in Amsterdam, porno’s, STD’s and being poisoned by his mum. After each story, the audience is asked to nominate whether they believe him, and their comments are placed on the board for later use. Evan is an amiable character who tells a good story and he kept us entertained through all the heckler troubles. I would recommend this if you want a pleasant and (generally) relaxed hour of entertainment in a place where alcohol is available right behind you and smoking is permitted (I think – it was downstairs so I assume…).

For bookings go to Evan Jones: Seven True Stories and One Massive Lie