Comics' Corner - A Year in Review
With the arrival of December comes the slow, sweaty glide of the build-up, bringing with it time to reflect on the comic year that was.
By Will Crawford
2019 saw the emergence of some incredible talent. In fact, I can’t recall a year since 2014 that has seen the emergence of so many local comedy dynamos.
Richard Snr Fejo led the way with his first-class raconteur, full of warmth and delightful cheekiness. His version of 'Gangsta’s Paradise' with the changed lyrics “rice and bully beef” was gold, and is still sung by one particular commuter in the car to work each day…
Micah Kickett also arrived on the scene, courtesy of his win in Deadly Funny NT. A quintuple threat who can sing, rap, act, do voices and write some of the sharpest material in town, Kickett’s another dynamo you need to keep an eye on. He’s sure to go far and has the gift of holding his audience in the palm of his hand, as he leads you on some of the most beautiful comic tales.
Arun Alexander is another newcomer, winning the 2019 Raw Comedy final in his first ever gig. This 17-year-old puts this very-much-older columnist to shame with his comedic chops. He’s a great joke writer, comfortable in front of crowds, and delivers some of the funniest character-driven comedy since Celia Pacquola came onto the scene. After being singled out and picked on, responding with some timely heckles during Nazeem Hussein’s Darwin Festival show, Basic Idiot, Alexander was invited to open for Hussein on the second night. Watch out for him once he finishes his year 12 exams…
Another delightful surprise was the comic arrival of the energetic Leah Potter, who single-handedly pushed comedy into new territory with her sell out Fringe show, Recollections from the Dungeon. Leah fearlessly tacked politicians and their tackle in Politics in Bars, the Darwin dating scene in All the Single Ladies with Hanada Ghazala and Gabby Wolfe, and Girls Gone Wild with Jodi Watson.
After the success of Rage Against the Washing Machine, Nicole Stevens triumphantly delivered an immaculate display of deadly and dry one-liners, and incisive musical satire in her 2019 show Not as Crap as Last Year.
And let’s not forget the virtuoso observational comedy of Amy Hetherington in her 2019 triumph, Where They Hide the Crazy, which sold out in Darwin, won the prestigious Adelaide Fringe Weekly Comedy prize, and went on to sell out at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Darwin is truly rediscovering its halcyon days of stand up. Get amongst the joy of local comedy because we are blessed with a ridiculous bounty of comic talent in this little creative comedy cradle that is the Top End.
Will Crawford is an up-and-crawling comic. He moonlights as a land rights lawyer and policy activist.
Photo: 2019 Deadly Funny NT by Paz Tassone
