MICF- Josh Glanc and Andrew McClelland

For tonight's MICF shows first I headed down to the Melbourne Town Hall to see Australian comedian Josh Glanc's show Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chamedian. Josh's show was a series of different sketches complete with costume changes (some of them quite revealing). The funniest bits were his Behind The Music take on the rise of the Danish Eurodance band Aqua of "Barbie Girl" fame, and a French mime having a crisis of artistry. There was a lot of audience participation in the show, and a recurring commercial skit with an American footballer was more distracting to me due to him naming the team the Cincinnati Falcons than using a raw fish.

Next I ventured down to the Malthouse Theatre to see Australian comedian Andrew McClelland's latest festival show A Seated Walking Tour of Western Europe. In typical Andrew style he opened with a little musical number. It was a fun show as he used Google Street View to take us on a low budget tour through Europe. Parts of the audience were assigned different travel groups, which were referenced throughout the show as we did certain tourist activities. The tour itself led to some unexpected adventures and side trips along the journey, but we covered quite a lot of ground in an hour.

MICF- Tom Ballard, Gen Fricker and Andrew McClelland

It was a comedy packed Sunday as I started my afternoon at the Trades Hall for Tom Ballard's Boundless Plains To Share. In this show (he is also doing another one at MICF) Tom weaved through the stories of four different refugees seeking to come to Australia while utilising a slide show to focus on the history of Australia's immigration policy (which was just as horrifying in past as it is in the present). It was a high energy show as Tom raced through this history lesson, which also included some pre-planned questions for audience members to read out at certain points. I got chosen to read out the following question towards the end: "Why would you want them here when all they do is leech off our economy?" This was particularly funny considering my American accent. As this was also an Auslan interpreted show we got learn some very interesting sign language for certain things. Tom may not have had a final solution to this issue, but the show definitely left you thinking.

Next I headed to the Greek Centre for Gen Fricker's show Yeah? Yeah! Gen spent her 50 minutes discussing assorted stories from her life, such as her Maori heritage, battle with cystic acne and an experience with an incompetent dentist. The funniest story though was around her neighbor's horrible jam band, which she proceeded to discuss both on social media and at her job as a Triple J presenter, and how they ended up finding out about her real thoughts on their abilities. She finished her show by playing her version of a love song.

The final show of the evening was Andrew McClelland in We Really Must Do This Again Sometime at The Forum. Andrew was a tour de force as he sang, danced and joked his way through a very entertaining hour of comedy. Dressed in his usual dandy style, he talked about his issues with magicians, his girlfriend's obsession with The Sims, and how he used World War II dictators to motivate him while exercising. The show ended with an audience sing along that is an earworm that will get stuck in your head for the rest of the night.

MICF: Lawrence Leung & Andrew McClelland- Time Ninjas

Tonight I organized a group from work to attend Lawrence Leung & Andrew McClelland- Time Ninjas at the comedy festival. This was the first time I had seen either of them perform although they have done solo shows in previous years. The show had singing, dancing, history, props, videos and time travel. At the start of the evening they invited an audience member up onto the stage to play the role of Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, they accidentally chopped off her head. Luckily though their future selves have built a time machine with Stephen Hawking's wheelchair, so Lawrence and Andy decide to travel back in time to save their audience member's life. Along the way they meet Jesus, Hitler's mother, and the teenage versions of themselves.

I thought the show was good but not as hilarious as I was expecting, although there were consistent laughs throughout the night. Lawrence and Andy have known each other since kindergarten and as a result they have great chemistry on stage and occasionally would break out of character and improvise a bit. You could tell they were having a lot of fun, although I would like to see them perform a tighter show next time.