Host Tim FergusonAxed is the perfect example of how not to execute a comedy show, particularly a one-off special event. The idea is a clever one, a group of comedians revealing to the audience the sketches, ideas and routines that never made it to air (in television, radio or film). While this should been exciting, edgy and risqué, it was instead a boring, turgid and overly long affair. The problem here was organisation, or in this case the complete lack of it. As each of these comedians approached the stage, they look ill-prepared and under-rehearsed, and at least two of them admitted to pulling out their material “last night”.
It is clear that Axed was not overseen by a director or someone who strove to organise the performer’s material and content in such a way to make it a sharply observed show. It’s not that the material here was bad, it’s that it took a long time for the performers to get to their material, because most of their stage time was spent setting the scene and justifying the comedy they were about to present. This is where a firm hand as a director or producer, could have brought this mess under control and given each performer a tight performance deadline which would have given the show, the thing it desperately needed, pace.
Instead the comedians came across terribly and their material got lost in all the noise. Conceivably this is an event that could be put on every year with different comedians highlighting all their great material that gets lost (for whatever reason), but the poor execution of Axed has doomed the likelihood of this event continuing into the future. This is a real shame, as Axed should have been a highlight of this year’s festival (and of festival’s to come).
Melbourne International Comedy Festival presents
Axed
Hosted by Tim Ferguson
Venue: Melbourne Town Hall | Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne
Dates: 29th Mar
Times: 3pm
Duration: 120 minutes
Prices: Full $25.50, Conc $20
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 & at the door