A Dog’s Breakfast starring Joanne Brookfield
Joanne Brookfield @ Margaret Murray Room
6:45pm, Wed 3 Mar 2004
Score: 6
Short Review: Disappointing… but the potential is there
After having a lovely chat with Joanne (about life, the universe, and fringing) out on the Barr Smith lawns by FringeTIX, I decided to catch her show. And whilst she’s a lovely person in real life, “A Dog’s Breakfast” isn’t really her best side.
Initial impressions were good – as the audience rolled in, Brookfield lay on the stage floor, constantly cracking jokes about “stand-up” comedy. Unfortunately, when she did stand up, the laughs were a little thinner on the ground. It’s not that she can’t be funny – her delivery is great, and let’s face it, she’s as cute as a bug’s ear (even with the knickers her gran bought her) – but it’s the material that lets her down. I mean, when throwaway dead-spot lines like “I might as well just slap Pal on my vag” fail to get a decent audience response, you might have to tweak the show a bit.
To be fair, there was some good stuff though – her avid Googling raised a few good chuckles, and the image of Joanne accosting “serious” Festival-goers gave me warm tinglies. And it’s always great to see some creative swearing from a cutie. But, at the end of the day, there’s better comedy around at the moment.