Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Hoo’s on first? Festival newcomer Lizzy Hoo is agreeable company for her 50 minutes, but the experience is rather one-note, across in her mild-mannered delivery,  gently wry humour and limited subject matter.

Her ethnicity is at the core of much of the show as she throws up a lot of the familiar archetypes that she’s been bugged by, from bad driving to Asian men’s inability to grow a moustache. Some she reinforces, some she politely pours a little scorn on, but the reclaiming of the stereotypes seems as superficial as the original assumptions.

This is especially true of her discussions of the the awfully-named ‘yellow fever’ that means some white men seek out Asian women because of their preconceptions. It’s a topic rife for exploring, but Hoo is content to gently tilt at it before moving on.

Instead, her focus is on more universally relatable topics – but the consequence is that she slips into the bland, from cheating the supermarket self-service check-outs, to vegetarianism, to the pretentious brunch-and-renovations lifestyle of the middle classes.

She has an interesting back story with and Irish mum and Chinese dad, Chen, whose larger-than-life personality is at the heart of some of tales. And speaking of parenthood, at 35 - albeit a very young-looking 35 - Hoo is starting to get broody, too.

But this aspect, like so many, doesn’t ultimately amount to a great deal. It’s testament to her likability, that she keeps the audience’s attention despite this lack of substance and relatively low-energy delivery.

Her appeal is down to a well-developed sense of comic timing, a lot of mildly amusing jokes that keep things pooling along, and a smattering of good ones to show what she’s capable of. But this debut feels like she’s only scratching the surface of her ability, her experiences and her point of view.

Review date: 9 Apr 2019
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival