Charitable Chuckles by Linh
What’s your taste in comedy? In the first week of previews for the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival, not only does new comedy agency Buxstock serve up some palatable performers, but money raised from the show goes to an orphanage in Thailand. While you chortle or guffaw at the smorgasbord of Australian comedians, orphaned children in Thailand get a bit more of life’s necessities such as food and clothing.
The Comedy Orphans Live At The Orphanage is to provide performers an opportunity to showcase some of their work in their upcoming shows.
The line-up of performers is impressive and include some favourites from previous Fringe appearances such as Felicity Ward, Heath Franklin’s Chooper and Sammy J and puppet-pal Randy. However, these comedy orphans do more than pick-pocketing you for charity; there is funny bone tickling, rib-cage cracking and side-splitting observational jokes. You’ll laugh till it hurts, but the unconventional comedy with some fruity language may not suit everyone’s taste.
Opening the show are musician/writer and comedian Sammy J and his purple puppet partner Randy who show off in a showdown of speedy quips and quirks from their upcoming show Bin Night. The two gel well and complement each other’s personalities without overshadowing the other.
Comedian David Quirk is the nice-guy of comedy (not as nice as Adam Hills though) with a darker side who muses about Thin Lizzie’s hit song Jailbreak, ponders the disadvantages of missing limbs and draws similarities between relationships and bushfire warnings. Quirk is a charmer whose comedy leaves you still laughing at the previous joke while he begins the next.
Well-known as the inquisitive little girl with ponytails from The Ronnie Johns Half Hour comedy show, Felicity Ward returns to Adelaide with a small sample from her new show Honestly. Throughout her fifteen minutes, Ward sometimes has the audience too entranced to even clap or speak (“I can’t hear a nod or a smile” she would say), but when finally let loose from her enchantment, the audience would let the laughter out. Ward incorporates, singing, music, audience participation and encounters with junkies of all kinds. Definitely a show to catch at this year’s Fringe Festival.
The boys from Smart Casual are also back in Adelaide for the Fringe after their sell-out show Same Mother, Different Fathers in 2010. They are smart men in casual wear or maybe casual men in smart wear, but their comedy is a blend of both – smart jokes delivered in a casual manner or vice versa. Fletcher Jones (with the beard) and Roger David (with the guitar) perform the popular ‘Hawk Song’, and some pieces from their new show The Story of Captain Entrée. They are a very funny and affable duo with the Aussie laconic humour that continues to win over audiences.
Writer/producer/comedian Heath Franklin has a cast of comedic characters in his repertoire but his most popular is the impersonation of controversial criminal Mark ‘Chopper’ Read. Chopper is back with more things that p*** him off and gives him the s***s, and is funnier when he picks on an unsuspecting audience member. He’ll be in Adelaide for his latest offering called Chopper’s Big F***en Late Night Show.
The performance was one night only and was 35 minutes late (scheduled to start at 11.15pm), but the wait was worth it as the comedy orphans did not disappoint.
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