Everybody loves to laugh. Live comedy id one of my absolute favourite things so I decided that I would spend most of my time trying to make myself laugh until my brains fell out. I spent the opening night at Fringe in the DeLuxe tent and it was an interesting and eclectic lineup, and if last night was anything to go by, Fringe this year is going to be a good one!

A Night In Chicago by ‘The Improv Conspiracy’ opened the show to a sold out, and very excited crowd, making their very first Perth appearance. A group of nine very different actors blended together and interacted with each other to the topic of ‘knickers’, which was chosen at random from a very excited elderly audience member. They preformed two different types of improvisation techniques, ‘The Deconstruction’ and “The Herald’, and they both were incredibly well received and the standard of acting and the comedy was just brilliant. It was unbelievably smooth and a joy to watch, although I feel too many tickets were sold as there was hardly enough room for all of the audience members to be comfortable. You need to do yourself a favour and go and see these guys. Information and tickets here: https://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/91bd4666-4ea9-4be0-97db-abf55056a195/

The Epicene Butcher has arrived in Perth to much fanfare and a flurry of word of mouth praise. This ancient Japenese storytelling art called Kamishibai has been misused in the most hilarious way possible, and the show by South African company Third World TV is definitely worth your time. Some rude audience members arrived late and spent the first ten minutes of the show knocking on the door during the quietest part of the show, rather than waiting for the loud music to signal that they were allowed in. Fortunately the artists handled it with the grace you see only in professionals.

Winner of a Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award at South Africa's National Arts Festival as well as Best International Production and Critic's Choice at Fringe Amsterdam 2013, it will make you laugh, cry, and laugh again. (Yes, that’s a cliché, deal with it!) Loud Japanese pop music, a man in tiny short shorts, free lollies for the audience and a special appearance by Mario makes this show a fun, and unique night out. Follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook, these guys are a show that you cannot afford to miss. https://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/5f859973-81dc-4c58-a661-e513070cfb35/

Heath Franklin's ‘May I Borrow a Crisis?’ was a diamond in the rough. Many of you know Heath Franklin as ‘that Chopper Reed bloke’ so I have to admit that I was a little upset to see that he wasn’t really doing that character in his set. Having sold over 250,000 tickets around the world as Chopper, the ARIA & Logie-nominated has never done his own solo show before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was however really surprised when his show turned out to be more enjoyable than his Chopper stuff anyway. This was a really really good stand up show. The premise of the show is that he borrows the audience’s problems and turns them into his own worries, creating a fun and unique show everytime. He was very relatable and the audience loved him. Come and say hello, buy him a beer, he will thank you for it. https://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/490b5cd2-0609-4659-a1f5-6aa2973cbdf6/

Mickey D- ‘Gold’ was last up and I feel like for me, the night ended on a bad note. The audience around me really enjoyed it but I just felt like it wasn’t particularly appealing to anyone if you’re not a 20 year old cashed up bogan that knows a lot about cars and uses a lot of really creative swear words. Honestly, there was not much funny about a 40 something year old man pretending to be a 20 year old hardass. I’m sorry, but no one should be using the term ‘cray cray’, especially anyone over the age of 15, not to mention he kept going on about all his CRAZZZZYYYYY nights on drugs, and a whole heap of other complete bullshit that just made him sound like he was trying too hard to stay young. There were a few funny moments but for me it just felt like I was swimming in a pool of ‘heard it all before’. It may appeal to you though, it’s possible I’ve gotten old and cynical because I don’t understand car terminology, which appeared to make up the bulk of his material. Check him out here: https://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/212b65b5-82a2-4be7-bc46-bde44d2a68ae/

If you agree with me, or if you disagree with me, let us know in the comments. I would love to hear your opinion! Until then, let us know what Fringe shows you have seen or would like us to review next!

-Jo-Anne Bradford

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