Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Almost a parody of vapid ‘what’s the deal with..?’ comedy, Thomas Orr makes his Melbourne festival debut, untroubled by the fact he’s got nothing whatsoever to say.

This is 40 minutes of mild gripes from a mid-30s man who rarely goes beyond a first thought on any of the generic topics that drift into his consciousness.

Frozen lasagne is a bit sad, wine is a way for middle-class people to pretend they don’t have a drink problem, Vegemite is weird if you think about it. It’s one bland pronouncement after another, none of them leading anywhere.

He pauses for laughs, but rarely do they come. And when they do, it’s more out of politeness to ease the clear embarrassment we all feel about being here. Orr feels like a newbie over-extending on a first gig, but the blurb talks of five years’ experience and sold-out shows in his native Sydney. This does not feel like such an act.

There’s little knowledge or insight of any of the subjects he talks about, but neither is he savvy enough to present himself as an idiot. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have any plan for his comedy at all, just serving up lukewarm, inauthentic, cobbled-together inanities from a beige point of view. Thomas Orrdinary we should call him.

He’s the frozen lasagne of stand-up in a cordon bleu festival.

Review date: 3 Apr 2019
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival