The name Rich Brophy is one that I had noticed in the Edinburgh Fringe program as an Australian act whom I had not seen perform. Originally from Perth, he has been based in the UK for a number of years and for this year’s Melbourne Fringe has popped back to his homeland to perform his latest show _An Idiot’s Rant.
Changing the world was the main topic of this show. True to the title of the show he conducted a number of rants about things that he felt were wrong with the world. A number of the usual target such as government and organised religions were given a kicking as well as plenty of social issues. All the topics he explored were reliable sources for solid observational humour which he dealt with using a healthy amount of personal opinion. In relating how some of these issues directly influenced his life he gave them more depth than the standard ‘isn’t X funny?’ or ‘what’s the deal with…’ structures.
Prior the the show, a clipboard was circulated amongst the audience for them to jot down what they wanted to change about the world, no matter how big or small. Aside from the brief mention of a couple of notes he didn’t capitalise on them as a source of humour, instead using them as a launching point for his own scripted material. I’m not sure if it was due to nothing tickling his fancy on opening night’s list or he was so focused on the prepared gear that it slipped his mind, but it was a missed opportunity. It would be interesting to see how this interactive concept plays out as the season progresses.
Rich was still finding his feet on opening night so there was some initial material about his being based in the UK and comparing that experience to Australia. He was also able to successfully incorporate this expatriate slant into the main thread of the show. This offered a distanced view of Australia that provided the opportunity to describe Australia’s performance on the world stage which was fascinating, hilarious and a clever way of getting the audience to take a good hard look at themselves.
On stage Rich is a very confident performer with a slightly laid back attitude .He prowled the stage and got a little more animated during his rants and a few physical vignettes but kept it measured in keeping with his persona. He added few cheeky exchanges with the somewhat quiet audience which were charmingly playful.
This was a smart and hilarious show by a polished stand up.
Visit the Fringe website for booking details.