Thebarton Theatre
29 February 2008 - 7:30pm
Well for around $40 I got the opportunity to see one of the more well known acts of the Fringe Festival, comedian Dave Hughes. When buying these tickets I wasn't quite sure what to expect, I mean I have seen his work on television on 'The Glass House' and 'Before the Game', but I really had no idea how his stand up comedy would go in front of a usually harsh Adelaide crowd.
A lot of Dave Hughes material consisted about jokes about his marriage and things his wife has said and done - it was all very funny at her expense, hopefully she sees it all light heartedly.He also joked about other celebrities and even bought up the media feud between himself and 'Kyle Sanderlands', he once again proclaimed that Kyle was a massive dick head and that the only thing he was sorry for was letting everyone else know that!
He outlined his TV Week Logie award for best comedy DVD, where he mentioned that he got up to make a speech and then realised that his award was presented during the advert break and that he didn't even get to do his speech on live TV. He said that after his speech he heard 'James Matherson' (presenter on Australian Idol) announce that he had won after the advert break was over. He amusingly went on to call him a "Google eyed, bug head freak". (hope that my quoting him does not create another media argument!)
Dave Hughes was amusing and often had to pause to stop him self from laughing, which kept the audience laughing with him. I did find that a few times he may have crossed the comedy line a few times, with references made to hot topics such as Heath Ledger, Christianity and the Muslim religions. When he started to make light of the death of Health Ledger, I wanted to somehow stop him and put the words back in his mouth because I think he may have lost a few of the audience members there.
Obviously when a comedy act comes to another state to perform, they research the state and areas to ensure that their material fits. In this instance, Hughesy made a lot of reference to what he perceived as the worse areas in Adelaide and made a lot of 'Elizabeth' and 'Salisbury' jokes. I kind of find all that a bit old and tiresome - I am not defending the Northern Suburbs of Adelaide, but I just find those kind of jokes a little boring.
In summary, besides those few jokes that didn't work for me, Dave Hughes was entertaining and funny and performed to what seemed a sell out crowd that all seemed to enjoy the evening.
Just to note also, warming up the crowd before Dave Hughes came on was 'Adam Rozenbachs', he is a writer for the ABC show 'Spicks and Specks'. I found him very funny and entertaining. His material consisted of jokes regarding the Olympics and general funny day to day activities. .
I did a search of the fringe guide to see if he had his own Fringe show and could not find one listed. He was very funny and I personally would definately go to see him perform.
From my point of view Adam could have easily stolen the limelight as the main act if he was given more time to perform.
