Andrew Horabin, Claire Hooper and Xavier Michelides are three Perth comedians who have joined forces to perform as “The Dead Set”.
On opening night, Andrew assumed the role of MC. During the show he performed several of his songs including “The 2006 PC New Millennium Romantic Arrangement”, “The Wanking” and his ode to George W Bush. I had witnessed these songs on his previous trips to Melbourne and they sounded as good as ever. His stand up material was delivered expertly and confidently. He ended the show with his always entertaining commentary of “The Human Rights Cup”.
Claire performed a relatively short spot this evening, mostly recounting tales of recent events in her life. She also included some observations about things that had happened to her earlier that evening, that didn’t get much of a response. It would be interesting to see if she will continue to try this sort of untested material over the course of the season. The highlight of Claire’s spot was her reciting of the “Midnight Trade” running order (provided by a Techie in the audience) to the tune of a Bjork song. This short spot had me eager to check out her full show Oh which promises a structured theme .
The headline spot was Xavier. He performed songs such as “The Emo Song”, his metal song sung by a 6 year old girl and “The Xavier Michelides Museum Tour”(complete with bizzare Tiger Woods impersonation). Rounded out with solid stand up material, it was an enjoyable set.
The only minor gripe I had would be that they used some Perth references that weren’t fully explained. It began when Claire referenced the suburb of Kewdale and got a laugh from some Perth expats in the audience. The other two took it as a cue to run with the Perth references.
Overall, “The Dead Set” was a fantastic sampler of what the Perth comedy scene has to offer.
For booking details go to The Dead Set