Sammy J is one of the best musical comedians Melbourne has produced and with his new solo work Skinny Man Modern World he proves that he doesn’t really need the songs to make an audience laugh, he is a brilliant comedian full stop. There are four songs in the show, acting like pillars, giving structure to the show and signposting changes in tone or topic. Most importantly they are all brilliant. Sammy gently takes us into his new stand up style by sitting at the piano tinkling some background music to his first tale of naughty high school highjinx. The story is like a left over from earlier shows, still dealing with the horrors of high school and the awkward teen years. From then on, despite some more of his trademark ribald humour, the show reflected how Sammy has matured as an artist and a comedian.
The highlight of the show for me was a song I’ll call ‘Delete’ probably one of the best songs he’s ever written. It’s a stunner, dark (as his songs often are) and also has a refreshing depth and maturity to its humour that is really impressive. The other song that stayed with me was completely different. The Mermaid Song is silly, absurd and fanciful, yet epic and hilarious, co-staring an old soapie veteran and an endearing octopus. It is the only part of the show that is obviously not based on a real story from his life, yet an aside about how he came to write it, is a brilliant way of weaving it into the rest of the show.
The stand up stories, like his songs are often outrageous but only offensive to the easily disgusted and epic in the scale of the telling. They are told in his unique formal and precise style which is at the same time warm and welcoming. Everything is pitched perfectly and the force of his personality moves the show along at a fast and exciting pace with the jokes often coming out of left field. Though everything is tightly scripted we enjoyed a couple of off script moments that proved Sammy was fearless and adept at improvising humour on the spot. An audience member who took up his rather dangerous challenge to express disapproval of his show (She was grinning wildly, so I think she was having fun with him) was swiftly and hilariously dealt with, proving that you don’t mess with a man who has spent several weeks honing his show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
It must have been fun for him to perform in front of a friendly home crowd, most of whom on opening night looked like family members and friends, after debuting this new show in the UK as it is a very different show for him. So don’t go expecting it to be a showcase of comedy songs or a character piece. Sammy J has no puppets on stage or props other than his piano and trusty juice box and there is no plot, but he tells some fabulous tall stories and the show is as polished and hilarious as ever. The other main thing it has in common with all of his shows is that you should leave the kids at home, unless you think it’s time they learned about some fairly adult topics. Otherwise I recommend Skinny Man, Modern World as a sure bet for a top night at the Melbourne Fringe.
Visit the Fringe website for booking details.