‘I don’t have any respect. Have you seen it?’ – Dodgy Rodney Dangerfield
It was once wisely said (and now even wiserlier repeated) that all comedy is new, good comedy feels familiar. Creative Differences with Cameron Davis, Luke Bolland and Gary was good, solid, no fuss comedy. Faced with the desertion of their third stooge (or should that be wheel), the surviving members (‘Gary’s no dead, he’s just dead to us’) pull a very convincing rabbit from the hat of solvency (‘this show has a message: no refunds’)
Creative Differences is a stand-up showcase by two of Perth’s better, prolific and may I suggest under-utilized talents (some feat given that each has radio hooped all over the dial, appeared on television, performed across the globe, won various competitions, and one has hosted wrestling). But their real gift tonight was suiting their surroundings. In other hands the small audience with no barrier to the rest of the pub would be a death sentence, here the soft chatter and clink of glasses only added to the intimate, soirée ambiance. Under soft lighting (take a bow tech Josh Makinda, ‘one of Perth’s finest comedians on a sound desk’), they dressed in suits, openly drank and sat with the audience, which all added to the late-night party feel (at 7.45pm).
Both are, essentially, gag-men (my kind of guys) who still interject a slice of personality into every line. By the end, we all knew how Cameron would react on holiday, or that Luke likes blowjobs. Their banter, sometimes openly scripted, had real warmth and endearment to each other (a feat given their, especially Luke’s, taste for point-scoring humour).
‘If you could have one person around for dinner, who would it be and what would you serve’
‘The great Gerard Depardieu, and poison lasagna’
Of particular note was their ability to hold a crowd without talking to them, craftsmen to the format. Neither is particularly personable either, they were just…good. They didn’t once look like they were trying, you get the feeling that they could have talked all night.
To see the comedian’s art its most refined level, straight and simple, comedy with bite without the rattle, then see these two before exclusivity contracts force them apart. Or, god forbid, Dave comes back.