There is a trend at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival for performers who have done more elaborate festival shows in the past to pare things down to a basic stand up show. Frank Woodley has sort of cut back a bit also. After all the work and money that went into the sets & music etc of his monumentally brilliant ‘Possessed’, that was bizarrely not nominated for a single festival award, I can understand. Frank doesn’t really need a lot of frills and set dressing to entertain his audience and hopefully he’s saving a few bucks.
Frank begins to get giggles from the audience the minute he walks out on stage, he doesn’t have to do anything, everyone is hyped up, knowing they will have a great time plus Frank, like a lot of great funny men before him, is blessed with being ‘funny looking’.The large stage at the Forum is simply set with his guitar, a coat rack, a chair and a goldfish bowl. Frank doesn’t really do straight stand up. He can and he does do some in this show, including a delightful shaggy dog tale or two, but Frank’s style has always been influenced by a more vaudeville or variety show tradition. Frank gives us some sketches, silly business with his ‘stage assistant’ comedian Tommy Dassallo, some of his unique songs, classic mime and a bit of clumsy fish juggling.
When Frank mentioned his two uncles at the start I must say I thought we were going to get some sort of theme to the show, maybe even a thread of a narrative, but not this year. Apart from animals being mentioned here and there linking tenuously to the title, there is no need to really switch your brain on for this show. The two uncles Frank pays tribute to are one who loves golf, which leads him to a masterful mime where he mucks about pretending to play golf to a Dean Martin soundtrack that hints at where some of the ideas for this bit have come from and the other is his uncle Bernie who is hilariously creative at not swearing. It’s hard to know if these are exaggerations or entirely made up. I don’t think Frank is ever going to be the kind of comedian who reveals anything of himself behind the clown with the crazy hair that he’s created. It’s impressive really, he doesn’t have to lay his life bare to get laughs.
With ‘Possessed’, two years ago, Frank had something to prove, that he could put on a stunning show without Colin. He pulled off a dazzling success, a show that was not only funny with all his trademark physical humour but it also pulled at the heartstrings and lingered in the mind long after. ‘Bewilderbeest’ doesn’t need to prove anything, though this is more farcical than whimsical, it’s an impressive presentation of old fashioned vaudeville that you can take the whole family to.
*For booking details visit the Comedy Festival Frank Woodley Bewilderbeest