Monday 18 May 2009

The best medicine

The Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow wound up in Cairns last night, and it was a hoot.

Only four acts came all the way to Cairns this year, along with their UK compere Jeff Green.

With a pre-show dinner at Il Colosseo, it was just a short stroll along Grafton Street, then off to our 70's-carpeted Civic Theatre.
The only female on the show, Spicks n Specks favourite Denise Scott, kicked the night off. The 50-something mum, made us all challenge stereotypes of older woman and how funny they can be with the benefit of hindsight.
Axis of Awesome (pictured) lived up to their self-indulgent name. The troupe, who've performed on the Footy Show, is made up of Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo, and Benny Davis, a classically-trained musician. They mashed up a number of songs, and were probably the star act of the night.
Tasmanian Josh Earl, who assured me that he was not the youngest on the tour, showed some family slides as his mum dressed him up to embarrass in later life. We were even treated to snaps of mum's unique cakes. You had to be there.
Russell Kane, another UK import, was saved till last, and he was worth waiting for. Kane had all the panache and delivery of rocket-fire Robin Williams, with his archaic outlook on life.
In these harsh times of a confused and dodgy local politics, it's a real treat to escape into laughter. It really is the best medicine.

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