Well you are warned, but an audience member still asked where the musical numbers were. You might have noted that the Musical reference has been dropped from his posters and fliers. The Title seems to have morphed into 2050 AD – The Future of Comedy is Here. Which is a much more apt but less whimsical title. Rod is finally where he belongs, comfortably ensconced in Trades Hall celebrating the fall of the Evil Empire. But he only allows us a moment to share a whooping Ding Dong the Witch is Dead moment because there are too many scary things to talk with us about.
Rod Quantock has left his blackboard behind to join the 21st Century and it’s modern equivalent the computer and the big screen. One audience member (‘statistic taker’) was given the keyboard and he shared his remote mouse with an audience member as well. If you are interested in ‘What crazy things are scientists up to today?” then this is the show for you. Rod is chock full of interesting facts and figures. And he has immediate proof from the Internet at his fingertips. We check out the Global Clock, which sets the impetus for the show. There is a digital clock counting down the depletion of the world’s oil (amongst other things) and with the computer calculator – “hey how did you do that?” He calls to the girl with the keyboard – he lets an audience member work out when it will run out. Not long before 2050, it turns out and Rod thinks we should think about where the world will be in 2050 and whether we are adequately preparing for it.
I must say he reminded me a bit of my dad discovering all the wonders of computers and the Internet later in life. Especially when Rod took us on a trip through Google Earth, not sure why, but it was fun. I couldn’t help but suspect his brief filming of each night’s audience was just to write off his video camera on Tax. Oh no, I’m sure Rod would never do that!! He had set up lovely PowerPoint slideshows for us about his topic too. He certainly seemed to be having heaps of fun with all the new technology that may be unusable in 50 years. No oil = no Plastics. When the technology went wrong a few times, he lamented the abandoned chalkboard.
He talked about how he grew up with the fear of nuclear destruction, which seems to have morphed into the fear of Global Warming, and how people seem to have forgotten that we might still blow up at any time. Despite the often dark subject matter, Rod is always able to keep the atmosphere fairly light and the jokes sliding in. He is the Grand Old Daddy of Lefty Melbourne Comedy and is always worth revisiting. Check out his Website Quantock.com.au as he has a competition of who can put his poster up in the weirdest spot. Prize is free entry to all future Rod Quantock shows. Lets hope that he’s still doing them in 2050.
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