Every year in Adelaide, there is one month when the city wakes up and screams at the top of its lungs, directly into your ear. Mad March as it is affectionately known, is filled with many distractions. There’s something for everyone, ranging from the Clipsal 500 V8 car race, to the Adelaide Festival of Arts, as well as the Future Music Festival, Adelaide Cup, Skyshow, and certainly not least, the Adelaide Fringe Festival (yes there are two festivals named almost the same).

Whilst normally I’m involved in a show or two which chews up my time, this Fringe I was completely free! Rather than relax and watch the month pass by, I jumped in front and got hit head on. Dragging my family and friends along, I checked out the following 15 shows. They were all unforgettable, and yet I’ve forgotten enough to be able to review them coherently. Instead I’ll write a random comment, and instead of getting myself into trouble by criticising the bad ones, I just won’t say anything at all

My 2010 Adelaide Fringe in order of attendance

• Tim Minchin – This musical comedy genius singing about red haired people and “If I didn’t have you, I’d probably have somebody else”, is always a top shelf act.
• Bart Freebaird – A Breathtakingly Magical Journey into the Ordinary was watched by 8 people in a store-room at the Tuxedo cat. The most intimate show that I’ve ever been to, but very relaxed and entertaining.
• The Boy with Tape on His Face – How many shows have you seen when the only person on stage has a piece of tape covering his mouth and never speaks? Hard to explain, but one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen!
• Claire Hooper – A Few Small Things You Should Know About the Future didn’t mention anything about the future from memory, but she’s pretty on TV and funny in real life.
• Pip – Hypnolarious.
  
• Adelaide Comedy Debate – Is it a long way to the top? Just like the comedy debates that you see on TV, but up close, at the Arkaba Hotel, and without the TV. 3 hours of side-splitting laughter thanks to Jason Chong, Steve Hughes, Tom Gleeson, Dave Callan, Greg Fleet, Justin Hamilton, and 2 other comedians who I’ve forgotten (oops!).
• Philip Escoffey – Six Impossible Things Before Dinner really is six impossible things, but after dinner. Philip Escoffey blows your mind as he reads it, leaving you completely stumped about how he does his amazing feats.
• Wil Anderson – Wilful Misconduct.
  
• Dan Willis – CONTROL-ALT-DELETE is geek comedy at its best. The only show I’ve seen with the audience bursting out in laughter from the indentation of source code. As they say in the business, comedy gold!
• Tom Binns – Ivan Brackenbury‘s Hospital Radio Roadshow was the gem of the Fringe. Ivan’s radio hour broadcasting back to a hospital in the UK, is filled with dedications like “Achy Breaky Heart” for the cardiac ward. This one man show never stopped, with the risk of sending the audience to hospital from split sides.
• David O’Doherty – The David O’Doh-party was a late night show so I came dressed in my pyjamas. David’s a funny little Irish guy with a funny little keyboard and sings funny little songs. Even though he just stepped off a plane from Ireland, he put on a great show, even going 30 minutes over time for the cheering audience.
• The Sapphires was a State Theatre Company show that happened to be on during the Fringe. Starring Christine Anu, this musical also featured Casey Donovan the not-so-popular Australian Idol winner. Turns out though, that’s she was great, and has certainly found her calling.
• Sammy J and Randy – Ricketts Lane was quite funny at the beginning and got better as the show went along. I enjoyed it, but it was performed inside of a noisy circus tent and I think that skewed my opinion.
• Dan Willis - Michael Jackson: World’s Greatest Entertainer is the other show by the friendly UK comedian. With his impressive dancing skills and knowledge of Michael Jackson statistics, it’s hard to believe that’s he’s still single! Ladies?
• The Small Poppies DON’T CARE (that the end of the world is nigh) - A sketch comedy show by a small group of actors. While it gives me warm memories of the shows I’ve worked on, it wasn’t the funniest show I’ve seen. Also it lacked audience numbers which would have helped to overcome the low points.

Now before I give my recommendations about what you should see, I have to disclose something. Dan Willis and Tom Binns are not only talented comedians, but are also friendly visitors and enjoy moderately priced beer. After seeing CONTROL-ALT-DELETE with Emily, we chatted to Dan over a beer, met Tom after his show, and spent the rest of a blurry night at the Artist Bar. They were a great couple of blokes to hang out with, and together with the other cool people were met, made this my best Fringe yet.

Recommendations

If you like comedy, then you absolutely must see Ivan Brackenbury’s Hospital Radio Roadshow (youtube!) and CONTROL-ALT-DELETE. They were by far the funniest shows that I have seen, and it is a rare treat whilst they are still relatively unknown in Australia. Soon their international reputations will follow them here, and you’ll have a hard time getting tickets. So brilliant!

The other person that you can’t miss is Philip Escoffey. His “mind reading” tricks were amazing, and I was left speechless. Even when I thought I had an idea about how it was done, Philip would add another something else to make it really impossible. Facebook was filled with people recommending the show to their friends, and so I am recommending it to you!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Tom for Ivan’s success down under! If you’re in Melbourne, check out his show in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Ivan was a Best Act Nominee in the Adelaide Fringe 2010 he’s also the “sleeper hit” of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Pick of the Festival!!!!!!! according to the posh paper in Melbourne, The Age.

Sidenote

As you may have noticed, this is my first blog post in quite a while. It is true that Mad March had something to do with it, I lost motivation whilst everything was still calming down. I’m trying to get back on track with my 4 posts per week, but I am going to try to limit the time I spend on each post to 90 minutes. I’ll split the larger posts into a few smaller ones that will not only be less demanding to write, but less time spent reading for you.

Audience Participation

So if you’ve seen any of these shows, or any that I’ve missed, leave a comment and let me know what you thought!