Staging a stand up show in an Anglican church does give rise to certain misconceptions. Surely the comedy would be heavily based on religious belief, if not at the forefront then certainly as a major undercurrent. As it turns out, Struth was just a standard stand up show with a little religion thrown in for good measure.
Our host for the evening, Anglican Priest Howard Langmead, had the air of a wacky priest whom the old ladies of the congregation found hilarious and the teenagers found a little embarrassing, but this persona suited his material perfectly. His engaging of the other acts in some light banter as he introduced them gave the show a rather informal air.
Bill Beagley was the first performer to do his extended spot. Taking the shows’ title as his cue Bill formed a set that explored the truth about being a man that was actually the basis of some run of the mill material such as the differences between men and women and fatherhood. A lot of his material was based solely on audience recognition of his references and didn’t offer too much in the way of additional humourous insight. He wasn’t the most polished of performers and his attempts at audience interaction were a little long and pointless, yet Bill kept the audience chuckling through most of his set.
Straight off the plane from Toowoomba, Mark Gladman was next to hit the stage. His set was polished, confident, upbeat and high energy that covered a number of standard topics incorporating a couple of musical numbers. The extent of his religious humour consisted of some amusing interpretations of bible passages that linked seamlessly to the mainstream material. His bit on suicide bombers managed to avoid the jokes about the 72 virgins waiting in heaven that everyone else covers but didn’t offer much that stood out from others. Toward the end he unexpectedly ventured into some rather dark material that rather than show his edgy side merely brought discomfort and nervous titters. His experience allowed him to bounce back with some lighter gear to end things on a high.
To round things off, Howard presented an extended set of stand up. His wasn’t the most confident performance of the evening but it did have the distinction of containing the most religious references. His stage persona was that of a nervous and naughty school boy with his frequent looking to the heavens for forgiveness for the jokes he performed. He needn’t have worried as his material wasn’t shocking enough to bring forth His wrath. His jokes were a little hit and miss but Howard told some interesting stories about his life as a priest and father which were heartfelt and warm.
Struth was a fun, entertaining show featuring three performers of varying abilities, each performing material suitable for all ages.
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