Comedy must be one of the hardest of the arts, be it written or performed, and stand up comedy is surely the hardest of all. One person, alone on stage, with an audience which may number anything between 3 and 300. An audience that somehow you have to win over despite the fact that some are fans, some don't know you, some are older and some are younger. And one of the downsides of being a headline act at the Melbourne Comedy Festival may well be not so much the audience as the venue you score. The Melbourne Town Hall is the hub of the festival and a gig in the hall itself – well you must really be up there with the best of the best. However the reality is that this is a large, relatively impersonal space that is hard for any comedian, no matter his skill and stature, to 'fill'. This was the task faced by Stephen K Amos on Saturday night.
Amos is a comedian for whom I have great respect and I absolutely loved his performance here in 2009. So I went along on Saturday with high expectations.
The performance began, as is so often the case with overseas performers, with some digs at Australia and Australians. Whilst Amos certainly has the harsh ocker accent down pat, and has a keen eye and ear for our idiosyncrasies, I did find the jokes a little too familiar.
Things warmed up when Amos began to interact with the audience – remember if you sit in the front few rows at any Amos gig you are asking for trouble. There is one young man from last night who was the butt of Amos's jokes at various stages throughout the show and given Amos's parting crack, is unlikely to forget the comedian in a hurry. And then there was a young woman with a lip gloss 'torch' – don't even consider glossing your lips in front of Amos. Sadly, however, the audience didn't seem to rise to Amos's bait as enthusiastically as they might have, in fact as he commented at one point everyone seemed to be taking him too seriously.
The best part of the show began when Amos used his own life to talk about the many contrasting experiences of the over 35s and the under 35s. This is how we used to download music – take a cassette, put it into the cassette recorder, press play/record and then lose it when the DJ interrupted your favourite piece of music, which then wouldn't be played for months.
Despite Amos's wonderful physicality and comic timing I couldn't help but feel that Saturday night's audience proved a bit of an uphill battle for the comedian. I know that my response was hampered by the fact that I was seated half way back in the balcony and the bright spotlights on the ground at the back of the stage tended to blind me (lighting technicians please take note) leaving Amos as a dark shadow. I missed the sense of intimacy that I'd experienced in the more enclosing atmosphere of the Comedy Theatre (2009) and was unable to enjoy his facial expressions.
Still this man is a trooper of the first order, witty and intelligent, and audiences change from night to night, so who can say what great comedy will arise during future shows. Stephen K Amos remains a favourite of mine and laughter is still the best medicine.
2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Best Medicine
Stephen K Amos
Venue: Melb Town Hall, Main Hall | Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne
Dates: 30 March – 24 April, 2011
Times: Tue-Sun 7.30pm (except Sun 24 Apr 5pm)
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $42 – $35
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 | at the door