Usually-Victorian-based comedian Scott Limbrick was set to premiere 'The Last Blockbuster On Earth' at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2020.
After finding himself an accidental resident of Western Australia for most of 2020, Scott will now premiere the show at Fringe World! He's one of the few interstate performers part of the programme, presenting a sketch show taking on genres and styles including action films, family comedies, biopics, French New Wave and prestige dramas.
Without further ado, Scott's written an open letter to give us some more information on the video store atop a mountain he'll be inviting audiences to at Fringe World.
“We live in an age of constant entertainment. It simply cannot be stopped.
That’s why Blockbuster is a symbol of the past – left in the dust by the speed and convenience of Netflix/Stan/Amazon/Apple TV/Foxtel/Binge/iView/7plus/10 Play/SBS On Demand/whatever Channel 9’s one is/YouTube/TikTok/Facebook/IGTV/Twitter/forwarded videos on WhatsApp/Vine when it was around but now those compilation videos I guess/forgetting to reply to your friend’s messages/American politics/living your life without the anxiety of deciding whether you should hire a weekly movie or a new release that you’ll have to return tomorrow even though you don’t actually live that close to the store.
If the execs at Blockbuster had predicted any of this, maybe the Perth store wouldn’t have shut down and there would be more than one left on the entire planet. But they didn’t, so it did, and there isn’t. Which means that maybe, just maybe, this bunch of suits were the last thing standing between us and the event horizon of content.
That’s why this show takes us back to a time when not every film was part of a franchise. When you could be an action hero even if you couldn’t do anything more than a decent bench press. When the family comedies and kid's movies were so high concept that, if you think about it too much, everything that happened in them was actually pretty horrifying and likely deeply traumatic for all involved.
It’ll be a surreal and fast-paced ride where you’ll meet some of the broken, forgotten and bizarre characters discarded by a century of cinema. And I’ll play all of them!
Yes, me – hi! I’m Scott, and I’m a comedian from Melbourne. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that earlier, but I got carried away reflecting on the crushing weight of corporate entertainment mergers. Long story short, I originally planned to perform this show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but it was cancelled – which you shouldn’t hold against it, because so was literally everything anyone was doing at the time.
Now I’ve found myself in Perth, a place I’d never been before, for almost a year, and I’m excited to share it with you. In fact, the home of the second last Blockbuster on earth couldn’t be a better place to do it.
What’s it about? It’s about success and regret and heists and love and loneliness and being stuck on a desert island and fame and personal growth and Microsoft Excel.
So if you enjoy any of these things, or if you’ve been avoiding them – maybe especially if you’ve been avoiding them – I hope you’ll join me on the journey to 'The Last Blockbuster On Earth'.”
That’s why Blockbuster is a symbol of the past – left in the dust by the speed and convenience of Netflix/Stan/Amazon/Apple TV/Foxtel/Binge/iView/7plus/10 Play/SBS On Demand/whatever Channel 9’s one is/YouTube/TikTok/Facebook/IGTV/Twitter/forwarded videos on WhatsApp/Vine when it was around but now those compilation videos I guess/forgetting to reply to your friend’s messages/American politics/living your life without the anxiety of deciding whether you should hire a weekly movie or a new release that you’ll have to return tomorrow even though you don’t actually live that close to the store.
If the execs at Blockbuster had predicted any of this, maybe the Perth store wouldn’t have shut down and there would be more than one left on the entire planet. But they didn’t, so it did, and there isn’t. Which means that maybe, just maybe, this bunch of suits were the last thing standing between us and the event horizon of content.
That’s why this show takes us back to a time when not every film was part of a franchise. When you could be an action hero even if you couldn’t do anything more than a decent bench press. When the family comedies and kid's movies were so high concept that, if you think about it too much, everything that happened in them was actually pretty horrifying and likely deeply traumatic for all involved.
It’ll be a surreal and fast-paced ride where you’ll meet some of the broken, forgotten and bizarre characters discarded by a century of cinema. And I’ll play all of them!
Yes, me – hi! I’m Scott, and I’m a comedian from Melbourne. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that earlier, but I got carried away reflecting on the crushing weight of corporate entertainment mergers. Long story short, I originally planned to perform this show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but it was cancelled – which you shouldn’t hold against it, because so was literally everything anyone was doing at the time.
Now I’ve found myself in Perth, a place I’d never been before, for almost a year, and I’m excited to share it with you. In fact, the home of the second last Blockbuster on earth couldn’t be a better place to do it.
What’s it about? It’s about success and regret and heists and love and loneliness and being stuck on a desert island and fame and personal growth and Microsoft Excel.
So if you enjoy any of these things, or if you’ve been avoiding them – maybe especially if you’ve been avoiding them – I hope you’ll join me on the journey to 'The Last Blockbuster On Earth'.”
