Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Brett Blake has been through the emotional grinder, dealing with some pretty devastating body blows in that most male of ways… booze.

Starting with the tale of a four-day bender and an expensive identity theft, Wizards Piss (which surely should have an apostrophe) flips out of nowhere from bloke-ish celebration of inebriation to sombre reflection of its darker side.

Unfortunately, as a comedian, Blake is too inexperienced to make such profoundly personal issues work as stand-up. This seems like comedy as therapy and the emotional gear changes really grind. Even before it gets depressing, the storytelling is confused, with the necessary information garbled and narrative leaps hard to follow.

There are some amusing supporting characters, such as the conspiracy theorist with his ‘global citizen’ passport (spoiler alert: it doesn’t work), while the core story gives the show more dramatic purpose than a collection of drunk stories and dick jokes. But it needs untangling.

From what he tells us, Blake is now, laudably, getting his life back on track, and this show seems part of that coping process, as he seeks clarity. Hopefully a clearer head will then produce clearer comedy.

Review date: 8 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett