Latest Reviews

Hailing from Alice Springs, mother-of-five Fiona O’Loughlin is a well known Australian comic who frequently uses her family and her hometown as the subject of her humour.

She’s a hard-drinking, smoking, ex-nurse who has tales aplenty of bawdy behavior, medical disasters and family mix-ups. Having only seen her guest appearances on various television shows, I was curious to catch the woman live, but, unfortunately, was disappointed.

She played to a half full Capital theatre on opening night. It’s a huge venue, one that most comics would struggle with, but the emptiness of the cavernous space didn’t set a great vibe. Introducing with a story about crashing into a horse and carriage on Swanston Street as she made her way to our very show, she had a bloody knee to prove it and appeared quite giddy. I am still not sure if this really happened, or was part of the act. I’m hoping it was true, as O’Loughlin seemed out of sorts, drunk and giddy. She laughed at many of her own jokes, something I find irksome, and her presentation appeared haphazard.

Having said that, there was some genuinely funny material. Apparently in Alice Springs, unlike Melbourne, there are no smoking laws. “You can smoke giving birth,” she said. Other topics veered into post-natal shock, menopause, teenagers and meeting the Pope in rural Australia. Her rendition of the Brady Bunch theme song as applied to a Nazi family was truly offensive and a lot of her content just felt tired.

It’s almost like she was counting down until the hour was up and she could get off stage and into bed. By way of farewell, she thanked us for listening to all her “rubbish” and bade us good night.

Maybe this is just O’Loughlin’s laid back style and personally, it didn’t appeal. I did hear the man in front of me say this was the best show he had attended so far at the comedy festival. But, had I paid for my ticket to this lackluster offering, I would have felt more than a little ripped off.


andrewtaylormanagement.com
Fiona O'Loughlin

Venue: Capitol Theatre | 113 Swanston St (opp Town Hall), Melbourne
and
Melbourne Town Hall | Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne
Dates: 1st Apr - 13th Apr
Times: Capitol Theatre Tue-Sat 7pm, Sun 6pm & Melb Town Hall Mon 7 Apr 9.45pm
Duration: 55 minutes
Prices: Full $31.50, Conc $27.50 | Saturdays All tickets $31.50
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 & at the door