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Adelaide Comedy Faves.
Is it something in the water, as Craig Egan suggests? Is it an upswell in support for homegrown talent? Adelaide's comedians all reckon that this Fringe Festival is just the best for helping them get their laughs in front of an audience, and the Belgian Beer Cafe in Ebenezer Place and the Rhino Room on Frome Road are HQ central for our standup comedians. A few of them reflect upon their Fringe experiences, so far...
Pete Monaghan - Stupid But Lucky
Talk to Pete Monaghan about his Fringe Festival
and you get the idea he's an easy going guy at the best of times.
"I'm getting some people along so I'm as happy as Larry," he
booms, reflecting on his 8.30pm performance spot at the Belgian
Beer Cafe. "... then I run over and grab a guitar and jump onstage
with Adam Hills," he laughs. Hills performs at the Rhino Room,
just a short sprint down Rundle Street and Frome Road. "It's
kind of a nice full Fringe, which is excellent," he adjudges.
"A personal highlight would be Adam and I leading about seventy
people down Rundle Street to the Rhino Room," he chortles. The
idea of a big guy like Monaghan chorling doesn't come easily,
nor perhaps a show entitled 'Stupid But Lucky'.
"It came about last year when I was trying to impress my girlfriend,"
he admits to interesting and dangerous times spent in the NT
hunting crocodiles and catching snakes. "Yes, I should be dead,
so I put it all together for a show.
"But actually, doing this show is a bit of a highlight for me
cause I normally do standup and this is a bit of a sojourn for
me."
Trav Nash & Average - Mixed Grill
Trav Nash hooked up with a band called Average in time for the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and it must have been something like a perfect coincidence for them all. Average, by the way, is two guys, Tom and Joel.
"He's been a standup for years now," says Tom of Trav Nash, "and me and Joel have been doing Average since 2001.We were dreaming a few years ago and writing sketch comedy. That went okay, but as part of that we started writing songs together, and I thought maybe we could get up and try a bit of that." Melbourne based Adelaide boy Justin Hamilton stepped in when he became familiar with their material and helped out a lot with a few spots - "it just sort of took off from there."
"Watching Trav's show is just like a cross between a standup show and being in therapy," laughs Tom, who is happy to have their contributions to events described as loose and sometimes ad hoc.
"Doing three shows a week is great fun, and partly it's the looseness of the night and the fact that we've got different performers each night... we have a spot in our show dedicated to different performers." In the pursuit of laughs they're joined onstage by the likes of Adam Vincent, Pete Monaghan and Craig Egan. 'Highpoint of the Fringe?' I ask Tom. "The atmosphere - everyone in Adelaide seems to be up for anything."
Craig Egan - Summer Of Rock
Craig Egan was driving along Pulteney Street
in the city when I called him up - a quick peek in the mirror
and the safety minded chap was neatly parked at the side of
the road ready to continue our conversation... "What's that?
Yeah, just past the Forest Of Dreams," he yells over the traffic.
"I was in Melbourne when they were pulling up all those trees
and I came back home and went 'whaaaat?' I mean, I live near
there - even with all the work they're doing it's a great pick
up line for me - 'wanna come back to the Forest Of Dreams'?"
'Summer Of Rock', Egan's show for the current Fringe, is based
upon his experiences following the 2003 BDO around the country.
Obviously, it made quite an impression! "I saw Foo Fighters
heaps, learned how to survive, and just had such a great time.
Being a rock star also, and what it takes to connect to one
or 50,000 people," he enthuses. Other skills learned - and related
- include the etiquette of the mosh pit, and "meeting Eddy Vedder
at an airport with a friend's mum, and she was way more excited
than I was."
From there it's all uphill - in addition to doing his show at
the Rhino Room, Craig Egan gets the good gigs - performing amongst
all the monkeys and animals at the Adelaide Zoo. Yep. you guessed
it: the old "stealing the monkey" joke has been a hot item,
all right! "It's just a wonderful thing to do," he says of the
gig, not the recent theft. "People bringing along their deckchairs
and things and taking it easy."
Craig Egan's highlight for the Fringe? That's easy. The growth
in support for Adelaide comedy through good crowds, enhanced
exposure, and regular gigs. There, told you he was a civic minded
lad. "Adelaide's a real hotbed of comedians - it could be in
the water, dude!"
Scott John & Big Al - Big Night
You can take the boys out of the Northern suburbs but it's probably not so easy to take the Northern suburbs out of the boys, according to Big Al, one half of the duo who bring Scott & Big Al's Big Night in stark relief.
"It's a guide to having a big one - a big night out - in the northern suburbs," Big Al laughs. "We take you through bad party situations, what kind of party games can be played, and how to party on a budget, how to survive a hangover...
"If you wake up and don't have to apologise to at least one person it probably wasn't a big enough night."
He oughtta know: he's chuffed to have been described by fellow comedian Charlie Pickering as "the drunkest man I ever met", and equally chuffed to admit that 'Big Night' is based one more than a couple of their own lifetime experiences.
"But this Fringe I'm having a bit of a ball, it's my first and I'm lapping it up. We're partying on and I've already lost my bag, all my props, megaphone, my wig, my artist's pass..." A highlight, then? "Probably the Friday and Saturday nights, we had good crowds and the material came together finally - we were a bit dodgy. And I fell off the stage the other night and broke a projector screen; that might be a bit of a highlight."
Alex Wheaton
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Adelaide's Fringe favourites can be found at the Belgian Beer Cafe and the Rhino Room every night until Sun 14 March
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