For the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival this evening Onagh and I took advantage of the Tightarse Tuesday prices to see two veterans of the Australian comedy scene. First up was
Fiona O'Loughlin at the Melbourne Town Hall with her show
My Brilliant Career, which she admitted was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek title. Fiona told several stories about her personal and professional life throughout the years, which ranged from an embarrassing encounter with actor Aidan Quinn in Edinburgh, finding and taking an ecstasy tablet 5 years after it was given to her, and an unlikely friendship with an American living in Alice Springs. The stories were told with a warm and wicked sense of humor and highlighted the freedom one can have in life just by being able to laugh.
Next we headed to The Comedy Theatre for
Wil Anderson's show
Wiluminati. This is his 19th year at the festival, but the first time I have seen him live. Wil did a very tight and funny stand-up set with interweaving stories. He talked about the positive sign he received in New York City ten years ago before his first stand-up performance there, the offensiveness of Outback Steakhouse restaurants to Australians, a gig in Fairbanks, Alaska where a survivalist woman tried to pick him up with a memorable line, and living with the osteoarthritis in his hips and the sex tips he was given by a 70 year-old occupational therapist. Let me just say that I will never look at pillows the same way again. A heckler nearly spoiled the entire ending to the show by shouting out the closing punch line, but thankfully those of us in the upper part of the theatre didn't hear what was said. After admonishing him for a few minutes Wil commenced the conclusion of the show again and still got the laughs from the crowd.
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