On a dark Sunday night, I ventured out to The 86 bar in trendy Smith Street Fitzroy to watch a sketch comedy / magic show as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival. The show is called ‘Dom and Dumber’ and stars a pair of magicians – Dom Chambers and Bayden Hammond. As we took our seats and waited for the show to begin, upbeat music started pumping to get the (young) crowd in the mood for a fun show.

The show is a compilation of comedy sketches, with some classic magic routines weaved in. Except that the classic magic routines are all given a modern twist to match the whacky scenarios they have been placed in. Plenty of stunts were performed with magical flair, and audience participation just added to the hilarity of the evening. Nothing is taboo or sacred in this show – relationships, dating, religion and politics are all featured at one point or another. In fact, magic and comedy took us to so many places over the course of an hour! The comedy sketches also contained plenty of modern / contemporary references, which perfectly suited the audience. Dom and Bayden performed flawless magic teemed with some hilarious facial expressions-demonstrating they are skilled entertainers (and magicians!). The audience often burst into rounds of applause and laughter so ‘Dom and Dumber’ were doing a great job.

From the sublime to the ridiculous – you’ll find it all within the magical sketch comedy of Dom and Dumber.

Verdict: a great way to blend magic and sketch comedy. If you’re a fan of either genre, you’ll certainly enjoy this show.

Tickets: the show runs Fri to Sun only – April 8-10, and April 15-17

Check out some links:
Tickets: https://www.rollerdigital.com/p/dom-dumber-70316/#/product/2167/70316
Website: http://www.domanddumber.com/

*Extra notes: I attended this show as a guest of ‘Dom and Dumber’
A ‘no photography’ request was in place, hence no photos for this blog. A photo of the flyer will have to do!

    

On Friday night I made another journey into the Butterfly Club to watch ‘Happy Campers’ performed by Jonestown, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Jonestown are a duo, made up of Nicholas J Johnson and Sarah Jones – who are each comedians and entertainers in their own right, however when their powers combine they become Jonestown! I have thoroughly enjoyed Jonestown’s past shows (‘Pyjama Party’ and ‘Guinea Pigs’) and am a fan of their witty style of prop comedy so I was keen to see them in ‘Happy Campers’.

Upon entering the theatre, we were greeted by Sarah in a full scouts uniform with a large camping pack strapped to her back. On stage, Nicholas was also in a full scouts uniform and was busily arranging the ‘children’ (us) into our groups. I relished the chance to name my scouting group the ‘Unicorns’! A bugle sounded and it was time to start the show, and for all the scouts to learn the rules of scouting. Jonestown led the audience on a hike leading to a campground. Many clever riddles, puns, jokes and witty moments were shared by the group on our fantastic hike. Exotic wildlife was spotted and plenty of stories were shared over the course of the evening. On the evening I attended the show there were even REAL scouts (Rovers) in the audience, which added an extra dash of realism to the show.

 Jonestown are expert storytellers, so best to settle around the campfire with marshmallow in hand and get ready to have some fun! Like with past Jonestown shows, however, there are dark shadows looming in the background – will all the campers make it out safely? To find out, you’ll just have to see the show.

VERDICT: Be Prepared (the scouts’ motto) is relevant here. Be Prepared to have a fantastic romp in a campground with this show. Be Prepared to have plenty of laughs and share in some quirky stories and adventures.

The run of this show is almost over, however keep a look out for the next adventures of Jonestown who will no doubt be appearing at a festival near you.

 

During the Month of March I have been blessed to see a variety of shows in Melbourne (comedy, magic and music). On Thursday night, I was invited to the new Speakeasy HQ (located in a charming old building in historic Flinders street) to enjoy Roy Maloy’s performance of ‘Mack the Knife – the Bobby Darin story’. Upon being welcomed into the theatre, the evening commenced with Lady Fox singing some sweet jazz tunes to get the audience in the mood for the music adventure to come.

 Roy Maloy appeared on stage to a loud round of applause from the audience. It was clear that  Roy Maloy had many fans in the audience (myself included!) and we were all keen to hear him sing some Bobby Darin classics. There was a spread of age groups in the audience and, knowing this, Roy ensured that throughout the night he mentioned aspects of Bobby Darin’s life and the influences on his music. Not only did the audience have a fantastic music show this evening, but a fascinating story as well. If you’ve ever seen Roy Maloy perform before, you will know what a master of storytelling he is!

 For those of you who haven’t heard of Bobby Darin, he was a singer / songwriter of the 50’s and 60’s from the USA (New York). He preceded the rush for The Beatles and Elvis and many will have heard some of his number 1 hits (even if you can’t recall that it was Bobby Darin who penned / originally sang them!). Roy Maloy opened the evening with an upbeat rendition of the Bobby Darin number 1 hit ‘Splish Splash I was taking a bath’ and even did a little dancing on stage to accompany this fun song. Roy looked the part, wearing some shades and a cool jacket.

 Throughout the evening, Roy sang a selection of songs – some of Bobby Darin’s classics, and other tunes that were sang in the style or Bobby Darin – some of which were contemporary songs, which I found impressive. Roy even took a classic Bobby Darin tune (‘Clementine’) and sang it with some lyrics about the city of Melbourne, which was well received by the audience. I was pleased when Roy sang one of my personal favourite Bobby Darin songs -‘Dream Lover’. This section of the evening certainly conjured up visions of America in the 50’s and 60’s and I regretted that I did not wear my 1950’s dress to the show.

 During the interval, clips from Bobby Darin’s past performances were projected onto one of the walls and I think that was a nice touch. It continued to set the scene for the evening, and at one point I forgot that I was in my hometown of Melbourne. When I enjoy a music performance, I’m often taken away to another place and time and this show certainly achieved that for me. Physically I was in Melbourne but with the lounge setting and the smoky atmosphere and tunes from another era, I could just as easily have been in a jazz bar in New York or a lounge in the glittering entertainment hub of Las Vegas.

At the conclusion of interval, Roy wandered through the audience and back to stage while singing ‘Beyond the sea’. It was clear that Roy enjoys that song as it was sung with enthusiasm. Roy went on to perform some classic American songs from the era, including some famous tunes about New York city. Rounding off the evening, Roy sang the Bobby Darin song featured in the show title and Lady Fox returned to sing some more smooth tunes (at times with Roy Maloy). It’s a treat to watch Roy Maloy and Lady Fox sing together as they sound great but also appear to be sharing plenty of laughs and fun moments on stage. Lady Fox sang some classic jazz for the audience but also surprised us with a jazz rendition of the popular song ‘All about that bass’.

 Verdict: Despite myself not knowing much at all about Bobby Darin, I enjoy his music style so I had a fun night. The Speakeasy HQ venue set a great scene for a night of smooth tunes and the fantastic singing talents of Roy Maloy and Lady Fox certainly took me away to another place.

Ticketing link: http://www.speakeasy-hq.com/

*Note: I attended this event as a guest of Speakeasy HQ