REVIEW: TOMMY LITTLE- GOOD TALK
Tommy Little has a 4.8 Uber rating, a range of stories that will make you cringe and the audience roar with laughter in his latest show, Good Talk. It’s exactly that, a night of good talk with Little. It’s been 10 years since he started on the scene and has only gotten bigger and bigger in comedy and reputation: he’s been on tour around Australia, hosted three shows on The Comedy Chanel across 2016 and regularly appears on The Project.
His form is traditional stand up and he, like all comedians this festival, absolutely lets loose on latecomers in the audience – it’s just rude and Little called people out on it immediately, sarcastically apologising that we all didn’t wait for people – it seems to be a common theme this festival. He touches on many things in his show, like Uber and convenience, and the need for an Uber Baby Bjorn or piggy back service from when he doesn’t want to stumble home from the pub, but can’t justify a cab for the short journey, as well as picking on different Melbourne suburbs. He’s a typical Australian comedian in that he is blokey, swears a bit, has the strong accent and attitude, but also presents a self aware, anxious and stressed individual who’s no different from the rest of us. He’s very positive and hopefully and he thinks things really are beautiful, but he’s 30, single and getting older.
He’s great at accents, and claims to be a bit “racish” compared to racist, telling stories of his travels and the diversity in his life and his friends- one, who calls a “tsumani” a “salami”. “They’re dickheads but I love them” he proclaims of his mates, all four of them, who make fun of him getting teary eyed at tender gestures. He’s vulnerable with the audience but also is just amused by our reaction to his jokes, and his stories are honest, self deprecating and amusing.
His big message is that he isn’t worried about the state of the world right now. Plenty is happening, but he’s not worried. He’s pretty chuffed to be playing a theatre audience, and not at the football club, and laughs at the differences in reactions in the two venues.
The audience laps up Little’s comedy, and the awkward stories about his ex-girlfriend. He’s easy going on stage, endearing but stumbles through his works in a lovely way – he’s human and he acts it, allowing the audience to relate really well to his humour – it’s around the corner, it’s on the streets of Melbourne, its things we’ve seen and can imagine. He claims to be perfectly average, with all sorts of unfortunate stories, but it’s his delivery and his ability to find the funny and the positive in all of his stories that make him a great and enjoyable comedian. He’s well rehearsed and ties all of his stories together well, despite the format being he’s just having a good talk with the audience. An unfortunate but magnificent analogy about deforestation in Tasmania and pubic hair is going to be forever burned into mine and the audience’s memories, and it’s clever ditties and word plays that add another layer to his act.
Come and have a good chat with Tommy Little at the Forum until 23 April. Tickets: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/tommy-little-good-talk
This article first appeared at: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/tommy-little-good-talk/ on 19 April 2017.
