It's safe to say Lawrence Money (that's one O, by the way) seems to be something of a prophet.
His show 'The World's Gone Mad' was due to premiere in 2020, but then the world truly lost its mind, and here we all are a year later saying the exact thing Lawrence was trying to tell us before everything fell apart.
In the same show this year at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which by now feels a little bit like 'I told you so', Lawrence has polished the existing content and updated it to reflect the year that was 2020.
“This show, 'The World’s Gone Mad', was supposed to premiere last year but of course the world went COVID-nutty and theatre everywhere went up in smoke,” Lawrence explains. “But let’s face it, even before the pandemic, the world was showing chronic signs of cookiness. I’d read about it every day – the British government talking of giving prisoners their own keys – a Melbourne counsellor advising parents to seek consent from a baby before changing its nappy.”
“Just recently Yarra council flew a flag for something called Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, for people who don’t feel romantically attracted. You couldn’t make this stuff up.”
Comedy isn't where Lawrence started, but when you're born with the talent to make people laugh, why not pursue it? The comedian says this particular festival helped him establish himself as a performing funny man.
“I jumped into stand-up after 38 years writing Melbourne newspaper columns so I needed a springboard like MICF to get started,” Lawrence says. “Festival boss Pieta Farrell is terrific and her team is very supportive of all the performers.”
“Anyhow, I’ve got 13 shows under my belt now from 2019 and can’t wait to see how 2021 goes.
“There’s a bit of parody song, a la the late Allan ('Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah') Sherman, a sprinkling of one-liners in the style of my good mate Elliot Goblet, a serving of mock-horror stories from my celebrity-column days and some old-fashioned Aussie yarning, a la the great Frank Hardy. And I’ll be road-testing a new mystery app that is guaranteed to make my show a smash hit!"
Lawrence Money plays Speakeasy HQ (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 25 March-18 April.
