Another day at the Fringe last night, this time to see Wil Anderson Scared Weird Little Guys. [1]One good thing about the preview shows of stand-up comedians, apart from the fact that they are cheaper, is that, they will try to test their new material on the audience in order to see what sort of reaction they are going to get. So you get the benefit of the tried and true stuff as well as the awkward silences when the joke kind of falls flat. It may say something about me that I actually enjoy that; probably because it gives an idea of how the performer thinks. Then again, who was it that said "analysing humour is like dissecting a frog; few people are interested in it and the frog dies as a result." Anyway this is not to say that SWLG fell flat on their faces. Far from it in fact. But I did find it interesting as they subtly (or not so subtly) probed the audience's reactions. Anyway the show was very much typical SWLG, veterans as they are of numerous Fringes (which was the reason I didn't plan to go until I encountered friends wanting to go; I'd seen a lot of it before). The one disappointment in their true history of music was the lack of an accompanying cellist [2]. Lots of old favourites; a few new pieces; one so new that hadn't actually worked out an introduction for it yet. Fun was had by all. Although the queue for the next act (Ross Noble) was unbelievably long (especially for assigned seating). I was tempted to hire out bicycles to the people at the end of the queue so that thay might make it to the front in time for the start of the show. After the show I went to see one of the stranger Fringe sideshow acts: Bernie Shore and His Giant Carnivorous Ants. He has an interesting "zoo" of Bolivian Army Ants, which are quite large and extremely carnivorous (I do not reccomend visiting the show during feeding time, even for the strong of stomach). While we were chatting he mentioned that he lost quite a few in Melbourne recently, and warned that sopranas should watch out for them in order to avoid being eaten. Quite a curious chap, all in all. [3] [1] The duo tried to fool reviewers that didn't like the show by saying that they were Wil Anderson. However it was easy to see that they were lying. They were wearing shoes. [2] OK. That's the last cellist "joke." Especially since no one that knew the origins of it actually reads this journal.[3] This last paragraph may be entirely apocryphal and the bits which aren't are almost certainly untrue. One hope that Certain People are feeling better soon.... | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reverancepavane) wrote2006-03-01 03:01 pm
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I sang in a SWLG show a few years ago. It was rather entertaining - they might not have had a 'cello, but they did have an anvil.
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For those in Adelaide the SWLG are on MMM breakfast radio after 7:30am with "Stump the Scardies"