OBSERVER: Maps with Julian O’Shea
Arriving at the cosy, intimate Studio Two performance venue at The Crowne Plaza, I wasn’t expecting to find cartographic comedy to be so entertaining.
Surprisingly, it lived up to its reputation as being the “funniest map-showed theme at the festival”.
Who knew that a witty, knowledgeable, quirky digital content creator could be so hilariously comical using relevant, engaging and astonishing factual material?
This family-friendly performance kept audience members of all ages laughing out loud for a full 90 minutes.
Even celebrity ABC weatherman, Nate Byrne, was found chuckling uproariously in the back row. It was extraordinarily refreshing to sit through a whole comedy show without hearing a single instance of profanity.
Julian O’Shea is a well-known, delightfully geeky and enormously popular creator with a wide-reaching presence on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
He showed us that factual information can be so much more ridiculous and absurdly humorous than fiction.
A highlight for me was his recounting of the numerous reports of trucks becoming decapitated daily, going under Mel-bourne’s Montague St Bridge and the road trip around Australia to visit all the tourist BIG things (the BIG Koala, the Big Banana, etc.).
There were some very clever moments of audience participation that never fail to amuse, and if Julian O’ Shea had been my Geography teacher in school, it would definitely have been my favourite subject and I would have challenged Nate for his gig at the ABC.
Julian’s delivery is fast and snappy, his memory astounding, his comic timing excellent and his demeanour charmingly modest.
His passion for his subject is obvious and possibly borders on obsession. I would normally suggest purchasing tickets before the end of the season, but unfortunately, it is already sold out.
I will be looking out for Julian’s next stint on the comedy circuit; hopefully, I won’t have to wait too long.
Review by Lucy Nicolson