Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Matt Okine’s story has a credibility-stretching premise that a decade ago he decided he wanted to enter the Olympics, despite limited athletic ability. But his plan was to use the same loophole as Eric The Eel and compete for Ghana, his father’s homeland, in a sport no one else wanted to do. 

The only problem in this unlikely scheme was that he needed $450 to apply for a Ghanaian passport, which as a poverty-racked aspiring comedian he just didn’t have. His plan to raise the cash is sadly more believable… to take what little money he did have down to the casino.

His dalliances with gambling provide this show with its most personal and emotive moments, even if the outcome is probably not the responsible message campaigners would want projected, however tongue-in-cheek it’s delivered. 

Another serious strand comes from his revulsion at the way a hateful bigot like Pauline Hanson can be reinvented into a prime-time TV personality when her divisive fearmongering has real impact on decent Australians.

But Okine is not, essentially, a political comic, and is more likely to be heard griping about why he can’t pay for a bus ticket with a credit card or how Australia Post can never deliver a parcel, than real global problems.

He’s a charismatic, affable bloke weaving all these routines around his central story. But those who know him as the nice guy off the radio may be in for a rude awakening, for this is another of those festival shows that has content ill-suited to its 7pm slot.

Okine enjoys flirting with the revulsion and shock some of his more outré punchlines generate. His most graphic gag is deconstructed in great detail, ostensibly to reassure himself it’s not sexist, but in reality allowing him to dwell on the subject he knows gets an uncomfortable reaction. The joke even gets its own merch, on sale in the foyer after the show…

He’s completely at ease chatting about this, and indeed anything else, owning the stage and building an easy rapport with the audience with his casual charisma.

There’s no major comic invention on display, but Okine’s a dependable, engaging storyteller with a show that hangs together satisfyingly. Ironically, it’s no great gamble to go and see him.

Review date: 11 Apr 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival