Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

‘It’s going to be loose as a goose,’ Greg Fleet warns in a preamble to Rusty Fragment. He’s not kidding, as ‘underprepared’ is an adjective that doesn’t quite seem enough to cover the shambolic nature of this two-man sketch show.

‘Charmingly shambolic?’ you may well ask. Up to a point. The jokey back-and-forth ad-libs between veteran Fleety and his co-star Sam Petersen make the hour engagingly fluid, and sometimes generates a great line. But the fact the comics are not on top of their scripts often means the inventive ideas at the core of their sketches can get wasted in the struggle.

Improvisational effort is spent filling gaps while they try to remember what comes next, rather than adding an extra flourish to the scripted gags. Ideas are deconstructed before they blossom, more out of panic than desire and proceedings slip into self-indulgence.

As a disclaimer, this was the first ever night the show, an offshoot of an internet collaboration between the pair that has previously produced YouTube sketches and podcasts. It was meant to be the third performance, but venue issues delayed things, adding to the sense of chaos.

Underneath it all, Rusty Fragments is an eclectic hodgepodge of ideas. A traditional set-up such as ‘man goes to optometrist’ is given a weird twist, Fleet insists on reading a bad poem about Electric Bill, there’s an hilarious letter of complaint about savoury crackers, and we learn how Roald Dahl’s original ideas weren’t too child-friendly. 

They are mostly inventive ideas that unfold in unexpected ways – although the magic trick that gets caught inan almost endlessly repetitive loop of ‘is this your card?’ accidentally has the same premise as a Neal Portenza gag from last festival, but maps its own silly path.

Yet for all this strong writing, it often feels like audiences are paying to see Fleet and Petersen workshop ideas they haven’t quite got faith in, so reluctant do they seem to stick to the script. Maybe by a few shows in they’ll find the right balance between discipline and improv, but it’s a rickety ride at the moment.

Review date: 31 Mar 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett