It’s been interesting to watch the development of family-oriented shows throughout the life of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Last year ‘Eskimo Jokes’ was the afternoon show aimed at the over 14’s market and the Comedy Club was the morning slot for primary-aged kids. This year the Comedy Club for Kids has moved to the much more intimate Bosco Theatre (from Umbrella Revolution) and even though the club includes a revolving cast of talent from the adult festival program this time there is a constant in the role of MC – Rebecca De Unamuno.
De Unamuno has the energy pitched at the perfect level for the kids. This really must be one of the hardest gigs around because the audience ranges from little kids in prams to teenagers and their parents. Is it possible to make a two year old, the teenager and their mum all laugh at the same time? In the Comedy Club it does happen – most of the time. Before each act De Unamuno invites kids to join her on stage for some theatre-sports themed action, the day I was there it worked really well although I can imagine it could be hit and miss depending on the kids, but I think De Unamuno has the knack for finding the gems in the crowd.
Each show includes three acts, usually from the evening program, each performing a snappy seven-minute set. Last year’s outings at the family-themed shows taught me that this doesn’t always work well, some comedians did not alter their material quite enough for the younger audience (Asher Treleaven and his douching material springs to mind) and I was surprised to read a current review that Claire Hooper was still including child-birthing excrement gags for the young ones this year (Claire, most kids don’t spend much time thinking about child-birth and the rest of us already found that out the hard way). So to be honest I wasn’t sure what we’d get this year.
However Fox Klein and Al Pitcher did a damn fine job slipping back into their childhood worlds and finding plenty to make the whole audience laugh. Fox was a particular favourite with his memories of the game the-floor-is-lava – he looked like he was having fun and that is always infectious. H2Whoah, Class Clowns winners from 2007 were the third act and while they showed promise as a comedy duo they probably weren’t able to engage the restless audience quite as well.
The great thing about these shows is that it gives parents the opportunity to preview a few acts and helps is choosing who to see from the evening program but there are some really polished kids shows in the program this year that the kids enjoyed far more. The Comedy Club for Kids is still too hit-and-miss to be on the must-see list.
Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details