The Cloak Room at the Melbourne Town Hall is packed and buzzing with anticipation. Happy Talk from South Pacific is playing on the PA and there are thought bubbles on a board at the back of the stage: people who love their pets too much; travel; eavesdropping; family lies; mortification; sex. The stage is set for an hour of non-stop laughter courtesy of the one and only Cal Wilson. Wilson is announced and springs onto the stage asking her audience whether they noticed that she had introduced herself. There's a roar of YES from the audience. The pace does not flag from that moment on. Stories are what Wilson loves best, real life stories. Not only are we treated to hilarious accounts of her own experiences but the audience is encouraged to share stories of their own. There is no sense of being sent up or set up, everyone is in this together, laughing with each other over shared life experiences.
Courtesy of Wilson's quick wit, story-tellers earn names such as – Megan, the corpse magnet (her travel stories involve finding herself, on more than one occasion, near a dead body); Emma 'magination who admits to having an imaginary dog called Blue; and Susie the Baby Skeleton whose mother answered her question of where she she came from by saying that God had given her a skeleton to which she added the flesh. Wilson adds the names to a list at the side of the stage and at the end of the show a 'winner' is decided on. Last night it was Dave, the world's youngest Drag Queen, a title earned because his elder siblings used to dress him up as a girl and push him down a hill in a pram!
As these stories all came from the audience on the night I haven't given anything away. You can be sure that there will be other and different delights depending on which performance you attend, and who happens to be in the audience The one thing you may be certain of is that Cal Wilson will be there to share her experiences and orchestrate the comedy in her own wonderfully idiosyncratic way.
In the end, whatever the topic picked off the board or captured from somewhere in the Wilson's memory, it is her skill as a comedian that makes the night. From start to finish there are no 'dead' spots and the banter and laughs roll on at a great rate. There's not a cheap, smutty joke to be heard, proving that you don't have to be 'rude' to make your audience laugh out loud.
If you want an hour of laughter secure in the hands of a delightful and very funny woman then Cal Wilson: All Ears is a definite must for your Comedy Festival diary.
Dirty Work Comedy presents
Cal Wilson is All Ears
Venue: Melb Town Hall - Cloak Room | Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne
Dates: 29 March - 21 April, 2012
Times: Tue-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 7.15pm
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $32 - $26
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 | At the door
Part of the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival