Courteney Hocking’s “Miss Right” is an odd one. Some amazingly clever and powerful material is wrapped up in a concept that is never really delivered on.
The foundation of the show is that Courteney has become disillusioned with the left of politics and has decided to become a right wing comedian. While occasionally dipping into a right-wing persona, Courteney never commits to that character and the majority of the material is delivered under her own persona – that of a definitely left-wing political nerd who is having trouble committing to all the ideals that fit under the umbrella of ‘left wing’.
The problem with the show is that Courteney never really decides what her on-stage persona is. At one point, she’ll be covering the disappointment and boredom of Kevin Rudd and the next she’ll extolling the virtues of self-interest. There’s no clear delineation between her personalities and most of the ‘right-wing’ material just falls flat because it’s obvious that she doesn’t believe in what she’s saying, but she also doesn’t give any sense of irony to her declarations.
Despite these problems, however, the middle section of the show is astoundingly good. When Courteney gets into material that she actually seems to believe in – especially around the molly-coddling attitude of everybody being special – she gets into an amazingly effective ranting rhythm that really showcases her passion and wit.
When Courteney is on her game, she’s one of the finest political minds to be found on a stand-up stage, it’s just a pity that less than half the performance really showcases that talent. This will get you some of your political comedy fix, but there’s something lacking in the show as a whole.
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