Emerging from the rear of the theatre to a funky soundtrack while high-fiving punters as he went, Bryan Roberts certainly entered like a rock star greeting his adoring fans. Dressed in a swanky suit with a wide brim hat atop his recently shorn head, he gave the impression of being a consummate performer who took pride in his appearance as well as his show.
Bryan has been plugging away in Melbourne’s stand up rooms over the past year, developing an hour or so of solid material. He has woven this into a brilliant show that takes a rambling journey through his various life lessons. It flows effortlessly from topic to topic and even manages to impart some important messages to ‘his people’ about life, a trait left over from his days as a preacher. In spite of his Christian background, it was not a religious show and Bryan’s jokes sometimes got a bit racy or off colour but he was able to word it in a way that ensured that hardly anyone took offence.
With a very confident stage manner, Bryan delivered his tales with the ease of a master story-teller. He was not afraid to get physical, throwing himself into hilarious mimes to tell his collection of stories. We even witnessed his impressive dance moves with his ‘Hammertime’ introduction and a history of Michael Jackson’s choreography obviously helped by intense study of all of Jackson’s videos.
The stand up of Bryan’s show was broken up with a number of musical interludes to give our laughing muscles a rest. This included a couple of songs belted out by a friend with an impressive voice. Later a rendition of the New Zealand national anthem followed by a Haka, performed by a group of Kiwi mates, tied in with his material about rugby.
Bryan presented a wonderful show that had the audience exiting from the theatre feeling joyfully entertained. On top of this elation, you can also feel a sense of achievement by helping Bryan help others. Two thousand dollars from ticket sales will be donated to charity and will be matched by ANZ (Bryan’s generous employer).
’Life of Bryan II’ plays an extremely limited season on Saturdays until April 21. See the “Comedy Festival Website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/188/ for further details.