In festivals past, Gerard McCulloch has been known to put on some highly innovative shows. A couple involved elaborate ethnic character work complete with dodgy facial hair, while another featured barbershop quartets. This year Gerard has gone back to basics, just a man and a microphone. Well for the most part it was, he couldn’t resist in bringing a gong on stage for commanding Imperial Respect!
The basis for the show was jokes and stories about the process of putting on a festival show. He compared the writing process to that of writing for television and discussed his excitement at the early bookers for the season (both of them). He explained the need for performers to take out public liability insurance which led to a hilarious aside about playground injuries. We even got a bit of analysis at the state of the comedy festival with a scathing rant about cabaret.
Interestingly Gerard was one of the only performers I have come across so far that has acknowledged the presence of reviewers at the show. Given the overall theme of the show, this fit in perfectly and allowed him to have a few gentle jokes at the media representatives’ expense. Knowing the make up of that evening’s audience, it was obvious that he was aware that there were some jokes likely to get a bigger laugh from comedy insiders than the general public. These little in jokes were great fun and seemed to be structured in a way that could be understood by everyone.
Despite restricting himself to straight stand up, Gerard managed to incorporate some elements that made his previous shows memorable. When discussion led to cultural differences he pulled out some dodgy accents that he assured us weren’t racist after being okayed by an Asian friend. We were also treated by some songs that showed off Gerard’s musical prowess. There was one fantastic reinterpretation of an operatic standard and a brilliant closing number that was a neat call-back to his loathing of cabaret.
One disappointing aspect of Gerard’s performance was its close proximity to “Phil Nichol’s”:Phil+Nichol:comic show; he is not the quietest of fellows. After being momentarily distracted by Phil’s band and shrieking on a couple of occasions, Gerard decided on the spur of the moment to get some revenge. He took his gong out into the hall and banged away during one of Phil’s rare quiet moments. We didn’t get to find out if this got Phil’s attention, so there may possibly be some retaliation in the future.
This was a great unassuming show that had us laughing and smiling. It doesn’t promise the world and delivers a wonderful hour of jokes and stories.
Gerard is performing Tues to Sun until April 29. See the “Comedy Festival Website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/328/ for booking details.