Comics' Corner - August
DARWIN FESTIVAL FUNNIES
By Will Crawford
It’s August and the lure of Hanuman dinners and cool breezes at Festival Park is strong. The hypnotic call of the comedy sirens catch your ear. Felix and the Darwin Festival team have assembled an astounding array of comic talent, so strap yourselves to the mast of the good-ship comedy and enjoy the best of the Fest.
Be sure to catch Zoë Coombs Marr’s Barrie award-winning show, Trigger Warning. Coombs Marr is one of the hottest talents in Australian comedy. The slick humour of her meat-headed character
Dave has the uncanny ability to simultaneously revolt, delight and make you think – and has not been seen in character comedy since Barry Humphries’ Les Patterson.
Urzila Carlson is another comedian whose star is very much on the rise. Her recent performances on Have You Been Paying Attention showcase her cheeky and biting one-liners. From South Africa, via New Zealand, Carlson is a formidable comic talent who is unafraid to go to dark places, including at midnight when your four-year-old won’t go to sleep. A naturally funny comic, she’ll leave you wishing you’d brought your oxygen mask.
Sam Simmons is a truly original and exciting comic writer who will surprise you with his creative meanderings. A mesmerising surrealist stand-up, Simmons has one of the most unique and absurd comic minds in the business. Think of your silly, dorky and easily distracted Uncle Neville and you will be close.
Joel Creasey, also known as the acid tongued prince (allegedly following an indiscrete post-regurgative pash), is fast and furious and will be sure to leave you gagging for more.
Sharul Channa is one of the pioneers of Singaporean stand-up comedy. In her show Sharul Weds Sharul, this very funny Indian-Singaporean comedian delves into the cross-cultural minefield of an Indian wedding to pluck out some raita of comedy gold. Not to be missed.
For the conformist, Anglo hetero-normative, Dave Thornton might be for you. Not saying he’s a poor man’s Dave Hughes, was rejected by Dave O’Neil’s stylist or failed an audition to be Dave Callan’s back up dancer, but he is called Dave and he is good at telling jokes.
Gillian Cosgriff also looks promising. A musical comedian with a great voice and some disarmingly honest songs, Cosgriff will be sure to deliver a hilarious night out.
The headliner of the Festival is surely Ross Noble. Firmly trespassing in the pantheon of comedy gods, Noble is one of the world’s great improvisers and storytellers. His whimsical and intertwining stories will leave you breathless.
Will Crawford is an up-and-crawling comic. He moonlights as a land rights lawyer and policy activist.
Thumbnail and inset: Zoë Coombs Marr
Header: Sharul Channa
