The Big Top on the lawn of at the Brisbane Powerhouse (8 March) played host to the final of the Brisbane 'Born And Bread' comedy showcase that highlighted a number the city’s emerging comedians.
While most of the night’s performers have left Brisbane to tread the well-worn path to the promised lands of Sydney and Melbourne, there is no denying the fact that the River City is in fact a great breeding ground for rising comedy stars.
After being welcomed into the tent by one of the performers (Tim Hewitt), the night proper was kicked off by the only female on the bill: a fitting choice with International Women’s Day.
Alex Ward shared some funny family stories and grossed people out by making us think of dirty dad bathwater; before next act Angus Gordon got his awkward on.
Angus GordonThe winner of Raw Comedy last year, his work and delivery will be familiar to some: and while his material might not a have been the most engaging (one punter after the show called him the 'Weird Dog Guy' after he went long-form on breeding different types of dogs for different tasks) he was able to keep the crowd tittering along for his entire act.
Hewitt returned to the stage as the third act and showed he was probably the most comfortable of all the performers in a set that featured jokes about funeral insurance ads on day-time TV and a very funny take on the ute culture of Thornlands.
The next two acts: Aaron Gocs and Gearard McGeown were similar in that they both used a conversational and confessional style – and were not afraid to make things uncomfortable to the audience.
Gocs especially took a while to get used to and he took us right to the brink of feeling sorry for him with his tales of his ‘loser’ lifestyle, before dragging us right back from the edge with a laugh.
Featuring five acts in an hour-long performance, it was a short, sharp and generally well-received school night out for the admittedly handful of people in the audience.
