Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Given that Joshua Ladgrove has just spend spent two-and-a-half years caring for his Ukrainian grandmother, there could be little else for him to write about. Baba, who died at the age of 97 last August, had consumed his life since the start of lockdown.

She had an incredibly tough upbringing in a country that has endured great suffering. Born in 1923, she lived through the Soviets’ Holodomor, or terror famine, was torn from her family by the Nazis to work as a slave farm labourer in all but name, only for the family to face more horrors at Soviet hands after the War. At least Ukraine is now an oasis of peace and tranquility, free from the influence of murderous invading tyrants, eh?

Ladgrove does not shy away from giving audiences the most chilling reminders of some of the most barbaric chapters in human history, and at times the show is a tough ride. But Baba was also a survivor, and this hour is a warm tribute to her, for all her demanding and quirky ways. There’s evident love when he talks about her malapropisms, her love of a daytime soap, and the belief that The Project’s Waleed Aly was Prime Minister.

Tonally, the show is inevitably uneven, part tender, part harrowing, part broad and silly – Ladgrove is probably best known for his zany Neal Portenza alter-ego after all, and he brings a glitzy showmanship and daft sensibilities to some segments that you wouldn’t expect, given the subject matter.

The mood shifts are both bug and feature: every one of them is fully intended to flip the atmosphere, and sometimes it’s just what the audience needs. But other times, the unevenness lends a work-in-progress vibe to the show. Not to mention the fact that the recurring template of giving us a fact the undermining it with a joke can rob the true narrative of its sincerity.

But Ladgrove isn’t watering down any individual part of the comedy, the tragedy or the mixed emotions of caring so intensively for an older relative. For a gag, he’ll bring out the props, lean into a pun, or even dress as Hitler – and you don’t see much Nazi cosplay in comedy these days. But it actually doesn’t seem that inappropriate a way to ridicule the rancid ideology.

While not every joke lands and not every gear change is seamless, the show as a whole works because of Ladgrove’s candour, ambition and innate good humour towards a tricky subject. Audiences will inevitably be drawn to thinking of those they have lost, or have tended, but will also welcome the break in tension the sillier interludes offer.

Baba is a complex show, evoking a range of emotions and offering a unique take on the subject of losing a relative which so many comedians are drawn to tackling.

• Joshua Ladgrove: Baba is on at Melbourne Town Hall at 9pm (8pm Sundays, no show Mondays) until April 23.

Review date: 13 Apr 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett