Milk Bar’s Comedy Festival Picks

The 27th instalment of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is bringing all manner of international stars and home-grown heroes back to our quaint town hall and its surrounds.

With a festival program bigger than ever, we picked out some our favourites to help make the selection process slightly less daunting.

Paul Foot – Kenny Larch is Dead
A haircut which works for Yo-landi Vi$$er doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. After his sell out tour last year, Paul Foot and his mullet from out of space return. Kenny Larch is apparently dead and Paul Foot’s new show has taken its name from this mysterious man’s demise. Knowing Paul Foot, he probably won’t explain how the title came about. Instead he’ll tell us that his now show comes from “deep within the sinking sands of the perspex jungle of youth, in the forgotten nebula of nothingness, comes an objet d’esire: a trombone fruit.” Comedy usually distracts you from reality for half an hour. Paul Foot’s set will distract you from the existence of earth and modern society.

Hannah Gadsby – NGV Art Tour ‘Nakedy Nudes’
Everyone has had those moments walking through an art gallery, staring a marble genitalia in the face and thinking “I’m a legitimate adult now, I can’t laugh at penises”. Turns out, you can. And you’re invited to. Hannah Gadsby is hosting the fifth instalment of comedy-art tours and this year the focus is classical porn; the artistic nude. The young, successful comedian has a degree in art curatorship and is sure to ejaculate some historical facts into her sexual session.

Red Hot Shorts – Reel Funny at ACMI
This series of comedic short films will be the festival’s special instalment of the ongoing ACMI program, Red Hot Shorts. Although it sounds like a creepy 80s dance festival, Red Hot Shorts usually showcases vignettes from our country’s centre. This special edition will feature tongue-in-cheek music videos and humorous short films from Australia and the world.

Charlie Pickering and Waleed Aly – The World’s Problems Solved
Climate change, boat people, homelessness, world peace – forget about it, they’re solved. Charlie and Waleed tackle some pretty serious topics when they sit on The Project’s news desk. They interview professionals, experts and witnesses who all have their own opinions and solutions about how to solve problems and get to the heart of what matters in our community. Finally, the lights have turned back around and the focus is on the boys asking the questions, who happen to also have all the answers. Each week Charlie and Waleed will be offering up verbal remedies to sooth the world’s problems.

Wil Anderson – GoodWil
A man who describes himself as ‘mostly heterosexual’ for dressing like KD Lang in slim-line all black feels perfectly suited to Melbourne and  our comedy festival. Wil Anderson has won the Bulmers People’s Choice award for the past three years, and each year he serves up something wilarious. This time around his show posters are covered in an army of cartoon Wils assumedly here to bombard us with laughs, peace and GoodWil.

The Festival Club
Each night from a quarter past 11pm the HiFi bar hosts those suffering from insomnia, jetlag and over-excitement. Comedians aching for more jump onstage to test unscripted, impromptu performances on crowds who don’t know what to expect. Festival Club is usually a one-off show with untamed content potentially never to be seen the same way again. Food, drinks and DJs also add to the atmosphere and ease you into the experience.