Published on RHUM.org.au April 2010
It’s a shame that Stand Up and Be Counted: Knows No Boundaries was a one-night-only affair, because it was a ripper. Over two hours (and a bit), six female comedians brought the house down.
First up Melinda Buttle gave us a cracking impersonation of her ex-Navy Dad’s encounter with a beggar in Bourke Street. This was unfortunately cut a bit short when she had to scuttle off to her solo gig.
Stella Young is an absolute gem. A person of short stature with much to say about disability, be warned that she does make liberal use of the c-word – cripple. At 88cm tall she’s a tiny package but one that was chock full of sass as she riffed on public transport, the annoyingness of kites and being patted on the head by condescending “normal people”. “I’ve realised that ’special’ is a code word for ’shit’,” she told us, and if that’s her definition of the word then I say she is anything but.
Canada’s DeAnne Smith failed to disprove my theory that every international comedian performing in Melbourne is obliged to do a Frankston gag, but apart from that her set was solid. She enlightened us to the fact that the birds in our country are “assholes”, and introduced us to her hilariously racist grandmother.
The Northern Territory’s Mia Stanford, winner of the 2007 MICF Deadly Funny Award, treated us to some blackfella storytelling humour. Her mimed re-enactments of conversations with her deaf-mute foster brother (one of 27 foster siblings) were both funny and touching, and her seemingly endless story about life as a rosella at the Bird Bath Bar showed her incredible skill at dropping puns.
Adelaide Fringe Festival’s Best Newcomer award-winner Lori Bell was full of beans. Most of her material revolved around life as a redhead, or a “chutney crutch” as she instructed us to never call her, ever.
All this was skilfully hosted by bespectacled Taswegian Hannah Gadsby, who regaled us with stories of awkward encounters with short-statured fans and ended the show with a rollicking game of “you-shout-out-a-body-part-and-I’ll-tell-you-how-I’ve-broken-it”, which included her left breast. What a smashing show.
Chuckle Factor: 9/10