The Groggy Squirrel

Alec Fry and Doug Chappel believe that the Australian education does not equip students properly for the real world, so they want to Re-Educate The Planet.

Proceedings were not started by Alec or Doug, but by their warm up act, Monty Dean. Scruffy, long haired Monty performed a tight five about Heavy Metal and body piercings. Given the apathetic response to his initial audience banter, it was clear that these were topics that the majority of the punters couldn’t have cared less about. Rather than cater to the audience, Monty went ahead with his pre-planned set to a smattering of laughter.

Alec assumed the role of ‘Nerdy Teacher’ complete with skivvy, jacket and socks with sandals. His portions of the show were structured as a lecture discussing the topics that should be taught at school verses the subjects that actually are. He used a projector with slides that for the most part didn’t add much to the material, merely stating his verbal material in point form. This was very much like the all too common practice used in actual lectures, so I’m willing to hope that he was taking the piss by recreating this misuse rather than making the same mistake. Alec went out of way to create a smooth link to the next piece by Doug.

Doug was supposedly presenting similar information about what was lacking in the education system, but from the point of view of someone educated ‘on the streets’ rather than the classroom. This contrast in style was welcome but it often felt like Doug was simply reusing his regular stand up material, forcing it to conform to the show’s topic. As a result, the very blokey jokes seemed to have extremely tenuous links to what Alec was presenting. His delivery was very loose, at times he didn’t have a defined structure or order to his sets, and had no concept as to how long he was on stage. He often went off on tangents, regularly asked Alec how far over time he was before ploughing on regardless and ended his spots abruptly, with no segue to Alec’s next bit. Doug is a great stand up, but trying to get him to stick to a topic was difficult.

It was interesting to see the guys work together. Their contrasting styles ensured that the audience’s interest rarely waned. Re-Educating the Planet was an entertaining hour of stand up however it didn’t quite live up to its’ ambitious title.

’Re-Educating the Planet!’ is performed on Weds and Thurs until April 26. See the “Festival website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/213/ for further details.