Bridget Everett is all woman, six foot tall, busty, blonde and brash. Unabashed, with the voice of a Broadway star turned barmaid, if she was singing at a bar I would be there every night. Most famously known for her work with Amy Schumer, Everett’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut is explosive.
If you are not a team player or you struggle to laugh at humanity in all its damaged glory, then this is not the show for you. With total ownership of her body, story, and voice, Everett has plenty to share, and share she does. She wields her dramatic and often traumatising life experiences like a superpower. The audience was collectively complicit in a debauched celebration of Ms. Everett and her spectacularly bawdy brand of humour. Song themes ranged from the female anatomy to family relations.
I have never witnessed a performer so effectively toe the line between funny and totally inappropriate with so much poise. I believe the key was that she included not just the few audience members in the front row — close enough to get a full frontal glimpse of her bedazzled underwear — but included everyone. From dancing on chairs with audience members still in them, to piggy backing and aero-planing and playing them like guitars (all the while singing and never missing a beat). Everett quite literally was lifting the audience members out of their chairs and was rewarded with a standing ovation.
While I’m aware that this review employs many expansive adjectives, please believe they are all relevant in describing this larger-than-life woman and a performance that showcases her uninhibited desire to entertain and ensure everyone, without exception, has a good time.
-Emmanuella
Emmanuella Grace is voice and performance coach and singer. She loves cats, her new surf board, Gloria, and going to bed at 10pm.
‘Pound It’ is playing until 3rd April at Max Watt’s. Purchase tickets.
Check out our guide to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for more great shows.
