Alright, there are a lot of blokes doing stand-up at the Melbourne Comedy festival. Blokey blokes, cerebral surreal blokes and everything in between. But if you look around there are also quite a lot of wonderful women performing. This show was a fine example of that even though it was only providing a sample of those sporting blonde tresses. And no they were not fey and winsome or even dumb. These were strong confident women who probably most resemble the female version of the blokey bloke sort.
So what would you expect from a blokey comedian? Jokes about their partner and kids, reality shows on TV, past jobs, current events, sex and of course his dick (even the most unlikely, sensitive new age types get around to their dick at some point – in a sensitive new age context of course). So what topics did these women tackle? Pretty much the same but the dick jokes were replaced by the female anatomy. OH NO! I hear you cry, it’s as I always suspected, ALL female comedians just bang on about tampons and periods and they’re not funny!! O contraire, these ladies were wonderfully skilled and had men & women in the audience doubled over and in tears.
After a brief introduction from the Extreme Blonde team Cath Styles and Anna Log, they explained that there would be a different female guest performer each night of the show with a reunion of everyone who is available for the final night mini gala. They then introduced their guest for tonight, Mandy Nolan. Mandy is from Mullimbimbi near the Gold Coast in Queensland and is doing her own show at the Forum. She reminded me a little of Edina from Absolutely Fabulous for some reason, but with more confidence and a sharp wit. She was also good at physical humour and did some hilarious impressions of her husband snoring. I loved the demented Mandy and am sure her own show is a crowd pleaser.
Cath Styles decided to follow her dream of being a comedian after raising four boys and covered various topics such as Anzac Day, suicide bombers, the bitches at the make-up counters in department stores and her husband’s relationship with the drought. She was on firmer ground when talking about her family and more personal topics and was a very warm and accessible performer.
The youngest of tonight’s trio, Anna began with a look at the reality show “Australia’s Top Model” and can do a superb impression of an SBS reporter, but where she shone was in her exploration of ladies privates. Her material on reclaiming the cunt and ‘what if men had periods?’ may not seem new, but they sounded fresh and hilarious from talented young Anna possibly because modern female comics tend to avoid such topics like the plague these days so that there are still heaps of new angles in which to discover humour. It’s possible that a lot of young punters have never even crossed these concepts in comedy before. Anna took it into some truly bizarre territory, singing an ode to her clit named Trevor and had everyone in stitches. There’s no need to be turned off by her subject matter; she was utterly charming.
Cath and Anna became friends at Raw only a year ago and good on them for teaming up to support each other and other female comics around town in this entertaining and varied format, dependent on their guests. It’s an excellent night I recommend to all comedy punters.
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