Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

You won’t for a moment believe that Tom Walker has really had a 12-year obsession with the javelin, but he easily persuades everyone in the room to clamber on board to share in the giddy fun he has with the conceit.

He commits to the bit, returning time and again to a surreal account of his time in the sport and to express his adoration of unbeaten world champion Jan Zelenzy. It’s also apt that he’s chosen a niche, usually-overlooked sport, given that’s his place in the comedy firmament. (How niche is the sport? I put this review through the writing app Grammarly, and it suggested not using the term ‘javelin’ as ‘even a knowledgable audience may be familiar with the word’)

This narrative threads between a series of unrelated off-the-wall stand-up and sketches, some using his talents for mime, some using the screen, and many using the DIY blackout – getting the audience to close their eyes – for effect.

He’s an intense performer – often compared to a young Jim Carrey, and not just because of a physical similarity – but here keeps enough of a lid on his natural mania to have focus as well as energy. His running commentary on the insanity also helps him connect to the audience, reassuring them he knows how bonkers this all is.

The inventive silent skits are efficient, getting in and out quickly so as not to feel laboured. An exception is Walker’s take on the idiom ’a bull in a china shop’ – a playlet in three parts that provides a change of pace from the rest of the show, although it also steals momentum.

Otherwise, he ricochets nimbly and briskly between madcap ideas. Among myriad quirky scenes, he mocks edgelord comics, especially with a brilliantly over-the-top intro video, has an enjoyably offbeat routine about pranksters in the Bible and feigns to have only just heard of JFK – all delivered with jolly humour.

Behind the cheesy self-confidence, there’s but the briefest of glimpses of the real Walker, and the show comes with a neat message as its conclusion – all things good festival shows should have. But the main one is a constant supply of great ideas, which the ceaselessly silly Walker offers up in spades.

• Tom Walker: Javelin is at the Chinese Museum at 9pm until April 24 (8pm Sundays, no show Monday)

Review date: 15 Apr 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival