Jason Byrne @ capitol closing night

Yeah, I'm a big fan and I made closing night of the melbourne comedy festival the second time seeing jason byrne this year. I took my flatmate and one of my besties and they loved it almost as much as I did. Although I had been before this season and therefore knew some of the jokes, the great thing about Jason is his impro. A lot of the show was also new!

His character improvs are hilarious and his impersonations of everyone from his wife to an aussie lifeguard at manly were pretty over the top but amusingly spot on. The only gripe was the fact that the show only went for an hour! I was hoping for more, but I guess I'll just have to go back next year instead!!

Jason Byrne @ capitol theatre

So last night I went down to the capitol theatre to see my first melbourne comedy festival show for 2009 and ended up at a Jason Byrne gig!! So exciting! I went with a friend and we had dinner first at a little cafe where we happened to sit near Tim Minchin (who was out with his family enjoying the atmosphere too). The venue was packed - I hadnt been to the capitol theatre before but it was kinda old and it had personality (which is always a good thing). We were seated in the front row which is a risk with jason byrne as he is very much an impro/crowd participation comedian, but seeings how last year I went on stage with him I knew it wasnt too bad. As expected he had me in hysterics for most of the night. He didnt pick on me this time (but did to the girl sitting right next to me haha).
So get yourself along to a show!!!

Comedy Festival - Act Four

The last hurrah - or as I like to call it 'we saved the best for last'.

Tonight was Jason Byrne. To my delight and in a moment of terror I discovered that my row E tickets "upstairs" at the forum actually meant I was seated in the front row of a seperate upstairs venue. Front row centre - to be exact. And my god was it worth it. This guy is absolutely hilarious. Almost everything he says is funny - and I think even more so tonight because he was suffering from sunstroke. Apparently it was messing with his already slightly insane mind.

His ocker accent was pretty spot on. His picking on the irish guys in the second row (especially "essendon guy") was classic. His impersonations were gold. The "human puppet" show was a riot. Watching him try to squish a tall guy into a suitcase and make him say "gappy girthday goo goo" was... well I'm running out of words for hilarious. And no-one does catholic guilt jokes quite like him.

BUT, for the finale the irish dancing was incredible. Picture a guy with a pole on his shoulders and two extra "fake people" on either side of him (the "fake people" were made up of a shirt, pants and shoes hanging off the pole). Then picture Jason doing the same thing beside him. Next you must invite another man from the audience to do the same thing. He only really seems to pick guys out of the audience for these things. And when the men run out in a front row full of ladies who is the fourth participant? That would be me. I jumped up on stage quicker than Jason could say "and someone from around there, come up here!!" We ducked and weaved around each other for a bit to the music. We formed a single line. Then we each got a solo. I did my country proud with some stylin' Riverdance. You should have been there, if only to laugh at me!

I'm really lucky this year to have gone to see four shows. Each has been funny and special in its own way. Each I went to with different people. Company is a big thing with these kind of shows. You share laughs and sometimes tears. You know when something is really funny when you see someone go forward in their chair. I did that a lot. And when they cry you know you have won.



Thats why I choose Jason Byrne as the winner and my pick of the comedy festival this year. My contribution to the show didnt affect my vote at all. Well... not much anyway.