Charlie Pickering @ Rhino Room (Downstairs)
7:15pm, Sat 28 Feb 2004
Score: 7
Short Review: Surprising
After the emotional battering that I took at Parrot Fever, I was initially hesitant even turning up to this show, thinking that it would need a quality comedian to lift me out of my emotional hidey-hole. However, Pickering was good enough to win some serious laughs out of me, and should be lauded for being able to do so.
Opening with a great bit about the sheer crapulence of his venue (not to mention the bad technological luck the show had been having), Pickering belted through a great set, which ended with a video presentation showing Pickering trying to reclaim Cook’s Cottage. Along the way, he showed his geekish tendencies by pulling out both a Simpsons quote and referencing the PlayStation, and at times tread a very fine line between decency and gross-out humour.
Throw in a bit of political satire, some great phrases (“bloodbath of Mums”, “throbbing arse candles”), and you have a quality comedy experience. Sure he borrows liberally – the aforementioned Simpsons quote, several Bill Hicks-isms – but he convincingly makes the material his own. Recommended.