Chris Pattas Blog

Melbournians are a lucky lot. We have one of the world's best comedy festivals - something to suit any taste for 4 weeks every year.  It is called the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF).  We saw just two of the many shows and they were hilarious. We saw both Jimeoin's show and Akmal's show at the Athenaeum theatre. What are they like?

Jimeoin's show starts and ends with a little AC/DC musical number.  He is a little soft in certain places which is a nice effect but sometimes is hard to hear over anyone with a belly laugh.  There was one woman is the audience who basically laughed at anything - even his facial expressions - and the whole audience soon knew all about her.
Jimeoin basically tells a series of little stories about the everyday stuff that happens to us and makes us laugh at ourselves - but mostly himself.  There is a little bit of everything in his act. He seems the everyday bloke you might meet in the street. If you like his YouTube videos, you'll love his show.

Akmal's show is a little different. There is another comedian who looks like George Clooney who comes on first for 15 minutes and you are left wondering why he is not introduced as the warm up guy.  We had a lady next to us who was very inebriated that night and she kept on commenting and shouting out silly things.  Eventually Akmal had to tell her to shut up with thunderous applause from the rest of the audience.  Akmal's humour is very ethnic Australian and brought back memories of our childhood and the teasing that young children get in the playground.  He had good timing in terms of delivery but I felt his continual walking back and forth was a little distracting. Some in my group were in fits of laughter and one of us was in tears from the laughing.  There is quite a bit of swearing but it is in context. If you get a chance I highly recommend you see Akmal and relive some of your childhood laughter and fears.  Take a look at Akmals' YouTube videos.