Melbourne International Comedy Festival review
Damien Power starts his show with a few minutes of affable crowd work. If you’re familiar with Power’s acclaimed previous efforts – he’s been nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s top award three times – this may come as something of a surprise.
Renowned for wrestling with topics like the unbearable weight of the human condition or the breakdown of Western civilisation and making it all funnier and more accessible than it has any right to be, Power is still fuelled by existential angst but this year’s trip is more a leisurely drive than a ruthless pursuit of perfection.
The week s best comedy on demand
The week s best comedy on demand. For more streaming gigs use the find live comedy search box with online as the region.
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DARK HUMOR: Slightly randomly, Comedy Central in the US has made this episode of its documentary series about black comedy available to view on YouTube. In it, stand-ups including Gina Yashere, Roy Wood Jr., Sinbad, and Lil Rel Howery remember their earliest memories of comedy and celebrate their comedic influences:
DOORSTEP COMEDY: Stand-up streaming service NextUp has launched a second series of this show in which a camera team have visited comedians at home to see what they are up to during lockdown. It s the first original series made by the platform, which says everything has been done in a Covid-safe way. Episodes are released every Friday with Terry Alderton, Colin Hoult, and Olga Koch featuring this series.
BBC watchdog rules on complaint
BBC chiefs have investigated 1970s Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em for alleged homophobia.
One viewer complained that the 1975 Christmas episode contained hateful language, prompting a probe by the Executive Complaints Unit.
The Times reports that the questionable scene in the episode Learning To Drive concerned Frank Spencer - as played by Michael Crawford - working as a pixie in a department store grotto.
He loses control of a crowd of children when he tells them: ‘I’m the chief of the pixies, I’m the friend of all the little boys and girls.’
‘Oh no you’re not, you’re a poof,’ a boy heckles.