From The Comic's Comic

I finally made it to Australia for the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, only four years after I initially planned (and yes, I have the email receipts to prove my ambitions circa mid-March 2020), but that’s not the point. Melbourne bills itself as the world’s largest comedy festival, which is an even easier claim to make in the wake of JFL’s bankruptcy. Of course, Melbourne offers some 700 shows this year (the festival ends April 21), which pales in comparison to the Edinburgh Fringe — they boasted 3,553 different events last August, and already have announced 1,647 shows for 2024 — even if the Fringe is open to anyone and everyone, in and out of comedy, and all of the pitfalls that come with that.

Melbourne reminds me a bit of Vancouver, British Columbia. Settled by colonial offshoots of the British Empire, made cosmopolitan by immigrants from East Asia and South Asia, and just far enough off of the “grid” that the people who live and work there feel freer to do their own thing. All of which makes for a looser, sillier, and sometimes more revolutionary comedy scene. Something tangibly different here, too, are the pre-show reminders acknowledging that we’re all engaging in such silliness on aboriginal land. And now on to the shows!?!

I’ve written up reviews for most of the shows I saw in Melbourne, and put them on a separate page labeled Melbourne 2024 Reviews.

Among my faves (some of which are coming to the Netflix Is A Joke fest in L.A. in May and/or Edinburgh in August): Frankie McNair, Arj Barker, Dan Rath, David O’Doherty, Lou Wall, Rhys Nicholson, and Zoë Coombs Marr.

About my star ratings ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: As a general rule, I award 3 stars to a show if it’s good but nothing special; 4 to a great show; and 5 to an amazing show. Any show receiving less than 3 stars needs reworking. Comedians love 4, 4.5 and 5-star reviews not just for the positive feedback but even more for the promotional possiibilities, adding your review to their flyers and posters to attract casual comedy fans trying to decide among hundreds or thousands of shows. They may love a 1 or ZERO-star review for that same reason! But they dread the 3.5 (⭐⭐⭐½) review. So what can I say? Part of it comes down to judging shows not just on their own merits but also on how they measure up to those other offerings. But part of it might not necessarily be the performer’s fault. Perhaps that crowd was weird, or the room, the weather conditions, or the tech felt off. Similar to how your dining experience at a hot or trendy restaurant might not match expectations for whatever reason. A⭐⭐⭐½ review might’ve been ⭐⭐⭐⭐ on another night! So I suppose what I’m saying is when you see a show rated 3.5 out of 5, don’t write it off. Give it a chance. Or in my case, give it another chance!

Festivals and Special Events In The News

Because life has metaphorically felt upside down, just a quick roundup of some other recent comedy happenings for now, which I promise I’ll follow with a lengthier roundup of news you can use.

Kevin Hart recently received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on March 24 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Netflix filmed the ceremonies for broadcast on May 11, but I had some choice words to share already with NPR’s Morning Edition. (Not so much about Kevin, but about what this says about the award)

The 11th Annual Patrice O’Neal Comedy Benefit Concert took place March 26 at New York’s City Center, featuring performances by Bill Burr, Michael Che, Reggie Conquest, Marcello Hernandez, Bonnie McFarlane, Robert Powell III, Cipha Sounds, and Rich Vos.

The following night, The MSG’s Garden of Laughs raised more than $2 million for The Garden of Dreams Foundation in a star-studded event featuring several athletes, as well as a comedy show hosted by Steve Schirripa, with performances by Bill Burr, Michael Che, Chris Distefano, Jim Gaffigan, Heather McMahan, Tracy Morgan, Sam Morril and Jon Stewart.

From April 1-6 in Santa Monica, The Crow comedy club played host to the Bergamot Comedy Festival, a weeklong series of panels, workshops, and nightly showcases uplifting underrepresented voices in comedy.

Today is the closing day for several CharityBuzz auctions benefitting Comedy Gives Back, where you can bid for premium seats to many of the biggest headliners at the upcoming Netflix Is A Joke fest in Los Angeles.

And of course, this week sees major comedy congregations happening in Nashville as well as in Austin for Moontower.

Zack Zucker as Jack Tucker

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (out of 5 stars)

I’d only seen comedian and clown Zach Zucker as his alter-ego “Jack Tucker” hosting Stamptown, where he serves as ringmaster for his very special brand of odd and outrageous one-ring comedy circus. Seeing the full Jack Tucker “solo” show at his first off-Broadway run at SoHo Playhouse (which ended Saturday night after a two-week extension, but already has added a new set of dates to return in June 4-6) was quite a treat. Of course, “Jack Off Broadway” isn’t truly a one-hander, with Zucker’s director and producers Jonny Woolley and Dylan Woodley conspiring with and against him with new pranks, gimmicks and tweaks throughout the run. On the night I attended, Woodley shocked “Tucker” with a crashing bag drop behind him, while Kylie Brakeman and Jeremy Elder portrayed climate protestors parodying the real protests that attempted to upstage Broadway’s “Enemy of the People” play. It’s all quite goofy and silly and sincere and that’s what makes it so enjoyable.

Zucker takes Stamptown tonight to The Bell House, then jets off for a run April 17-20 at Moontower in Austin, then to Los Angeles for Netflix Is A Joke: The Fest on May 10-11.

Zucker’s “Jack Tucker” run in July at Soho Theatre in London is already almost sold out.

Ali Siddiq at the Beacon Theatre

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (out of 5)

Ali Siddiq‘s first headlining show in NYC? Tis true. Siddiq may have earned his first big break in Midtown Manhattan when he won a Comedy Central competition at Carolines on Broadway, but he told me he hadn’t been back as a headliner until now.

Fresh off the release of The Domino Effect Part 3, Siddiq already has The Domino Effect Part 4 filmed and coming out April 18 via Moment. He told me Part 4 clocks in at an hour and 55 minutes, and closes the book on his stories about his life before comedy. His “I Got A Story To Tell” is an entirely new hour-plus that’s much more animated, energetic and playful with physical act-outs than you’re used to seeing in his previous specials, as he recounts his relationships with his two sons (one is 29, the other 13) and how they’re similar yet different from how he grew up with his mother. Siddiq delivered an hour of material at the Beacon, but told me afterward that he left out at least another half-hour of material about his kids.

What else? Oh, Siddiq recently stopped doing his own radio gig in Houston, but Shelly from 94.7 FM “The Block” came onstage first to introduce the show, and Siddiq’s Houston opener, Marcus D. Wiley, surveyed the NYC crowd and wryly noted it’s no longer all “BET people” (Siddiq would jokingly refer later to us as collectively being “of lighter hue”), and how the age range of his fans include almost as many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

As Seen On The Tonight Show

Our late-night TV shows continue to book plenty of comedians (of course, none more so than @fter Midnight on CBS), but only one consistently asks/allows stand-ups to perform stand-up. Thanks to Michael Cox at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to keeping up the pace of about one stand-up set per week beamed out from 30 Rock. Here’s who has appeared since my previous dispatch.

Nathan Macintosh celebrated the release of his new special, Down With Tech, on YouTube last week with a Friday night set.

Preacher Lawson, who has a new special on YouTube, opened his set joking about how people tell him he should be on Netflix, “like it’s my choice.” Lawson almost had the saddest birthday ever? And yet he managed to tie up the story with such a deep-cut (read: old) reference that some audience members picked up on, but not The Roots?!

Jackie Fabulous jokingly compared her husband to her past roommate situations, and noted how their ideas of romance have changed dramatically since when they previously dated in their 20s.

Mary Beth Barone, also with a new special on YouTube, delivered a set full of quick bits and dark zingers.

In Memoriam

R.I.P. Joe Flaherty

Last but not least, let us pay some respects to Joe Flaherty, who died recently after a short illness. He was 82.

Flaherty is so associated with SCTV you might’ve thought he were Canadian, but he was unmistakably from Pittsburgh, before starting his career with The Second City in Chicago, helping launch the Toronto branch of Second City, and performing with The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Born Joseph O’Flaherty, he had to drop the O’ due to someone else in the acting union having his name already. In the week before he died, Flaherty’s fellow surviving cast members from SCTV reunited for an 80-minute Zoom to call to reminisce. He remained a vivid part of contemporary pop culture thanks to his roles in Happy Gilmore and Freaks and Geeks, and helped inspire young comedians as a teacher in Toronto at Humber College’s comedy department.

Rest in peace, Joe.

OK. That’s it for now.

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