Melbourne local Perri Cassie is a twenty something man wrapped in a blush pink “Leisure” sweater, all tied up in black dungarees and ready to make you laugh. Cassie has been honing his material in Melbourne’s local comedy scene, in rooms around Australia and has recently returned from entertaining audiences in the USA, bringing all his best material to MICF with his show, “Secondhand Bubblegum”. Cassie’s show is a complete joke free-for-all, with an upbeat story telling style mixed with self-deprecating quips, shock value and topical observational humour. Stand outs were his hilarious observations on the changes to the order of bases when dating in adult life (why go to home base last?), testing flat earthers, Afterpay for property and the joys of having high school classmates as Facebook friends. Cassie closes his show with a re-write of your typical men’s body spray ad (where better to start addressing the levels of toxic masculinity in our society) bringing the audience to near tears and joyous rounds of applause. 4 Stars Reviewed and written by our …

At 30 years young, Tash York is essentially a veteran of the Australian Festival and Fringe scenes, having toured solo shows including “These Things Take Wine” and with troupes The Desperettes and Impromptunes, she now delights audiences with her new show “Adulting”. If you’ve ever tried to adult and failed, York’s show could be the soundtrack to your life!  York weaves a tapestry of anecdotes into hilarious rewritten cover songs, including hits from Destiny’s Child, Ace of Base, Bruno Mars and Whitesnake. Her stories and songs delve into York’s own adventures in adulting, from being engaged at 19 to racking up serious parking fine debt but also commentary on modern life, always being connected but that we should also be okay with being alone and having some solo self-love time (hilariously sung whilst in a sleeping bag).  York also gives her thoughts on why modern generations are failing at adulting, placing at least some of the blame on Walt Disney’s shoulders, through a medley of Disney princesses greatest hits! York rounds out the absolute hilarity …

Ben Vernel, Adam Knox, Rosie Vernel and Timothy Clark are Melbourne’s own sketch comedy quadruple “Chimp Cop”.  The group brings their fourth Chimp Cop show to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with “The Death of Chimp Cop”.  This reviewer was familiar with the group by name only and was uncertain what to expect but was blown away by the talent, the gags (ranging from sophisticated to Dad joke) and the production of the show. As the title would suggest, the show centre’s around the death of beloved hero cop turned movie star, “Chimp Cop”.  Easily moving between scenes, including a modern-day court setting, where Chimp Cop’s children have their lawyers battle it out over their inheritance to flashbacks of Chimp Cop’s life, a fantastic action filled story is woven.  At times the show felt like a sensational combination of the 60s Batman and Get Smart tv series and was a gag-a-minute roller coaster ride with a plot twist that Hollywood would be proud of. The room was packed, with friends, long time fans and now …