[2015017] Anna Log – The Saboteur
Anna Log @ Austral Hotel – Red Room
4:00pm, Sat 14 Feb 2015
It’s dead quiet as I approach the Red Room, and I assume that I’m the first to arrive. “How many pre-sales?” I ask at the door, and I’m surprised to hear “thirteen”; I open the door, and not only is the Red Room cool(!) but it’s half full of people. Very, very quiet people. Which doesn’t really bode well for a comedy show.
I had seen Anna Log perform all the way back in 2011, and remembered some great material… but also some massive gaps of between those good bits. And I was delighted to re-encounter those memorable highlights – Jim’s Abortions, Jesus Came In Me – but I was equally disappointed that there didn’t appear to be any new jokes that matched them.
In fact, most of Anna’s songs and standup material seemed familiar (apart from a few flat jokes around the thought processes of dogs in dog parks). I was called upon (of course I was the audience mark) to read a series of questions aloud for Anna to react to… but the responses were barely worth the audience embarrassment.
I still enjoyed Anna’s delivery and style… but I was really disappointed that most of her jokes seem to bail before they really go anywhere, leading to a feeling that the material is lightweight. And is it too much to expect that, after four years, that there would be a substantial chunk of new material?
(17) Anna Log – The Saboteur: Likeable delivery of thin material. The Abortion Song is gold, though. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 14, 2015