It’s tough to review this year’s edition of Sydney-based sketch group Comicide’s best-of show without comparing it to last year’s stellar offering ‘Death by Funny’. There is an injection of fresh talent with Felicity Robertson, Jebediah Cole and AJ Tennant joining Patrick Magee from last year’s lineup.
Patrick really was the star of the show, throwing himself energetically into new roles such as sleazy lawyer Tony Cray and bringing back old favourite the Timenator. One aspect that I did miss was the live DJ who mixed together sweepers on the spot in between scene changes, but this was compensated by a very well run technical side of the show, with a lot of good music, sound and lighting effects that complemented the sketches as required.
Moving onto the show itself, it was again the same rapid-fire delivery of short, high-concept sketches that made their points and moved on to the next one before the crowd could stop laughing at the last. The sketches were consistently solid, no clunkers but no home-runs, either, although the opening sketch about the ‘wingman’ who literally was a WW1-era British pilot was certainly a highlight. Recurring sketches, such as the man ostracized from society for not being able to make the ‘Transformers’ noise, or the incredibly uncomfortable couple, wove a nice thread of continuity through the hour to keep it all together. For the second year running, this is funny stuff- and the word must be out, because they played to an absolutely packed and rapt audience at RMIT’s Kaleide theatre. Recommended.
*For more info and booking details go to Comicide : Laugh Without Parole