Being a regular on breakfast radio is pretty much the pinnacle for a comedian in this country. Dave Thornton achieved that two years ago when he was announced alongside Fifi Box as one half of breakfast radio show Fifi and Dave on Fox here in Melbourne. Due to the time commitments and getting up at 4.30am everyday, some comedians shows suffer noticeably and others giveaway stand-up altogether. None of this has proved true for Thornton, who really is a master of his craft.
Whether you’ve seen him in full before, just bits on TV, on the radio or not at all, one thing that’s immediately apparent is just how likable he is. It would be hard to imagine anyone seeing a full hour of Dave Thornton and leaving with a sour taste in their mouth. Keep in mind this reviewer once got mercilessly heckled a few years back by Thornton for going to the toilet at the Comic’s Lounge in North Melbourne during his support slot for Dave Hughes. Such is his charm, Thornton could probably get a phone call during your Gran’s funeral, talk for two minutes and hold the whole thing up and everyone would respond with ‘what’s he like?’ and a chuckle.
Entitled So On and So Forth, this year’s not big on themes. The show really only has three or so main stories. One being about going away on holiday to carry out a 2,000-year old ritual of being silent for ten days straight. Unsurprisingly this provided for some great comedic material. He mentioned the story near the front of the show after some great crowd work and kept coming back to it throughout the duration in a Ross Noble kind of fashion, yet a little more deliberate.
Watching Dave Thornton reminds you that great stand up really only needs a couple, sometimes one main story to tie various jokes in together in some sort of cohesive fashion. Fodder includes riffing on the amount of Taylor Swift played on Fox, getting heckled walking down the street by a passer by in a car, or “free range heckling” as he called it (that’s karma Thorno) and the humiliation of oneself that is skiing. The latter, a story of skiing for the very first time was particularly amusing as it relentlessly ribbed the Tooraks and Brightons of the room about their privileged upbringings, but again he’s too likable for anyone to hold it against him. He jested that rich people ski just so they can get a high vantage point to look down on all the poor people and laugh. Simple? Yes. However it’s effective, and when told with the skill and timing of Thornton it just works. It’s just one example of him being able to make a joke funny that wouldn’t be if the average person told it.
It’s great to see a breaky host keep their stand up routine as sharp as possible and Thornton is clearly in career best form.
BY ALEX CROWDEN
