Review by Steve Bennett at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

In Dicky Rosenthal, Josh Glanc has created a fine comic grotesque, a bodybuilder pushing a protein powder that will build the muscles he associates with being a real man.

He believes that the more he bulks his body, the more he can escape his past as a nebbish, very Jewish, dweeb. Once racked with self-doubt, he now takes narcissism to new extremes, echoing the Greek myth by becoming aroused by his own reflection.

In the first half of Manfül, he invites audience members to test his toughness and aims a few crass comments at the women to exert his alpha-masculinity – while downing a vile concoction to build his mass. 

It’s stupidly exaggerated, but does have the feel of over-extended sketch, as padded as the muscle suit Glanc wears for the role and dependent on dick jokes to shock and ‘eugh’.

Yet as the show progresses, the impact starts to build. The pathos of his nerdy, musical-loving former life is amplified in contrast to the intensity of his current one until ‘roid rage drives him to attempt a feat of strength that ends very messily. It causes winces amid the horrified laughs of the audience – and triggers a full-scale meltdown in Rosenthal.

Glan offers a comically intense performance as a man struggling to keep his mania and his demons at bay, vacillating between sales patter, machismo and pep-talks to himself –  until the emotional strip-down of the denouement reveals the real him.

This is all delivered through the high absurdity of his preposterous alter-ego. Glanc initially appears nothing more than broad caricature, but as the low humour subsides, he is revealed to be a more nuanced, troubled and sympathetic character who says a lot about masculinity and insecurity.

Manfül would benefit from a ten-minute trim, but the performance and story arc are faultless, and the set pieces frequently funny.

Review date: 15 Apr 2017
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett