THE STAND-UP COMEDY FESTIVAL: SEND IN THE CLOWNS
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But the idea of incorporating comedy into the year 9 curriculum was about more than learning to tell stories through performance.
Send in the clown: Jason Byrne's year milestone - The Irish News
It was about challenging young women to confront their youthful fears and giving them the chance to discover self-confidence. Even now, the year 9 students are still very scared at the start of the year.
But we talk about overcoming fears and anxiety and becoming empowered. One of her students, Marissa Di Marzio, has a routine for Class Clowns that revolves around her confession that "I'm not a model, obviously" and her endless search for a photo that might make her look good "do I put my hair up, or do I have my hair down? I always loved Seinfeld, watched his shows, and now I sort of understand what he was doing. Surely he's from a generation that bears not much relationship to Australian secondary students?
The Sydney Morning Herald
Not at all, Lattin's young comics chorus. They all watched Seinfeld and other comedians from his era. They loved the timing and the absurdity and the risk-taking, they say — comedy for the sake of it. By the end of each year, the most unlikely routines have emerged, and some are rather more absurd than anything Seinfeld did on TV. Ruby and her classmate Gauri Nair have worked up an off-the-wall parody of TV talk shows in which Ruby, interviewed by Gauri, reveals that her father is a Mercedes Benz car, her grandmother is a tractor and she is in love with an eggplant named Ned, whose mother is a lemon and is "quite bitter".
Somehow, you get the idea these girls are slyly sending up the famously vapid, from Kim Kardashian down. Gauri, Lattin tells me, immigrated from Italy at the age of 13 and in her first year at the college was so hesitant she spoke to no one. Gauri deadpans the role of talkshow interviewer, quite unfazed about Ruby's love affair with an eggplant. So how does Ned feel about the arrangement, Gauri inquires. If these two new arrivals have veered to the surreal, others have mined their own lives and cultural circumstances.
Lattin introduces me to two of the school's more practised comics, year 11 students who have graduated from Class Clowns to the Comedy Festival's next level of competition for young comedians, the LOL Squad. Mehad Al-Bijawi is a Muslim "Mehad," she grins, keen to deliver a little jolt. Together, these two friends have moved from lampooning Tony Abbott and his various attitudes to satirising Donald Trump, his stance on Muslims and immigration and his promise of a great big wall.
Stella Askey gets right to it, telling her audience "I know what you're asking — you want to know about my family". And off she goes, telling that her Anglo father is cool, plays in a band with his mates but annoys her by socialising with her friends and keeping her awake during sleepovers at his place by playing his harmonica at 3am.
Meanwhile, her mother's family is "all Italian, obsessed with food and over-dramatic". Her impression of her nonna, so over-protective she bursts into tears at the thought of Stella going for a walk to the park, has the audience howling.
Linh Nguyen, who immigrated from Vietnam three-and-a-half years ago, distils her entire high-energy sketch to tales of her mother's impossibly emotional reaction to her young brother's decision to cut his own hair, and her mother's fury and distress when she serves a wild barramundi and the boy declares it "tastes like crap". He is, in fact, saying it tastes like crab. There is a language barrier even within the family.
Linh tells that her brother is named Minh, and she riffs on the way Vietnamese names in her family all sound the same: The students hone their routines in the hours before the Class Clowns heats under the tutelage of Stu Daulman, a highly regarded Melbourne-based comedian and TV performer Fancy Boy. She has a knack for lovable, eccentric characters that nobody else in the world could come up with.
Marny Town The Hive Aug , 6. Last year Lucy made a real breakthrough with her cabbage-based show, picking up a Best Newcomer nomination for a show that was perfect in its nonsensical, playful chaos. Fruit Loop Monkey Barrel Aug , 6. A real favourite of many comedians, including Ricky Gervais David has worked on several of his projects , Brian Gittins is a character you tend to love, or absolutely despise.
Send out the clowns: why are they losing popularity?
David Earls is Brian Gittins: Chiffchaff Pleasance Dome Aug , 6. A Play by Christopher Bliss. Another contender for best show title. Rob Carter is the man behind Christopher Bliss, a terrible author whose lack of talent is only matched by his giant ego. Think Garth Marenghi, but even more pathetic and deluded. Winner of the Funny Women award, Freya Slipper is a hugely talented comedian and writer whose debut character show sees her set off to space.
A brilliant improviser, Steen is the Adam Riches school of playful and unpredictable audience interaction. The Sam half of superb sketch duo Sam and Tom goes it alone for what should be an hour of silly antics. If anyone can make it funny, Kieran can. Faces of Grace Pleasance Courtyard Aug , 8.