Seeing a gap in the market for an hour of stand up featuring some of Melbourne’s top performers at around ten o’clock, Comedy Svengali Janet A McLeod created Comedy Showbag. Within easy walking distance of the Melbourne Town Hall, it is a great way to get a sampling of comics that aren’t household names.
The Showbag takes place at Three Degrees, a funky bar in the QV Square that is a new venue for this year’s festival. Locating the actual location of the room being used takes a little navigation prowess (head upstairs and turn left) but it is far way from the main bar area so as not let any outside distractions invade the performance space.
It is a cosy little space that is set up like a small theatrette with the simple set up of a stage, microphone and single bright spotlight. In fact this light was so bright that it generated immense heat that made the room quite warm. One point of interest is a large painting of two women located on the wall behind the stage that was begging for the more adventurous performers to improvise some comments about.
The show is structured as fifteen minute spots with four comedians performing over the hour with a different line up each night. One the night I attended we saw “Fox K”:comic, “Damien Lawlor”:comic, “Gavin Baskerville”:comic and “Duff”:comic who treated us to solid sets of material. There is no MC controlling the night’s proceedings, instead each performer finishs their spot by introducing the following act. A last minute cancellation of an act threw the running order into disarray, but the jokingly fumbled introduction produced a very cruisey atmosphere.
Given the relaxed nature of the show, the performers were comfortable enough to attempt a few new things. This was most likely a device to maintain interest in their own material and produced some unique and memorable moments. Damien carted a large candelabrum on stage only to use it for a single joke, as well as this hilarious admission and complaint about it’s cumbersomeness. He was encouraged to leave it on stage so that following performers could make use of it, to which Duff pounced upon the opportunity. Duff also relayed ghost stories of the QV building as well as doing a spot a caricature drawing for a lady celebrating her birthday.
This a fantastic show to end up at after seeing shows earlier in the evening. The public at large may not have heard of all the performers before, but they all have the McLeod seal of quality.
’Comedy Showbag’ happens Tues to Sat until April 28. See the “Festival Website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/364/ for full details.