I wish it could be autumn in Victoria all year round you know? Ballarat has been so perfect. The ovals and gardens are pristine and our reputation according to my mate Scotty that “Ballarat is where wind starts”, is erased…at least for a few months.
Melbourne springs to life too. It’s always been our favourite time of year. Footy season swings into gear with at least one game being played on a single day over the weekend but it’s the International Comedy Festival that takes the CBD to another level.
For all the problems we’ve had with woeful governance, the corrupt CFMEU and the dark cloud that is Trump, the city was exploding in joy yesterday.
Perhaps it was the free public transport that was being well patronised but it’s that autumn sunshine that brings out the best in our miserable Melbournians, of which I’m one.
Our plan was to catch up with our eldest daughter Corrie, a dyed in the wool inner north girl, wander the city then have a feed before our first show, that being the legendary Rich Hall at the Arts Centre.
It’s hard to believe Rich Hall wrote and performed for the Letterman Show in 1981, winning an Emmy for his efforts. He is the inspiration for Moe The Barman in The Simpsons and is an award winning documentary maker on American history.
At seventy one he looks amazing and to be twenty feet away from him at the intimate Fairfax Studio was something quite special for both of us.
He lives on a ranch in Montana with his English wife and twelve year old son (yes ladies and gentleman, I had one left in the chamber).
This was his ninth trip to the festival and he understands us very well. But first he had to get the Trump ‘elephant in the room’ out of the way, so in a mix of pathos and absolute hilarity he spent five minutes describing America’s ‘de-evolution’.
Then came a couple of tunes on the guitar and one of his classic bits where he asks an audience member a couple of questions and turns those answers into a song.
Rich is a brilliant storyteller and the type of bloke you warm to so quickly, you would love for him to come over for dinner. The crowd were mostly middle aged but some had brought along some kids and grandkids to see Rich.
At one stage as we were all gut laughing, I looked to my left and saw a young teenager rocking back and forth quite literally out of control laughing. Testimony to just how brilliant Rich Hall is.
It’s a short season so if you are in Vic, we would highly recommend it. Here’s a short clip from a UK performance a few years back.
After Rich, we visited the Music Vault at The Arts Centre, followed by a walk through Birrarung Marr then some dinner and the latest show devised by Lano and Woodley called Lano and Woodley in Space.
My good friend Karl who lives in Newcastle reminded me the other day of when we saw these two idiots in 1986 at The Prince Patrick Hotel in Collingwood on a Monday night.
They dragged us the audience for no reason, across Victoria Parade onto the nature strip and performed there. They were ‘The Found Objects‘ then and they were a threesome. I can still remember their song Punt Road oddly enough.
The third member Scott moved on quite quickly but Colin and Frank have become a Melbourne institution. They are still that mix of Looney Tunes, The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy and are extremely accomplished at improvising especially when they forget their lines.
This was a typical L&W shown with their tried and tested schtick that has cracked audiences up for forty years. This is an old clip of theirs and the link to the festival website.
Thanks for a cracking day Melbourne.
