Today on the show it’s another Festival Friday edition with co-hosts Jennifer Wong and Jack Druce dropping by to talk about their favourite parts of Melbourne and laundering money via Comedy Shows. Jennifer Wong appears in Spineless – Tuesday through Saturday, 7pm at the Portland Hotel. Jack Druce appears in Unqualified Life Coach – 8.30pm Monday at the Town Hall, and Tuesday through Thursday and Saturdays at 8.15pm at Spleen Bar.
Our guest on the show today is the cast and director of Slutmonster & Friends. The sexy farce takes place every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 10pm during MICF at the Northcote Town Hall. Check the Comedy Festival website for tickets and more information.
Today’s MICF Daily News:
– REVIEW WRAP: Plenty more reviews out for Comedy Festival shows in the last few days, including several more five star reviews. Nick Mason of Beat Magazine has written good thing about Idiots of Ants, while Nick Taras has pumped up Matt Okine. The Herald Sun’s review team have awarded five stars to Max and Ivan and Wil Anderson, with four and a half stars going to Choir Girl and Stephen K Amos Over at The Age, four stars have been awarded to Rubberbandits, and Bane 1. Finally at Squirrel Comedy, the funny animals have given the thumbs up to two dark comedies – Michael Workman and Simon Keck.
– EXTRA SHOWS: Three big names have added extra shows to keep up with the demand. As mentioned on yesterday’s MICF Daily, Dave Hughes has extended his run of Freezer Bread to finish up tonight. See Dave at the Victoria Hotel, 7pm tonight, limited tickets from Ticketmaster. And this year’s festival duo of Judith Lucy and Denise Scott have added a 10th show to their originally announced nine show run. The matinee session of their show The Spiral will take place on Saturday April 20 at 3pm. Tickets for that one also on Ticketmaster.
– Steve Hughes returns to MICF with a brief four show stop in Melbourne. Big Issues, his new show tackles issues such as political correctness, asylum seekers, and the War on Terror. The first three shows are sold-out, but fourth and final show is on sale now. See Steve on Sunday April 21 at the Forum Theatre, tickets from Ticketmaster.
– PODCASTS: Several podcasts taped last week at the festival, and the results are now online! I Love Green Guide Letters features letter loving comics Tom Ballard, Sam Pang, and Tony Martin flicking through The Age’s TV liftout. Listen to the episode here. The Little Dum Dum Club hosts Dave O’Neil, Pete Holmes and Eddie Pepitone in an episode which you can listen to here. Open Mic Life keeps it homegrown with guests Greg Fleet and previous MICF Daily guest Dilruk Jayasinga. Stream it from here. Also taped last week is a new episode of Justin Hamilton’s Can You Take This Photo Please with Heidi and Joseph from FanFiction Comedy.
– Speaking of Eddie Pepitone, if you’re a fan of the man tonight is the night to head out to the festival. Pepitone is known for his appearances of live episodes of previous festival guest Marc Maron’s podcast WTF, and featured in documentary The Bitter Buddah. Eddie will appear on the Headliners show, a three pronged showcase of American talent which includes Michael Che and Pete Holmes, 9.45p tonight at the Town Hall. If you need more Eddie, he will perform a one-off solo show 11pm tonight which has now been moved to the Supper Room at the Melbourne Town Hall. Finally, if you haven’t seen the Bitter Buddah yet – you can watch it 4pm tomorrow at The Hi-Fi Bar. Tickets for all three shows are on sale at Ticketmaster.
– But perhaps you want to catch a film tonight? Some bad cinema mixed with good comedy? Cinema Fiasco to the rescue! Fiasco features film buff comics Janet A McCloud and Geoff Wallis give live commentaries of the top of cinema dreck tonight, and every Friday of the festival. Tonight, Janet and Geoff talk over 1961 Danish dinosaur disaster film Reptilicicus; a film that one IMDb review claims is “without a doubt the best BAD movie ever made”. The screening starts 7.30pm tonight at Cinema Nova in Carlton – get your tickets from cinemanova.com.au or at the box office.
– Halftix, the discount ticket booth located near festival HQ at the Melbourne Town Hall has had cut price seats available for many festival names big and small. Just this week tickets have been available for Cam Knight, Arj Barker, Greg Fleet, Nic Coppin, and Stephen K Amos. Check out the Halftix booth on Swanston St in the city, and their website.
– LATE NIGHT: Comedy Up Late finishes the night off at Festival Club. The ABC2 taping tonight features host Lawrence Mooney and guests Kevin Kropinyeri, Harley Breen, Michael Che, Loretta Maine, Geraldine Quinn, Nazeem Hussain, Simon Munnery, and Trevor Noah; and DJ Lorne Rawlings gets the music pumping after the comedy. Things kick off 11.15pm tonight at The Hi-Fi Bar, tickets at the door.
– For a late night show with a difference, Soul Bank returns to the Tuxedo Cat tonight at midnight. Pat Burtscher and Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall host the proceedings, with music programmed by Steph Brotchie and featuring some of the festival’s weirdest and funniest comedy. Entry is free, pay what you feel on leaving.
– Also on late tonight: Late Night Letters and Numbers, Shaggers, Facty Fact, The New Conway Tonight Show, Capital Punishment, The After Party, Ali McGregor’s Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night, The Big Hoo-Haa!, Late Night Theatresports, Stand-Up Sit-Down: Comics in Conversation, and the Heaps Good SA Showcase. For a full list of shows on today at the Comedy Festival, check it’s official website.
