A barrel of laughs
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is just around the corner with some of the biggest names in Australian comedy ready and waiting to provide the laughs, including some of our favourite funny Jews.
With over 450 acts over more than three weeks including some overseas favourites, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is back for 2022. Flo & Joan will be on hand, bringing their comedic melodic flair to Aussie audiences, and Arj Barker is also back on the schedule. And then, of course, you have plenty of local talent from Joel Creasy to Carl Barron, Jimeoin and many more.
Jewish comedian Michael Shafar is excited to be bringing his new show to MICF.
“This year’s show is all about solving the world’s most pressing problems,” Shafar told The AJN. “I’ve worked out how to get everyone vaccinated, how to solve racism and antisemitism, and how to fold a fitted sheet.”
For Shafar, he’s most excited to perform his act for the community. Speaking to The AJN during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, he said his jokes there were falling a bit flat.
“There are zero Jewish people here and none of my references are making any sense to them. I feel like an absolute schmuck here, and that’s a reference they don’t understand either,” he said.
Also, on the MICF program is Justine Sless. Together with fellow comedians, Lucy Best and Nicky Barry, Sless presents Unbridled, celebrating the thrill of reclaiming your life, your body and your minimal superannuation.
While Sless has previously only done solo shows for MICF, she’s thrilled to be presenting Unbridled, which has been described by Arts Hub as “sheer comedy panache”.
Sless will also be launching her book, The Mistress of Mirth’s Comedy Tour, and teaching kids comedy with her Find the Funny Workshops. She said there’s plenty of Jewish humour to go around.
“It will be absolutely thrilling to be launching a book about comedy during the comedy festival,” Sless said.
“In The Mistress of Mirth’s Comedy Tour there is a chapter called ‘Oy to the Vey!’ which looks at Jewish humour, and it’s coupled with a very funny, very Jewish short story. In Unbridled I interweave a smattering of Yiddish and references to Jewish holidays.”
A highlight for many festival fans will be Reuben Kaye’s The Butch is Back. Kaye, who’s birth surname is Krum, grew up with Polish, Russian and East German roots, and both his mother and father were displaced by World War II. While his act doesn’t touch on anything Jewish per se, Kaye has said that he takes a lot of inspiration from Jewish and queer entertainers who have come before him. He has been called “brutally funny” and his star is certainly rising.
Sydney-based comedian Mike Goldstein – currently part of the team at The Hundred with Andy Lee – is back on the MICF stage with Still Got It! Goldstein is a staple of the Australian stand-up scene and he’s fully prepared to answer slurs and slights such as ‘He’s no Hamish’ and ‘Why is this American on our television?’.
Described as “musical comedy perfection”, Jude Perl will be performing with a full band on stage, presenting her show Participation Award – The Album Tour. Perl asks the age-old question, ‘Why does school suck so much’ and explores some possible reasons: perhaps it’s the compulsory sport events, the grading methods, the volatile social food chain or a myriad of other reasons.
The show promises to be high energy, awkward and above all else, entertaining.
Josh Glanc describes his shows as surprising, saying “you never quite know what’s around the corner,” so it’s sure to be exciting for audiences.
There’s also a lot of original music in this year’s show, Vroom Vroom, which is a break from Glanc’s usual material. He covers rejection, themes on going against the grain and whether you’re good enough.
Glanc says that perhaps it stems from giving up his legal career, and compromising on salary, to become a comedian.
“Had I not been brought up in Caulfield and gone to a Jewish school, I might not have that complex,” he said, referring to the ‘Jewishness’ of his act, even though it’s not overtly Jewish.
Glanc, who’s looking forward to being back on stage after what he calls “an incredibly difficult time for performers with huge feelings of career stagnation and purposelessness”, said he’s excited for the barrage of shows he’s about to present at MICF.
“My shows aren’t straight, stand-up shows. They’re a bit different, a less obvious style of comedy, they’re more theatrical.”
Covering a broad range of comedic topics, each artist simply wants to entertain, viewing each opportunity as an honour.
As Sless said: “It’s exhilarating and an honour to realise that how I see the world can be a mirror for people’s own experiences. It’s a fabulous way to connect with people and it’s great to be able to share the gift of laughter.”
MICF runs from March 30 – April 24. Book tickets
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