The Groggy Squirrel

The first time I saw Daniel Kitson in Melbourne he hosted The Festival Club at the Hifi Bar three nights in a row. That first night I hated him. He was abusing the audience, swearing and shouting a lot, while obviously being a bit too clever, I thought ‘What an obnoxious and angry, strange little man!’ The second night my opinion of him gradually changed and by night three I was in love and have pretty much been so ever since. I say this to encourage those who may have had a negative experience with him a while ago, to come back and give him another chance.

He’s still Daniel but it has been amazing watching him transform over the years he’s been coming to Melbourne. Two years ago he gave what I thought to be his Magnum Opus where he told the world he was not going to let the c##ts define him anymore. This damaged little boy who practiced at being a comedian alone in his bedroom was going to try be the kind of man he wanted to be. A comedian who believes in kindness, romance and being simply happy. He had begun giving reign to this gentle side through his imaginative story shows. Last year his Barry Award winning stand up show was almost in the style of a more personal version of his story show about his family. This year Daniel has taken the personal and moved it out into the grander themes of empowering everyone to be more thoughtful of each other.

I couldn’t help but smile as he began his show by ranting ironically about how much he hates the professionally angry comedian. The ones who get up and mindlessly shout and abuse people. Hmmm. How things have changed, that tonight his only interaction with an audience member was to praise them for something they had done to amuse him. He admitted with a twinkle in his eye, that ‘I am a fascinating paradox’ pointing out that it’s also a nice way of saying he knows he can be a hypocrite.

It was a very tight two hours for an advertised 90 minute show with very little straying off the script, which was a pity, because he’s so good at improvising. Keeping to the script meant his speech impediments were noticeably lessened and the performance kept at a reasonable length, lessoning the danger of it becoming the hostage situation of old. Everyone was released while public transport was still running.

The Show was book ended with a story about going out of his way to help someone and learning stuff about his prejudices and fears along the way. He also made a connection to an experience with his father that played a major part in one of the first standup shows I saw him do. It was a show full of observational humour embracing the silliest minor detail to some serious stupidity.

There may be those of you who miss the vicious, foul mouthed, furious misanthrope (“ I’m not a misogynist – I hate EVERYONE”) with the naughty grin. But we always knew his genius was hiding his fragile, hopeful heart and he’s still got the naughty grin. If you can open your cynical comedy heart up and let Daniel in, you can’t help but leave nourished and warmed to the soul. Daniel Kitson has always relished the charismatic power he has wielded over his audience but now he is using that power for good.

Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details