Halley Metcalfe is a charming and pleasant lady to spend an hour with. She has ingeniously & rather cheekily called her show Five Stars. The problem with this is that she could set an audience’s expectations a bit too high, unfortunately this isn’t really a five star show and she knows it and I think she could have either made a bit more fun of herself at the beginning about it or found away to find the five stars for herself in the show.
Being at Halley’s show is a bit like being at a friend’s dinner party, there are lots of little family in jokes that might be hilarious to them but are a little lame to outsiders. There are also stories about having a rough time at school for being smart, why she got into teaching and then progressed to comedy, how she tried to hide her holiday hijinks from her parents and failed and a bit about depression. Her many embarrassments are amusing but it’s all very safe and lightly handled as if everything has to be mild enough to say in front of the family. Indeed she admits to being frightened of upsetting her parents and feels guilty about swearing twice on stage.
It was frustrating when Halley mentioned some really exciting things that have happened in her family; apparently her mother shot someone and her grandma ran a brothel, only to sadly explain that she can’t elaborate for fear of upsetting her family. Why tease us Halley! Halley travelled overseas last year and probably her biggest laughs came out of that experience, maybe she should delve deeper there and forget her fears of what her family might think. Maybe she should even break away from all that’s keeping her back and live overseas and do comedy there for a while so she can unleash what she already suspects would be top material. There’s also the fact that comedians don’t have to be 100% honest, most of the best are pretty shameless at getting laughs.
I’ve enjoyed many of Halley’s previous performances; she’s got confidence, style and timing down and is usually pretty good at providing laughs. Her show Five Stars was structured beautifully and had some funny recorded interludes that I believe might have worked better if Halley had done them herself, though the bloke who did them did a fine job. Unfortunately the bulk of her material this year is just a bit on the pedestrian side. Halley’s show was all about spending her whole life seeking approval, and I feel like I’m kicking a sweet puppy by criticising her show but maybe she ought to think about what the audience might be seeking when we come to see her.
Halley Metcalfe – Five Stars runs until April 18th. Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details.