Articles by Matt Smith

Download podcast interview link: A Talk with Shaun Micallef It’s hard not to like the softly spoken giant of Australian comedy that is Shaun Micallef. He’s had a consistent presence on television screens since the early 90s in Full Frontal, followed over the years by a string of programs including The Micallef P(r)ogram(me), Micallef Tonight, [...]

A variety of characters, a range of skits, an imaginative premise, a range of accents, and a damn good impression of Robert De Niro doing an impression of Chewbacca the Wookiee – all provided by comedian Xavier Michelides. It’s a conventional premise that could have made a decent show by itself, but it’s kicked to [...]

Comedy once again comes to confines of the Melbourne Museum, as the Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour takes it to open dance warfare between science and history. Now in its fifth year, the tour is a breezethrough of some of the highlights of the Melbourne Museum – primarily the stuffed animals exhibit and the Melbourne history [...]

This year’s Crikey ‘Best of the Fest’ award for the best show in the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival was presented last night to a comedian that we had no trouble agreeing on – Andrew McClelland.

There’s no doubt that the Axis of Awesome know what they’re doing. Now entering their sixth year as a musical comedy trio, they play to sell out audiences around the world, and their ‘Four Chords’ song have been seen by an impressive amount of people on YouTube. By now there’s probably a fair few comedy [...]

Warrick Glynn writes… Bob has re-entered the building and he’s brought his mojo with him. I knew Bob was back when he burst onto the stage of the campy Spiegeltent in his ‘Pepsi Max’ tracksuit and Jack Vidgeon hairdo and launched into the first of his twenty golden greats. Looking like the cover model for [...]

Nicole Humphreys writes… With a commanding stage presence and voice to match, McQueen’s candid comedy cabaret floats between an open diary of her work in theatre, to transformations into her ‘guest stars’ – where McQueen does her best work. Cleverly written songs about the pitfalls of being a single woman in an industry that is [...]

With a bubbly, infectious presence and an innocent on stage charm, Shappi Khorsandi presents an interesting, but at times traumatic portrayal of family life to this year’s comedy festival. Flanked at all times on stage by the titular family photo, Khorsandi tells about her childhood – first in Iran, and later in England, her experiences [...]

There were a few comedians this comedy festival dusting off their computers and tapping away to present their audience with a Powerpoint presentation. So far they’ve been little more than a poorly integrated visual aid, a vaguely tedious distraction that did little but invoke the feeling that you were trapped in a business meeting that [...]

You have to hand it to Tommy Dassalo – he set himself a challenge with his comedy festival this year. At first Dassalo states that his show is about the trials and heartache of a long distance relationship, and it lives up to that. Tommy’s girlfriend moved to Disneyland to sell glowsticks, and this is [...]

Pajama Men have a strictly limited run of their show from last year, The Middle of No One, and Crikey’s Laugh Track has two free tickets to give away for the show on Wednesday 18th April. I don’t need to tell you how good the show was, Crikey has a review handy. Click here to [...]

Musical comedy group Dead Cat Bounce return to Australian shores this year, a member lighter but no less funnier, with their newest hard rock show Howl of the She-Leopard (a title they came up with by using a pretty damn accurate ‘rock concert name’ formula). There’s as much comedic talent as there is musical with [...]

Mark Butler is undoubtedly the thinking man’s comedian – funny goes hand in hand with knowledge, and his shows are carefully crafted and minutely researched to draw every joke out of a topic. While in the past he’s taught us about sex and grammar (two separate shows), this festival he explores the concepts of lying. [...]

Have you ever looked at a cat and realised that it’s got everything figured out? Your food is brought to you, you get attention on your own terms, and there’s always someone to clean up after you. Why do humans think we’re superior to them at all? It’s something that has been playing on the [...]

Want two free tickets to see cabaret act The Horne Section at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival? There’s jazz, there’s comedy, and I assume lots of jokes revolving around phallic comedy and massive instruments (I could be wrong…) Crikey’s Laugh Track has two such tickets for Greg’s show on April 15th. Simply go and ‘like’ [...]

Patrick McCullagh’s An Irishman’s Guide to Internet Dating is a show with a mixed message – no guide to speak of, but there’s an Irishman, and his dating exploits are onstage for all to see. He’s armed with a dodgy powerpoint presentation, and he’s cribbed some of the questionable content he could find on internet [...]

Crikey’s Laugh Track has two tickets to giveaway to see Tim Fitzhigham’s 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Show Gambler, for Wednesday April 11th. Tim Fitzhigham is a comedian from the UK, and his show about gambling bets in history sounds pretty darn good. At one point he rowed across the English channel in a bathtub and [...]

There’s something sexy in a delightfully dorky way about Celia Pacquola, as she opens her new show Delayed by demonstrating some truly awful dance moves – air humping with your thumbs stuck out is never going to be a good look – this is a new Celia, eager to show Melbourne how much (or indeed [...]

‘You won’t find everything that I say funny,’ said Jimeoin in a strangely prophetic way. ‘You won’t even pay attention all the time. You’ll fade in and out, but thats okay.’ Whether he was speaking from experience of not, Jimeoin was strangely on the money. For the next hour,  Australia’s token Irish comedian proceeded to [...]

In this podcast, Ross Noble talks to Matt Smith about an embarrassing happening during the Adelaide Fringe, how to be a modern day ‘rock star’, and he accepts all ideas pitched to him for future shows – so watch this space. I apologise for the audio quality in this podcast – completely my fault – [...]

Want two free tickets to see comedian Greg Behrendt onstage in his solo debut show Clown From the Neck Down? Then you’re reading the right blog post! Crikey’s Laugh Track has two such tickets for Greg’s show on April 4th. Simply go and ‘like’ Laugh Track on Facebook, and email your name and a contact [...]

If you’re interested in two free tickets to see Barry Award winning Canadian comedian Mike Wilmot on 29th of March at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, then you’ve come to the right blog! Crikey’s Laugh Track has two such tickets for a lucky punter. Simply go and ‘like’ Laugh Track on Facebook, and email your [...]

John Richards talks to Matt Smith about his upcoming show Outland, a new comedy show coming to the ABC about a gay science fiction club. In this podcast, John enlightens us with the show’s six year development, and explains who has the bigger closet to come out of. Podcast: A Talk with John Richards. Outland [...]

Funny, educational, and always what it says on the packaging – quite interesting – QI Live brings the BBC comedy show to the stages of Australia, hosted by the international treasure Stephen Fry. For those familiar with the televised counterpart there is little variation. Now infused with a cast of Australian panelists and partnered as [...]

It’s pretty obvious that the media is always in danger of disappearing up it’s own arse in self analysis. Well now, the hamster’s beaten them to it. Last night brought the first episode of The Hamster Wheel to ABC1, a new show from The Chasers, who have narrowed their field of vision from a war [...]

Vince Chadwick writes… Manic, hilarious, inspired, fearless, genuine Felicity Ward holds the wherewithal to pull off this most unlikely premise. The comedian always loved Christmas specials on T.V. and wondered why they couldn’t be on all the time. So she commandeered her own fiefdom at the North Melbourne Town Hall and set about recreating Christmas [...]

Freelance writer Meghan Lodwick writes… Two lone chairs sat on a blank stage which I later discovered was the appropriate backdrop for talent so ripe minimalism was key to let the two actors shine. This Is Siberian Husky debuted at the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and now Simon Godfrey and Dan Allemann—the duo behind [...]

Vince Chadwick writes… There is no denying that there is something intrinsically funny about the keytar. The Keytar Kid aka Mr Brady aka John Nelder plays on its phallic elements at one point, which might be a bit of a stretch – but see, there you go! An absolute artefact of the 1980s, the two [...]