Observer

OBSERVER: I’ll Allow It

Friday, April 4, 2025

Arriving onstage, Bronwyn Kuss (pictured) reveals that she has been hiding in the narrow space between the wall and the curtain, listening to the comments as the audience files in.Unsurprisingly, audience members want to avoid the front row.Kuss assures the front row that she will pick on everyone else for audience participation. The rest of…

OBSERVER: This Life Of Mine

This Life of Mine, the final film from writer-director Sophie Fillières before her untimely death last year at the age of 58, tells the story of a woman in the midst of a nervous breakdown.Barbie (Agnès Jaoui) is a divorced, 50-something French woman writing her autobiography and worrying about fonts.“Is it sober, or is it…

OBSERVER: Huggy mystery at Gold 104.3

A curious radio move underway at the moment is that popular Gold 104.3 morning host Craig Huggins is being taken off the Melbourne station by management.He will stay with the company and instead present the brekfast program on sister station Cruise 1323 Adelaide, and the afternoon drive programs on 96FM Perth.At Gold 104.3, the new…

OBSERVER: Starring Two Women

Two women approach the microphone, one in dazzling, turquoise satin and the other in a sparkling, feathered gown, to announce the next category of Australian free-to-air TV’s daggiest awards show, the Logies.“Tonight is all about television,” we are told.Audience members in the steamy environs of Melbourne’s iconic Nicholas Building may or may not have included…

OBSERVER: Just Because I’m Crying …

Hailing originally from New Zealand, with some time in Australia, and now a resident in the UK, Grace Jarvis has returned to Melbourne for her offering of Just Because I’m Crying Doesn’t Mean I’m Not Having a Nice Time, as part of the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.With performances at many Comedy Festivals including notable…

OBSERVER: Who’s Talking?

Before Bron Lewis (pictured) was one of Australia’s most promising new comedians, she was a high school teacher for almost a decade.Bron says she became a teacher because she hates learning – she would rather saw off her own legs than learn a new card game, and in her opinion whoever coined the term ‘board…

OBSERVER: Something Good

The art of theatre improvisation is quite a skill and often lost under the radar, or underrated,in this era of blockbuster shows underpinned by wizard technicals, excellent choreography, and expensive rehearsal hours.Comedy Republic offers improvised shows throughout the Comedy Festival and I was fortunate to attend a 4.30pm performance of Something Good, thus very light…

OBSERVER: Pilot

The wonderful Pilot program founded by Dylan McBurney last year, helps stage the first long-form comedy shows for emerging young comedians in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.A comedian himself, Dylan experienced the barriers young people face when transitioning from presenting five-minute sets to their own solo shows.Six hand-picked comedians with proven comedy experience are given…

OBSERVER: Splash Zone

Zoe Coombs Mar (pictured) is no stranger to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival – she won an award way back in 2016 for ‘most outstanding show’ – and she continues to make waves (pardon the pun) in The Splash Zone, her latest offering for the 2025 MICF.Fear not front-seat enthusiasts, you’re safe – but only…

OBSERVER: Bookshop Detectives

Not many author duos would have as fascinating past lives as Louise and Gareth Ward (pictured.The two New Zealand-based authors have just released their second novel together, a crime noir book called The Bookshop Detectives 2: Tea and Cake and Death.The book’s protagonists are ex-police officers Garth and Eloise, who run their own bookshop.In real…