Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

‘Only cowards have previews,’ says Blake Everett as a technical glitch hits his first performance of Deb(u)t in Melbourne. But the problems with the show – arriving here after an Adelaide season – run much, much deeper than a stubborn soundboard.

Almost every element in this convoluted and confused time-jumping narrative is too long and too unfocused. And that includes a lengthy coda that tries to explain the mess that preceded.

Occasionally, Everett gives us a glimpse of what could be, especially with a key theatrical flourish late in the show, which he pulls off with adept misdirection. But in most scenes, he drives weak gags into the ground and then keeps digging deeper and deeper.

We start in 2034 with a decrepit old janitor telling us that no show has been performed here since 2022. It’s a nicely silly character, but the exposition is laboured, foreshadowing the issues to come. And if we’re going to be picky, the future timeline makes no sense either.

After a moderately entertaining but too-long song, Everett jumps back to being a baby and then on to his teenage years where a love of comedy was fostered through Jerry Seinfeld-style stand-ups. But his characters are shouty and repetitive, with the deliberately clunky ‘what’s the deal with?’ observations and goofy dad jokes struggling to land. He won’t be the last comedian to make great play of slagging off mainstream comics while failing to get many laughs themselves, but it’s never pretty.

And has telling off the audience for their inadequate reaction ever turned things around? Everett’s response may have been intended as tongue-in-cheek, but when all his interactions make the crowd feel uncomfortable, probably best to back off. He wants to create a world of absurd anarchy, and at times he does, but when the crowd’s not up for it, things get awkward.

Essentially Deb(u)t boils down to an exploration of what got Everett into comedy. He started at 14, did his first hour at 18, and has brought a new show to every Melbourne International Comedy Festival since 2016 – and is still only 21.

That it takes him a long-winded postscript to explain himself should highlight the problems in the show. And that even this afterword feels like it should have ended about four times before it actually does further signifies his problem with pace.

Yet it feels like there’s something in the heart of this that could work. But it would need a strong director and several ruthless edits and rewrites to draw that out.

• Blake Everett: Deb(u)t is at Storyville Melbourne at 10.15pm (9.15pm Sundays) until April 24. No shows Mondays or Fridays.

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