The Powerhouse Theatre is mostly full for a Tuesday night (1 March), and the audience is buzzing with pre-hysterical energy, at the opening performance of Frank Woodley's 'Extra Ordinary' for the Brisbane Comedy Festival.
Woodley enters the stage looking dapper in a suit and bow tie and the audience greet him with a loud round of applause. Tonight is a very special occasion indeed, and we are celebrating Woodley’s 12th (leap year) birthday party!
He begins by introducing himself and venturing straight off into his comedic randomness, already sending the audience into stitches, while explaining that this isn’t the funny part yet and asking us why we thought this was even funny? Because it’s just hilarious.
With the audience now warmed up for all of the laughs, Woodley bashfully starts sharing a deep and shameful confession about how he has a true passion “for making shit props that take not much time at all to make”. He expresses his true love for Shakespeare and then proceeds to demonstrate how he has made his very own Shakespeare costume.
The laughter in the audience is completely contagious, with snorting and wheezing left, right and centre. I am half-laughing at him and half at the audience’s hysterical reaction to the show; this is all too funny.
His show tonight, 'Extra Ordinary', is a hysterical journey through Woodley’s observation on life’s ordinary moments. The storyline is not completely clear, but his random comic nonsense is so ridiculous that it’s absolute genius.
Frank Woodley is a true legend of Australian comedy. His comedy, clowning, acrobatics and characters are mastered to perfection while he artfully spins the audience off into insane stories venturing into confusing tangents, and cleverly pulling it all back together resulting in an audience weeping with laughter.
It was comedy groups like Lano and Woodley that characterised Australian stand-up and slapstick comedy in the '90s, and since emerging from the acclaimed duo in 2006, Woodley has performed a huge number of solo stage shows, delivering another brilliant show tonight.
Bravo, Frank Woodley! Another wonderfully-ridiculous performance by an Australian comedy master.
Frank Woodley will be performing 'Extra Ordinary' until Sunday 6 March at the Brisbane Powerhouse for Brisbane Comedy Festival. So make sure you snap up a ticket, so you don’t miss this fantastic show!
