Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Headliners, Melbourne’s annual showcase of ‘late night legends alt-comedy room faves and club champions’ from the US had one of its strongest line-ups this year… even if the act with the most buzz was the hardest to get on board with. 

But first, Shalewa Sharpe. With no compere to warm the audience, this gently-spoken comic initially seemed a little too low-energy to engage. We had to take the Atlanta-born, New York-based stand-up's word that she was ‘excited to be here’.

However, she proved to be a slow-burning delight, lulling the audience into appreciating her witty take on being a single woman in her 50s and using her love of music to connect with a younger generation, even if, to her ears, the female rap genre has become heavily homogenised – and sexualised. It’s the perfect subject matter for her appealing attitude, wanting to maintain a lust for life but struggling to be bothered with it all.

Unhurried was the vibe of the night. Although similarly deadpan, identical twins The Lucas Brothers add a little dynamism, with Kenny (I think) setting up the premise in a traditional stand-up style as sibling Keith paces restlessly behind him, echoing every line. It’s actually slightly distracting and discombobulating.

Yet in their stoner-philosopher style, they serve up witty and revealing material, especially about their poor upbringing with a father in jail, which led into savvy material about gun control. Jokes about their indistinguishable looks are slyer than the obvious, too, and they offer a fine bit of advice about when not to do drugs. Although the brothers project a laid-back style and discuss topics with a social edge, their jokes are primarily silly, making for a very appealing juxtaposition.

Patti Harrison is the performer who comes with the highest expectations, tipped as one of Variety’s '10 comics to watc'h and with a growing list of telly credits, including Shrill and I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson.

Last year I was seduced by her hour-long show, subverting expectations with her gentle anti-comedy, but in a shorter set, her rambling, overwrought, self-centred monologue, hesitant about landing on anything approaching a point or a punchline, was harder to back. 

Her affected nervousness was a fair manifestation of the anxiousness she professes to suffer, which triggered a smattering of tension-breaking giggles. As did her haphazard changes of direction, veering from a Stuart Little fantasy to a chunk about Steve Bannon’s dick. The routines are surreally charming in their own way, but her energy, or lack of it, didn’t match the gig.

Finally came Sheng Wang, greeted by the sound of crickets. Not traditionally a good sign for a comic, but he made great fun of the bizarre noise that suddenly filled the Melbourne Town Hall space. And being put on the back foot in this way – even making him lose his place in a wonderfully trivial riff on toothbrushes – made the crowd warm to him more.

He’s a quirky thinker, playing dumb while revealing a special kind of smarts to come up with such offbeat ideas as trying to explain the concept of a violin to someone who had only ever seen a guitar. Wang clearly over-thinks the minutiae of life, and it's comedy gold.

• Headliners is on at Melbourne Town Hall at 9pm tonight and tomorrow.

Review date: 8 Apr 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival