Category Archives: reviews

Fiona O’Loughlin in The Scotsman

18/08/2011 Georgianell Leave a comment

Our lovely Fiona O’Loughlin was on the cover of The Scotsman’s Edinburgh Festival Pull-Out today, a few days ago she chatted to Susan Mansfield about finding humour in the darkest hours…

BATTLING WITH BOOZE

WHEN leading Australian comedian Fiona O’Loughlin lost her battle with the bottle, it was hardly a secret. Not only did she collapse on stage in Brisbane in front of 600 people, she was also a contestant on the Australian version of Strictly Come Dancing at the time. But even before she left rehab, she knew she had found the subject of her next show. “There was never even a question in my mind that I wouldn’t talk about it. I’m a very autobiographical comedian and I couldn’t wait to get back on stage. My mother was horrified – apparently it’s alright to be an alcoholic, but you don’t have to go telling everybody.”

Because of the public nature of her meltdown, it made no sense to hide it.

“Some people have said I was being very brave going public. I’m not brave, I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I knew I couldn’t lie about it any more. I was advised by the [television] network to say I was suffering from ‘exhaustion’. But I’d told an audience of 600 people to go f*** themselves just before I collapsed, I couldn’t call that exhaustion.”

Spirited (Tales from an Angel in a Bottle) is a frank account of her ten-year battle with alcoholism. “It is quite horrific, a bit shocking. I talk about depression, alcoholism, agoraphobia, I really made myself a very sick person. It doesn’t sound like a funny show, but always there’s a funny side somewhere in it all.

“Some of the stories I’m telling weren’t funny at the time, but they’re funny now. I’m highly embarrassed about some of the things I got up to when I was a drunk, but I’m not embarrassed about having the disease. And rehab is a gold mine of material – I laughed myself inside out just watching what goes on. It’s very cathartic, very liberating, being able to laugh about it and having people laughing with me.”

read the whole article here

learn more about Fiona’s show here

Buy tickets to see Fiona here

Hannah Gadsby, Mrs Chuckles, news, reviews

Hannah Gadsby – Mrs Chuckles ***** Metro

18/08/2011 Georgianell Leave a comment

Take A Trip Down Memory Lane

Hannah Gadsby – Mrs Chuckles *****

‘A lot of comedians like to hit you with 100 per cent from the start. Not me. I’m more like 60 per cent… maybe less,’ smiles Australian stand-up Hannah Gadsby as she casually pours herself a cup of tea and hands round a small plate of biscuits.

It’s a deliciously casual start to a lackadaisical show that belies her biting, razor-sharp wit. When the recipient of the hot brew says ‘thank you’, Gadsby smiles back approvingly and coos ‘Oooh manners.’

With serendipitous, split-second timing, a small group of latecomers shuffle in noisily at the back of the room and without hesitation, she deadpans, ‘No manners.’

Underestimate her at your peril. Gadsby exudes an air of indifference as she relives moments from her high school days when gossip became gospel, and then promotes her Tasmanian hometown and its two bona fide tourists attractions: Cape Grim and Dismal Swamp. Recollections of her cycling expedition through Vietnam and her first (and only) bungee jump are acutely observed and she mercilessly poles fun at her inability to strike up a conversation with a girl she fancies.

‘I think it’s better to make impression than a bad impression,’ she confides, ironically making a huge impression on us. Gadsby does have three special talents, which eased her path through high school, and she gladly shares them with the group to cacophonous laughter. “I’m not building to a big finish in life or in this show,’ she concludes and true to her word, she ambles off the stage in the same casual manner in which she arrived. It’s the perfect way to close an understated yet hilarious hour.

Damon Smith

For More info about Hannah’s show, have a look at her Show Page

To learn about Hannah’s other show Mary. Contrary, exploring the art of the Virgin Mary go here

and to buy tickets to Hannah’s show go here!

David O'Doherty, news, reviews, shows

David O’Doherty is Looking Up **** Fest Mag

17/08/2011 Georgianell Leave a comment

David O’Doherty is Looking Up

4 stars

BY MALCOLM JACK | PUBLISHED 16 AUGUST 2011

Irish purveyor of lo-fi music and playful laughs David O’Doherty constantly finds himself having to correct people who, upon discovering what he does for a living, mistake him for Bridesmaids star Chris O’Dowd. But in the context of the Fringe, the cap-wearing 35-year-old Dubliner in the gold cape is a sell-out sensation who can barely put a little toe wrong.

If this show seems to feature quite a lot of recycled material, it can be excused by the unfortunate run of ill health O’Doherty has endured over the last few months, worst of which was a several-week-long spell spent barely off or over (sometimes both at once) the toilet with a bacterial stomach infection.

No matter – it’s little cause for complaint to hear repeat airings of the brilliant ‘Party at My House’, or angry diatribe ‘My Beefs’, a list of gripes updated for 2011 to target adverts for Boots’ summer cosmetic range and Travelodge, whose logo O’Doherty reckons should be more accurately changed to a lonely businessman masturbating.

A slide show featuring excerpts from his forthcoming book 100 Facts About Sharks is a feast of childlike, wide-eyed weirdness, while his half-hour closing spiel taking in everything from working as a spilled-sausages cleaner in a Cologne supermarket to being mugged by, then befriending, Spanish terrorists is a masterpiece of freewheeling whimsy. Don’t come to his show expecting belly-laughs galore – just a non-stop feel-good glow courtesy of one of the most loveable and natural funny men in the business.

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