Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Wil Anderson - Willegitimate
Comedy Theatre, Exhibition Street
Until 22 April
Racing out of work at 5 pm is never a bad thing. I'd put on some makeup, put street clothes on and meet my mate Alix for the 6 pm Wil Anderson show. It's a school night. We've got two shows to see. I let Alix choose the shows - she's more in the know than me (although I was the one insisting on the Shit-Faced Shakespeare show we saw later in the evening.)
Two very different shows.
Wil Anderson was the more introspective of the two. He was also very relatable. As a man in his early fifties, he looked at many of the things we of the Generation X brigade have front of mine - that being aging parents, aging ourselves, and the regrets which we have, and don't have.
Anderson and I have a bit in common, not that we're Generation Xers with low-grade mental health issues. Anderson was very open with his struggles with depression and him seeking help - never a bad thing for a man to talk about.
He talked about his coming from a small country town in Gippsland where his folks were dairy farmers (tick). He spoke of the isolation of coming from the country (tick). He centered his monologue around his relationship with his father. A taciturn baby boomer who never spoke of his emotions (tick). All very recognisable.
He also looked at what it is to age in Australia - and went into great detail about the dreaded 'poo test'.
You know about the poo test... Anderson made what is already surreal even funnier.
While it's not a show where you're going to lose bladder control from laughing, Wil Anderson is very entertaining. Return members of the audience would recognise some of his standard jokes, often at the expense of Adam Hills, of whom he's a dead ringer, or vice versa. Have a look.
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