Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Make 'em laugh
I'm a big fan of stand-up comics. In Brisbane I used to see the occasional show at the Sit Down Comedy Club and before the folks had their cable package cut back I used to waste a whole lot of time in front of the Comedy Channel. Moving to Canberra has been pretty disappointing; the few visits to shows here were pretty lame with the exception of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow last year. I managed to be in Melbourne for the comedy festival once a few years back & saw some good shows. What little desire I have to run away and see the world involves stops at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
So I was pretty happy on Friday night when post-pub channel surfing introduced me to Margaret Cho. I caught the last twenty or so minutes of her Notorious C.H.O. show on SBS. I'm going to have to track down a copy of the whole show to see what her mix of jokes & political statement is like (her web site & weblog moreso have quite a bit of political writing). I'm expecting a good show; reviews liken her to Richard Pryor during his better days.
It was while I was looking for information on Cho that I read the sad news that a great Australian comic had recently passed away. Lynda 'Gibbo' Gibson had ovarian cancer and died on the 2nd of January. A lot of the discussion I've read about her death focuses on her role in Let the Blood Run Free, but I'll always remember her from her stand-up performances and from staying up late Tuesday nights as a kid to watch The Big Gig on the ABC. Head over here for some commentary by Gibbo a photographic history of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Labels: Laugh
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