Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Forget any notions of decorum or the graceful dignity of ageing. Judith Lucy and Denise Scott’s reprisal of their 2017 show is a ribald, mucky fight back against their failing bodies and flagging energy, regaled with disarming honesty, brutal humour and winning personality.

The premise is the ugly reality of life as an older woman – or indeed all women – compared to the phoney sheen given on Facebook. This is #nofilter for real, and applied to their opinions, too.

Starting near-horizontal in their respective beds, propped up just enough to be able to dip their straws into their goldfish-bowl sized glasses of wine, the pair grumble that they cannot be bothered with exertion.

Scotty, 62, is portrayed as settling into an easy life, the year-long effort of creating a sitcom that failed to get commissioned her last endeavour before slumping into suburban irrelevance, blighted by countless niggling ailments. Meanwhile, Lucy, 50, is an embarrassment, a libidinous drunk trying to relive the glory days of her reckless youth, increasingly desperate now she has split from a toyboy who was always mistaken for her son.

The pair are vicious to each other, and to themselves, and the insults are as funny as they are wounding. Nor do the audience escape, the pair prowl the front row like over-inquisitive aunts with no concept of personal boundaries. Yet for all the probing, there’s clear love between the audience and both performers.

Lucy is the snarkier of the two, though when it comes down to it the apparently mumsier Scotty can bare her teeth too. The pals exchanging fierce insults as if a catharsis for decades of irritations is a highlight, and comes with a twist.

Meanwhile their none-too-subtle reminder of the human frailties that befall us all highlight the absurdity of our pretence to be more than animals. We’re all falling apart, we might as well go out laughing.

They are thoroughly engaging comedians, their wit flowing freely in their respective stand-up routines and as they interact with each other. 

A couple of set pieces round off the show nicely, including a flag-waving rendition of I Am Australian guaranteed to lift the spirits. For all of the grumbles, Disappointments is actually a celebration of being human, and our triumph over all the bullshit that comes with it.

• Judith Lucy and Denise Scott: Disappointments is back at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, on April 20, 21 and 22.

Review date: 10 Apr 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival