[2014060] Rhino Room Late Show
More comedians than you can poke a stick at @ Rhino Room – Upstairs
The Rhino Room Late Show has been a bit of a staple in recent years, with a wander past the ‘Room to check the lineup a mid-evening necessity. Having said that, one evening a week seemed to be devoted to a live recording of Eddie Ifft’s podcast, which was of no real appeal to me (though a friend who attended one such event said it was… interesting), and there’s some pressure from other (newer) late-night lineup shows… but, as with the three nights I trundled along, the Rhino Room still delivered the goods.
11:00pm, Tue 25 Feb 2014
Marc Ryan – fresh off a win in the RAW Comedy Final – hosted this evening, but died real quick at the top; all credit to him, though, as he slowly won a lot of the crowd back over the course of the evening with tales of boganity and pissing in the shower. Jason Pestell produced his familiar (for Adelaide Comedy regulars) tales of heckling, and Luke McGregor really impressed with his affable style and quirky presentation: “I’ve had sex… goodnight!”. Rob Pue (who apparently suffered poor crowds and horrible noise bleed in his Croquet Club venue) also impressed with some rapid-fire race-based material, and joined McGregor on an increasingly awkward Shortlist.
Angus Brown kicked off the second bracket with discussion of his bucket list, asking the audience for their bucket list items: “leap wildly at the Pope” yelled one punter, which impressed me with its specificity and lunacy. I’d never seen (nor heard of) Hayman Kent before, and whilst her tales of church and choir life were grinningly awkward, they didn’t really satisfy either. A great delivery style has her bookmarked for another look, though.
The final bracket was left solely to Heath Franklin… and it’s fair to say that he absolutely smashed it with his venomous mini rants about Bunnings and Subway that left him breathless and red-faced, and me gasping for air from laughing. I may feel awfully conflicted about Franklin’s Chopper persona, but there’s no doubting his power as a standup comedian in his own right.
So: my first Rhino Room Late Show for the year turned out to be pretty successful. Solid entertainment, a couple of names to watch out for, and a couple of names that went straight on The Shortlist.
(60) Rhino Room Late Show (#1): Surprising lineup that did nothing to reduce my Shortlist. Franklin & Pue smashed it. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 25, 2014
11:00pm, Fri 7 Mar 2014
Steele Saunders hosted this evening, which I found a bold choice: his slow and contemplative delivery of mostly drier-than-dry material didn’t really seem like emcee-friendly stuff, but he somehow made it work. Rob Pue showed up again, and – sadly – repeated the same material that he’d done at the previous Late Show… it’s good stuff, to be sure, but it had the effect of quietly scrubbing his name off The Shortlist again. Dave Hughes showed up, and appeared to be trialling a bunch of new jokes… there were constant references to the “keepers,” and – truth be told – there was a lot worth keeping. Impressive stuff from Hughesy.
Jacques Barrett opened the second bracket, and… damn, he’s good. Cats & Dogs is a fantastic opener, and Blueberry Muffins never gets old. Adam Richards played the gay card with aplomb, with some gigglish anal sex hints: “make sure you knock before coming in.”
Adam Rozenbachs kicked off the final bracket with loose jokes culminating in a piece about Stick Figure Families; his material deserved a chuckle, but Sarah Gaul does it better (through song, no less). Finally, Lindsay Webb finished the night off in style; whilst there was a lot of repeat material – like the “Mat” versus “Matt” admonishment – from his show (which I’d seen a few days earlier), he seemed to freestyle an amazing Jesus / carpenter bit that just went on and on and on and on. He really is an incredible comic.
Great night… bloody great night. Possibly the only downside of the entire event was the fact that I’d inadvertently wound up sitting next to a guy with the loudest laugh I’ve ever heard – almost too loud, you know?
(60-2) Rhino Room Late Show: Hughes, Barrett, and Webb all SMASHED it. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 7, 2014
11:00pm, Tue 11 Mar 2014
After having seen Glenn Wool earlier this evening, I was delighted to see him co-hosting this Late Show with Greg Fleet; they had a fantastic rapport, bouncing oddball ideas off each other incredibly well. Their improvised “Good Cop, Weird Cop” routine was a delight, but Fleety ran a little too far with the idea… and was mocked by Wool for doing so. Great stuff.
Lindsay Webb kicked off the first bracket with more material from his current show (his gym-related gags), before Eddie Bannon produced one of the funniest bits of the entire Fringe: mouthing words without actually speaking into the microphone, constantly trying to rest his beer bottle onto a non-existent stool, and swapping the roles of the mike and bottle… it was absolutely inspired humour. Sure, it owed more to clowning than standup, but it sure was memorable… but it made me feel (temporarily) terrible for whoever had to follow him. Luckily, Pete Johansson – who I’d seen earlier in the week – was unfazed by the brilliance that had preceded him, and rattled off his glorious bee and wife-rape-fantasy material to great applause.
The second set got off to a rocky start as my friend lost her contact lens, causing some mad scrabbling under seats with torches in a vain attempt to find it; as a result, I didn’t hear all of Dilruk Jayasinha’s spot, but I did recognise him as the guy with the loud laugh (from my previous Late Show). The bits I did hear – an inadvertent quest to kiss guys whilst maintaining his straightness – seemed pretty original, though… but that laugh! Man it’s loud. Then came the previously unknown-to-me Bryan O’Gorman: starting out with a deceptively slow stoner aesthetic, he almost magically transforms his drawled words into a rapid-fire (and extremely eloquent) rant at religion. Utterly fantastic! Heath Franklin reprised his closing role from my first Late Show this year with a repeat of the same material; mini-rants ahoy!
Whilst this Late Show had a different form to the usual Rhino gig – two brackets of three acts, versus the typical three-of-two – this probably will go down as my favourite of the late-night gigs for the Fringe; Fleet and Wool’s combined weirdness, the discovery of Bryan O’Gorman, and Eddie Bannon’s amazing tomfoolery made this an almost unbelievably good show.
(60-3) Rhino Room Late Show: Wool & Fleet co-host decent lineup. Marred by frantic search for contact lens. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 11, 2014