The Short Bus To Wrongtown began with a rather lowkey introduction by Paul Jones – after already gracing the stage for a couple of sound-checks, a little intro music or some announcement should preceed the performance. Taking the format of a stand-up night, Paul took the role of MC and did a passable job with his material and keeping the night flowing. Paul’s material was a little patchy in parts, and this was excerbated by his rather laconical delivery which failed to keep the momentum in his performance, but he managed to have enough laughs to keep the audience’s attention.
After Paul’s introduction, Ben Hodson entered the stage. I know this is probably a counter-productive statement to make, but Benne’s major flaw has always been his lack of confidence on stage. His material consists mainly on one-liners, and after delivering each joke he pauses, waiting for audience reaction. Especially with such a small audience size, this delivery style can lead to confidence shattering pauses, which Benne just doesn’t have the ego to march over. As Benne’s set continued, his obvious nervousness ruined some quite decent material.
After another brief interlude by Paul Jones, the stage was graced by Clare Turner. While Clare’s material was probably at about the same level as the other performers, her absolute confidence and powerful delivery made for a much more enjoyable set. She’d have the same issues of delivering material designed to shock that sometimes just didn’t draw a laugh, but before you’d had a chance to disengage, she’d plough straight into more material.
This show does a fairly good job of being a standard comedy night. As the title suggests, if you’re after a few dick jokes and shock jokes, this wont disappoint – and at only $5, it’s one of the cheapest ways to get into the festival.