This show, as well as a handful of others in this year’s Fringe, must be applauded for taking a leaf from book of the Edinburgh Free Fringe. There is a collection of donations at the conclusion of the show rather than set ticket price. It allows the acts the freedom of trying something different without slugging the punter a large fee for watching a “work in progress” as well as keeping the performer on their game, knowing that a lacklustre show will result in less revenue at the end.
Fear and Laughing at The Melbourne Fringe Festival is a stand up performance by Micah D Higbed which explored the many things in the world which conjure and maintain fear. He covered the obvious topics such as phobias, religion and politics as well as some concepts that were wonderfully left of centre. It was rather exhaustive in detail which demonstrated the great research that had gone into this project. This was a topic that many comedians had covered before and there is always opportunities to mine further for more comedy gold, but Micah’s approach was a little hit and miss. There were times where he ranted and vented which usually didn’t lead to a solid punchline. Other bits relied too heavily on the facts; he assumed that the absurdity of a quote didn’t require further comic elaboration but the quiet audience begged to differ. He also often made the rookie mistake of continuing past the punchline and not ending on the biggest laugh.
It was when he tackled material based on personal experiences rather than social observations that Micah really hit his stride. This isn’t to say that his other stuff was dull, it was fascinating and raised plenty of smiles, but it did lack the warmth that appeared when he was part of the story rather than just an observer. He also showed off his ability to work off the cuff with some amusing comments when the scripted jokes fell flat. Although you sensed his disappointment, this lighthearted approach salvaged some laughs to an extent.
Opening night nerves were evident when his flow was disrupted at times, but overall he was supremely confident on stage with a great sense of timing and the ability to put the audience at ease. There wasn’t too much to fault in his presentation although the PA was a little too loud for the size of the room (but as the main bar noise threatened to invade the space, it was somewhat justified.
Micah still has a few weeks to mould this show into a solid 45 minutes of hilarity but even now there are enough inspired moments to recommend checking it out. He presents plenty of thought provoking ideas to fuel discussions on the way home and some laugh out loud moments to make this ride worthwhile. Just make sure that you turn up early as the venue is quite small with limited seating.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.