Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Never not interesting, Alice Fraser always sinks her teeth into big, chewy global subjects in her stand-up. But in Twist, she’s come out of her comfort zone to talk about a topic she doesn’t like to bring up all that much: herself.

Anyone who saw her last show, Chronos, will know the big final-act reveal was that she had become a mum for the first time. That was never part of the plan, and now she’s getting to grips with all the consequences that life-changing, life-creating event entails.

While this is more introspective territory than she’s used to, the show also takes in grander themes of womanhood, of the miracle of birth and the messier biological truth, of the value society places on parenting and, less expectedly, the rise of Artificial Intelligence. 

In being so over-ambitious, Fraser doesn’t always get the strands to tie together perfectly neatly as she soapboxes for change, philosophises over the state of society and confronts her personal new normal. And she probably spends a little too much time on what sort of clichéd show she DOESN’T want to do now she’s a mother – no frazzled millennial mum, no ‘aren’t kids annoying?’ – which is her way in to addressing how mums are portrayed in modern culture and how none of those seems a good fit for her.

She realises that some of this material can be heavy, so she punctuates it with spoof adverts, read from a stack of index cards on the side. These are where most of the funnies lie: brisk, witty examples of her abilities as a satirist with a keen sense of the absurd. She also admits they are a reminder to herself that she can still write a gag, a skill she hasn’t lost while focussing on being a parent more than being a stand-up.

They also serve, she confesses, as something of a panic button. When she feels uncomfortable with opening up quite so much, she can turn to the cards as a get-out. That we know why she’s reaching for them makes us feel closer to a comic who is already endearing, both because of her openness, and because of her sincerity in wanting the world to be its best self.

It would be a stronger show if more laughs emerged organically from the subject matter rather than this Macguffin, but it’s also obvious there are many significant things preying on Fraser’s mind that she wants and needs to process. Some of those topics circle back to her first show, Savage, later revisited for an Amazon Prime special, in which she reflected on the loss of her own mother. That absence is more keenly felt now she seeks reassurance and a role model as a mum herself.

So as always with an Alice Fraser show, there is plenty of food for thought, as well as the sillier laughs those commercial breaks reliably provide.

• Alice Fraser: Twist is on at Trades Hall at 6pm (5pm Sundays, no show Wednesdays) until April 23.

Review date: 12 Apr 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival