Tom Middlebrook is quite into his conspiracy theories. His show is essentially based on them, as well as all the nutters of the human race that create them. David Ike for example. And the lizard people. Yes, according to some, the most powerful people on the planet are in fact descendants of lizards. Which actually would explain why most world leaders are tiptoeing around the issue of Global Warming; they’re lizards, they love the heat. Most of the humour was in a similar vein; taking an amusing real theory put forward by a group, and making humorous observations and gags about them sounds rather boring when you put it like that, but I quite enjoyed some of his punch lines.
He asked us about our lame super powers (sorry, but I couldn’t help but think of David O Doherty’s “Very Mild Super Powers” song at the time) and we learnt about such things as HAARP and the Hadron Collider. He made an interesting point about some views put forward by people on religious forums (essentially he dissolved an argument into a self-contradicting concept with the hypothetical situation of prison rape. I won’t spoil it, you’ll have to ask him yourself to find out how).
He seemed a tad nervous, stumbling over his lines just once or twice, but he was so damn likeable it was impossible to really feel any disdain or disappointment about it. He was friendly, and overall, very comfortable with his audience, and completely unperturbed by the fact that there were only about twelve of us. I definitely enjoy seeing any comedian who performs just as well to ten people as to ten thousand, and ultimately, ten is probably more difficult.
I’m not going to lie, the show did not have any real uniqueness. But the man himself had a great attitude, and presented himself well. You could do SO much worse.
If you were thinking seeing someone this year who you maybe haven’t heard of before, this would be the show I would recommend for you.
(I should mention that afterwards I had drinks with the man, and he learnt something new about flaming absinthe shots. Yes, you CAN spill them while they are still lit, and you WILL burn your hand. Something to remember for next time, Tom).
For full details go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival website