The Groggy Squirrel

Dave Callan’s exposure to the nation as a ‘TV comedian’ and his work on Triple J radio give him a ready made audience prepared to lap up his comedic talents. However, Dave wants to deliver more than those expectations, and the mismatch makes for a rocky ride.

Dave introduces the show with a solid fifteen minute set of stand-up, commenting on his impressions of Melbourne as an outsider. Covering the weather, football, heckling, style and the tracksuited residents of Collingwood, this easily accessible material and Dave’s charming manner quickly has the audience onside as he introduces the core of the show.

Conceptually, Daylight Savings for the Doomsday Clock is about the roots of all the problems of the world and the impending tragedy that awaits us if we refuse to heed the warnings. Covering citizenship, nuclear armaments, global warming and the cult of consumerism, there’s a wide range of subject matter to cover.

During the introduction to the show, Dave makes a point that political comedy’s ability to highlight tragedy is a great power for change. The problem here is that for the most part, this show is political statement juxtaposed with comedy. The facts are presented in a dry, lecturing manner, while the comedy barely maintains its link to the substance, often taking the show off on absurdist tangents that do nothing to strengthen the message. In a fringe show, a greater deal of leeway may be given, but a comedy festival audience is not generally willing to take lecturing so detached from the comedy.

Some of the high-concept comedy works extremely well, deconstructing the jokes with statistics and venn diagram based humour. Also his use of a narrating voice over to create conflict worked really well. These moments show that Dave has got some real skill at moving beyond a standard stand-up show, and it’s a pity that we didn’t get to explore that part of his comedy further.

This is an ambitious show that fails to live up to its promises. As a comedy show, there’s too much preaching, and as a political message it fails to stay on track. Dave’s obvious passion for his anti-consumerist beliefs gives hope that he’ll one day be able to merge those beliefs with his comedic skill, but this show is not the realisation of that promise.

Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details