Last week we went to see Isaac Lomman and his hypnosis show, as part of the Comedy Festival. Watching him tap into the minds of some volunteers making them do certain tricks had us entranced.  Isaac said we experience hypnosis every single day of our lives. Was this true? Is this real or fake? Were these volunteers put aside earlier in the show and given scripts? We asked ourselves these questions as we watched the beginning of the show unfold. Isaac was determined to prove that hypnosis is very possible. Guiding us through his process, he put his volunteers in a trance-like state, where they responded quickly to his commands in their own unique ways, each displaying a different way of doing the action. We watched people sleep, laugh uncontrollably, and respond to tasks that involved the audience. Overall the show was very entertaining and funny.  It was refreshing to see a comedy about people “sleeping” and doing things that we would never do ourselves unless under a magic spell. Highly recommended for all ages and …

It’s not that often you go to a stand-up gig and the comedian has flown in as the only passenger on a private jet just to be with his audience. Michael Bowley’s Incomplet is an unashamedly, unfinished eclectic collection of thoughts and experiences of a comedian 12 years, 3 months and 13 days in the making. The show is super educational, particularly for the internationals in the room. Bowley explains the four different types of “mate”, which means I now have to go over the last eight months in my head to see if anyone has referred to me as “your mate”. There are also top tips about how to be socially responsible/morally reprehensible depending on whether or not you’re ok with using a credit card the late former tenant of your house has been approved for. Someone sat next to me described Bowley as “a real cutie”, and he definitely comes across as this nice guy. This makes his occasional moments of dark humour all the more funny. These little surprises create a great balance in the show. There are times where Bowley …

The start of Evan Hocking’s stand up comedy show kicks off with a theme song, the Belinda Carlisle classic ‘Heaven is a Place On Earth’– cleverly dubbed over the top so that she’s singing ‘Evan is a Place on Earth’ – he cheekily announces that this is so that we can have that song stuck in our head for weeks, and the truth… it works. Evan’s show is true Australian ‘bloke’ humour. Short snippets of his life, tales of weddings he’s been to, trips he’s been on, his lovely-sounding, almost-doctor girlfriend and his time as a pool cleaner in Port Douglas – typical stories of a 30-something year old guy with a dry, hilarious and lighthearted outlook of life. Evan includes a tiny bit of audience interaction in his show, but it’s not obnoxious and off putting like some shows, it’s just… good true blue fun. A funny guy with an entertaining story to tell, Evan is a Place on Earth is showing as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in The Downstairs Lounge @ The Grand Mercure until 17 April, and, …

There were canapés, there were drinks and there were three awesome comedians; The Swanston Hotel put on the perfect night at their downstairs lounge at this year’s comedy fest. MC Mike Klimczak runs the venue and has just casually invited three of his comedian friends down to help him out for the evening; it’s difficult not to be jealous that he’s got these three acts in his phonebook. But the whole evening does have this lovely laid back feel to it; it’s their last day off before the final week of the fest, the calm before the storm perhaps! Either way the atmosphere is great for a night of chilled comedy. Claire Hooper has just had her second baby, is doing a solo show at MICF and came along on the 11th; she’s an all-round superwoman. The whole set feels like she’s just riffing off of what the audience give her. Hooper’s maternal instincts kick in when she spots a 14 year old girl in the second row with her parents. Her Mum looked particularly …