Twenty years ago a legacy of goof, artlessness and capricious wisdom was born. Inducing university revues, cover gigs and tiny audiences alike into fits of laughter catapulted Tripod – a three-piece conglomeration featuring Scott ‘Scod’ Edgar, Simon ‘Yon’ Hall and Steven ‘Gatesy’ Gates – on to the national stage. Countless residencies at Collingwood’s once infamous comedy haunt, the Prince Patrick Hotel, were followed by festival sets at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival and Woodford Folk Festival. Then they were invited to perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, an extravaganza they have since made their own.
They return to the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival for their most makeshift tour yet as they scour through 101 of their most well received and venerated hits, randomly unveiled via a bingo cage. The apparatus, aptly or not-so-aptly named Dr. Shuff, has been shaped to dumbfound the crowd – and dumbfound the group themselves. Each performance will be completely unrehearsed and entirely dictated by the aspirations of Dr. Shuff.
“This show is the ultimate expression of that short attention span,” says Edgar. “We’ve got a bingo barrel with one hundred and one balls in it, and every single night it’s just a totally different set. We have to know all one hundred and one songs, and a different set will come out. It’s the most distilled technique of keeping ourselves interested.”
Maintaining a dynamic lifestyle hasn’t been difficult for the three misfits as they’ve juggled contributions in every production medium possible. They’ve dabbled in television appearances, owning the screen in sketch comedy series skitHOUSE and off-the-cuff variety series The Sideshow. They’ve performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and have even launched their own comedic musical with Tripod versus the Dragon.
Wavering between lifestyles with such expertise is something Edgar is modestly gratified about and he believes there shouldn’t be barriers between artistic avenues.
“The arts is a continuum. It’s not a series of fenced off areas and never the twain shall meet. So all the arts can bleed into each other and inform each other and I’m quietly proud in a slightly wanky way that I’ve gone on and been able to demonstrate that throughout my career.”
It’s been 20 years of Scod, Yon and Gatesy, but admittedly to Edgar the triad extends another four or five years beyond that. “I have a memory of saying to my friend, ‘let’s get a guitar and do some harmonies and do some busking’ and the guy said ‘that sounds great’. Then behind me up in a stairwell is Yonny, who I only sort-of knew, and he was like ‘that’s good man let’s do that’.” Gatesy only joined the group a few years later. “Yonny knew Gatesy from performing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. So we’re measuring the 20 years from when we first gigged with Gatesy, but it really began another four or five years prior to that.”
The suspense of 101 randomly drawn Tripod songs is especially tantalising for a well-journeyed fan, however even for those who aren’t aware of their music, it’s set to be an equally impressive show. “It’s a fun show. I don’t know what people can expect, it’s totally different every night and basically it is just glued together by a nail-biting tour through a completely random set list,” Edgar says. “We’ve done three shows in Brisbane so far and there has been plenty of people who haven’t seen us before who have really enjoyed it. The songs are in the book because we like them, so whatever the people get I’m sure it’ll be of a certain standard.”
By Tom Parker
Venue: The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre Melbourne – 100 St Kilda Rd, CBD.
Dates: March 24 – April 17 (except Mondays)
Times: 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm)
Tickets: $25 – $60
