Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Sugar Bits are on a mission to take down the patriarchy through joy and silliness. The talented trio – Nicola Pohl, Tessa Luminati and Stephanie Beza – are clearly having a blast on stage, with effervescent energy and the cheeky chemistry of best mates doing what they love. ‘Wassup trash gremlins!’ is their opening cry to the audience, and that pretty much sets the level.

Even their core message isn’t taken too seriously, as illustrated by their best moment – a hoedown song called The Feminism Left My Body When…, performed by hillbilly trio The Three Genders and featuring all the tasks for which they would cheerfully abandon the equality cause if they could get a man to do it.

Needless to say, they’re never preaching, but instead see absurdity in sexism and exaggerate it with a raucous flourish.

Another delight is the recurring ‘burn the witch’ scene, complete with chants that could have come out of Monty Python and stupid responses to the mortal danger. Abortion and vaginal health are treated just as irreverently.

The comedy’s unapologetically dumb, which can make it relatively basic – the scene with three dick-swinging men at the urinal being a case in point – though the trio still revel in the ridiculousness of the scene and it’s delivered with daft commitment.

Their performance is a winning mix of the tight and the loose, with some skits tightly choreographed, others allowed to breathe. However, their energy is dissipated in interludes between sketches which feature artsy movement pieces set to classical music. They take their sweet time on these scene changes, needlessly stalling the momentum which would otherwise be one of this lively troupe’s greatest assets.

Review date: 7 Apr 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival