[2013067] Sam Simmons – Shitty Trivia
Sam Simmons @ The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Romantiek
8:45pm, Wed 27 Feb 2013
My Sam Simmons experiences have been occasionally rocky over the years… but I’ve gradually learnt to avoid his shows early in their season, allowing him to settle the act a little – to maximise the chance of a Good Show. That’s the only thing that stops me from inking Simmons in on opening night every year.
But… I still find myself a little wary going into one of his shows, wondering whether it’s going to be a polished gem or a Melbourne Testing Ground. And the fact that Simmons has become ridiculously popular over the years doesn’t help: the audiences that are attracted to him aren’t the crowds I usually like to share an audience space with. But this evening’s crowd were in a good-natured and bubbly mood, and – flying solo – I managed to snaffle a seat in the front row, right in front of Simmons’ lectern.
Simmons receives a rapturous welcome, and… well, it’s a Sam Simmons show. He’s loud and abrupt, surreal and non sequiturial. There didn’t seem to be as many “pre-recorded thoughts” as in other shows, however, and this is the first time I can remember Simmons asking an audience member onstage – dozens of people immediately offered their help, and all (but one) would’ve been relieved when they saw what happened to the “lucky” Jesse. He spent most of the show sitting onstage, facing the audience, wearing the ceremonial Meat Hat and looking at Simmons’ back, with no real involvement in the majority of the material.
I still love Simmons’ sense of surrealism and attitude onstage… there’s a little aloofness towards his doting crowd, but he’s not afraid to knock himself down a peg or two – his worryingly small “Little Fuck Captain” t-shirt is testament to that. And, whilst the show had a central thread of Simmons’ Shitty Trivia (a series of cards with jokey questions – the audience would try to answer them, but Sam’s required responses were either ridiculously abstract or obscenely poor puns), there were still the callback non sequiturs – Mysterious Shoe was a cracker. Simmons also launched into a couple of his longer rants, with the highlight targeting the pop obsession with food: food-based TV programmes copped a little flack, but the bulk of his ire was reserved for people who quit their jobs to become full-time foodies.
But, to cut a long story short: was Shitty Trivia an instance of Good Sam Simmons or Bad Sam Simmons?
Most definitely the former… unless you foolishly volunteered to “help” Simmons out onstage.