Alex Edelman: Everything Handed To You
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Alex Edelman: Everything Handed To You

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After a daring debut in 2015, Alex Edelman is returning to The Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his brand new show, Everything Handed To You. Said to take things a step further, the New York based entertainer talks us through what’s new, what’s stayed the same and what he finds damn well infuriating.

“I’d done more than a hundred shows, so I was exhausted,” Alex explains. “This person literally started barking at me – like a dog. I yelled out, ‘Who was that?’ and someone eventually said, ‘You know how everybody in Edinburgh has an Edinburgh Show? Well his show is him going into other people’s shows and barking like a dog’. It made me so angry. I grabbed the microphone and my cell phone and I went into the audience. I used the light on my iPhone and I was like, ‘Show your face!’,” he laughs. “There is no good heckle. People always say, ‘I was helping your show’ – no you weren’t, you were interrupting like an asshole”.

Unlike the barking heckler in Edinburgh, Melbourne audiences and restaurants seem to have cemented themselves as some of Alex’s favourites. “I’ve always liked performing in Melbourne,” he says. “I’m already writing a list of restaurants that I’m going to go to. Ronny Chieng is my culinary spirit animal. We spent half our time in Melbourne going to different food places. Melbourne is like summer camp for comedians. It’s where you go, have an amazing time and do shows every night – it’s so much fucking fun.”

Flying his material to MICF for a second time, the young talent assures audiences that it’s more refined and will bring them in closer than ever before. “This show is a little more personal to me,” Alex shares. “It’s about growing up orthodox Jewish, about my brothers and them trying to find their way in the world. Of course, there’s also a whole bunch of crap about myself. There’s a lot of social commentary included too, but it’s a little more implicit this year. Last year I think some people found it to be too obvious for them. It’s just as political, it’s just as charged, but I think it’s a little less obvious.”

With a noticeable nod to young people of privilege in its title, the show allows Alex to express his opinions on Generation Y and their stereotyped shortcomings. “It stems from the fact people in my generation have had a lot given to them, but it’s not necessarily the stuff that would really equip them for the world,” he reveals. “It’s got nothing to do with scolding Gen-Y-ers, it’s really more about trying to expand their world view. A lot of young people have started disregarding very important, useful and conventional wisdom in favour of stuff they’ve read on the internet – which frankly is not the same, credential wise. Common knowledge is common knowledge for a reason.”

By Phoebe Robertson

Venue: Melbourne Town Hall – Powder Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, CBD

Dates: March 24 – April 17 (except Mondays)

Times: 9.45pm (Sundays 8.45pm) 

Tickets: $26.50 – $33.50

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