Sometimes as a reviewer to a show there is a slight burden. The nagging knowledge that you are not just here to enjoy the show, but also to compare it in some way to others of its kind, to analyse, and provide critique. I was thoroughly embroiled in this analytical state of mind when WATSON’s Life Education Van for Adults began, but it certainly wasn’t the mindset I had when it finished.
Though slightly slow and silly to start out, the sketch group’s over-the-top and lively humour quickly had me laughing and along for the ride. Well, not quite. As it turned out, their education van had broken down in the desert and they were pondering the possibility of giving up their quest to help educate schoolkids about life. After all, Harold the Giraffe had been acting pretty strangely lately. Remember that time with the gun…?
If you’ve been visited by Healthy Harold and the Life Education Van, which visits Australian kids, this show will be all the better, but it really doesn’t matter. I hadn’t and I still thoroughly enjoyed the engaging performances by Tegan Higginbotham, Adam McKenzie, and Liam Ryan as they took a lively audience though a series of Australian-centric skits. From blackmailing Telstra network plans to ‘the talk’ to sexual obscenities they cover a wide range of important topics every ‘adult’ should know, though I really don’t know why Harold keeps talking about cat hamburgers.
After a song about TV series you really get a sense the actors themselves are enjoying the show – to the point where I found myself reconsidering my career, it just looked like so much fun. It’s easy to see why this was won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Fringe festival.
I left with that feeling that only a good 60 minutes of laughter can give you.
-Emmanuel
Emmanuel Malikides – Likes comedy. Likes writing. He writes his descriptive blurb in third person so that it sounds like someone else wrote it.
WATSON: The Life Education Van For Adults! plays Mondays and Thursday-Saturday nights until the 16th April. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Check out our guide to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for more great shows.
Disclosure: The Plus ones were invited guests of Julz Hay.
