Review by Steve Bennett

Don’t expect a refund, but festival debutant Matt Okine’s show is not about being black, particularly. Nor is about chicken. Nor is it shit.

Seafood, or rather sea life, is the biggest theme – unlikely as that seems as a topic to generate enough material to cover the lion’s share of an hour. But he covers sushi, whales, squid, fishermen’s baskets, jellyfish and crabs. Especially crabs, as the cornerstone routine is about a crab-hunting trip he went on to bond with his Ghanaian father.

Other than the creatures of the deep, Okine has a few tales about modern urban living, including one when he found himself walking down a sinister laneway towards a lone female. ‘I’m a 6ft 3in black guy, in my hoodie, in Rapist’s Lane at midnight,’ he keeps repeating, playing on a damaging stereotype. But he’s the least intimidating man you could meet – gregarious, friendly and chatty on stage – so it’s no wonder the woman was unconcerned for her safety.

In fact, he’s just a little bit too chatty, as some segments take quite a lengthy run-up to get started, and many are longer than they need to be, just because affable conversation has not yet been distilled into sharp stand-up. But he’s a thoroughly warm and engaging chap, with a nicely animated delivery, so even when the writing could be honed he’s always good company.

His key is the ability to make an unexceptional story sound exciting. Sure, it would be better if those stories were stronger, but it’s a vital comic tool, and Okine employs it beautifully. He’s a man with an overactive imagination, too, which sometimes allows his comedy to spin off into fantastical ‘what if…’ scenarios – such as the thoughts that raced through his brain as he was left on an isolated jetty as his dad went to catch those crabs, which would later cause so much trouble when they got back home.

This funny tale is ultimately used as a gauche metaphor for a personal tragedy, in a finale that tries too hard to seem important. It’s as if Okine’s heard that festival shows need to have a message or a point, and forced his entertaining stand-up into that shape, as clumsily as he handled the crustaceans.

But no matter, his personal charm and innate funny bones are obvious, and if you were looking for newcomers with the potential to become stars, the Town Hall’s Backstage room at 9.30pm (8.30pm Sundays) is as good a place as any to begin.

Review date: 13 Apr 2012
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival