Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

An hour in Mish Wittrup’s delightful and cheerful company is an absolute joy. She projects positivity and optimism, even in a show ostensibly about regrets.

There’s always a smile in her eyes and a laugh in her voice as she lets the audience into her confidence and shares her insecurities in the stand-up equivalent of a disarmingly open wine-o’clock chat. Only better, as she knows how to spin her yarns with the perfect cadence and emphasis to keep the audience rapt. Even when you know that the seriousness she sometimes builds in her confessions is bound to be demolished by a gag, she ensures everyone fully invests in the scenario to maximise that impact.

Butterfingers was spawned by a Benedict Cumberbatch quote: ‘I’ve seen and swam and climbed and lived and driven and filmed. Should it all end tomorrow, I can definitely say there would be no regrets.’ It proved inspirational – but surely not in the way the actor might have hoped, as it inspired Wittrup to think that living without regrets is an unworkable ideal.

So over the hour, she shares some of the ill-advised things she’s done in her 35 years in the hope of making the audience feel better about their misjudgments. Bad tattoo decisions, being stuck with what seemed like an amusing email address chosen at 18, and winding up with a career in retail are among her faux pas. 

Most recently, she’s wound up working in a sex shop, which seems surprising as even she recognises she’s more of a wholesome, kind-spirited, 6pm comedian than the 9.30pm slot she has chosen. However, she tries to lean into the timeslot with some advice on penises, but it turns out more silly than dirty.

Along the way she confesses to considerable gaps in her knowledge, while first-hand anecdotes are mixed with broader observation routines, from relatively generic subjects such as public toilets (though it’s given a personal spin) to more distinctive topics like eye colour.

In truth, there’s no big idea here, whatever links she and director Michelle Brasier make to the stated theme of regrets. But Wittrup – as currently seen in the ABC comedy Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe – is so warm, gregarious and naturally witty, it’s no matter. This is a charming, funny and life-affirming hour. Buy a ticket – you won’t regret it.

• Mish Wittrup: Butterfingers is on at Campari House at 9.30pm until Sunday.

Review date: 18 Apr 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival