Review | Amanda Lancaster
The Late-Night Power Point Comedy Showcase is exactly as described. A 9pm timeslot, 60-minute showcasing of assorted performances by six comedians, all of whom have acts at FRINGEWORLD 2023. Piggybacking off the success of their own hilarious fringe show Presentation is Everything in which comedy duo Ethan Cavanagh and Sweeney Preston make a convincing case for the PowerPoint adding some much-needed sparkle to any and every type of presentation, the boys decided to not only give you a taste of what their own show offer but also put their fellow funny men and woman to the test.
Challenge accepted. Each of the night’s artists is given roughly 10 minutes to present a selection of their material to the audience, but with the added task of using PowerPoint slides and images to up the visual comedy ante as it were. Comedians performing for the night I attended – emcees and duo Sweeney Preston & Ethan Cavanagh, Tor Snyder, Lauren Pattison, Aves Robins, Isabella Valette & Nick Capper.
On one hand the show comes across as a bit too hit and miss in places, and haphazard in others. The show’s momentum is unfortunately not as smooth or seamless as it could be in its delivery given that each artists’ individual stylings are being shaken up by the added PowerPoint prop challenge. On the other hand, watching professional comedians stumble their way through using a method of medium and delivery unknown and unused to them in their standard comedy shows kind of makes the night a bit like a game show, which has a definite charm to it overall.
Stand outs for the audience on my night were local Perth comedian and household name, Tor Snyder who was up first with her usual brand of brash and dead pan sarcastic wit. This time taking the opportunity to treat us to the funny, frustrating and oh so relatable side of Facebook market place. Anecdotes regarding her side hustle business to buy old furniture are made much more humorous as the audience is treated to some slides demonstrating some of her online interactions and conversations whilst trying to buy and sell. Nick Capper definitely understood the assignment and seemed to truly take delight in the use of the visual comedy aspect. Regaling viewers with tales of his time touring the world to places such as China, Germany, France, Poland and more Capper has the patrons in absolute fits of laughter as he cleverly misdirects the punchlines to his jokes set ups with nonstop slide changes, mismatched images to each named place and a whip smart try to keep up barrage of the quickest humour you are ever likely to experience.
Personal favourite of the evening absolutely without a doubt has to be the adorable U.K. comedian Lauren Pattison. The entire audience fell completely in love with her wholesome yet quirky brand of funny. Not necessarily a PowerPoint prop wielding winner but definitely makes great use of providing snapshots as a well delivered and well timed visual punctuation to each punchline in her set. The body of Pattison’s act focuses on the twenty plus listed points for why her boyfriend should let her get a dog. While this might not seem like a great theme for a comedy set it absolutely works to perfection when the star gets going and gives detailed and hilarious reasonings for each of her listed arguments, such as “I won’t talk to you because I’ll have the dog to talk to.” Definitely the best act of the night for sure.
After experiencing the night’s varied acts and how each of them embraced the basic theme it is hard to say if the show is a success or not. It does, however make for a fun and easy-going foray into the world of laughter and will no doubt give audiences a look at which other acts and performances they would like to see next. Treat The Late Night PowerPoint Comedy Showcase as exactly what it is: a way to sample some of the comedic stylings this year’s fringe has to offer – with some added imagery and sparkle.
You can catch this unique variety night at Four5Nine Bar until 2nd February 2023. TICKETS
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The Fourth Wall acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land we engage in storytelling on – the Wadjhuk people of the Noongar nation. We pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging.
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