Most Thursday evenings, the ABC airs Sammy J’s latest bite-sized segment of satire.
These weekly updates have become at least as well-known as his musical comedy, but on this night he’s been bumped for the PM’s Address To The Nation. It means his poem about toilet paper will have to wait another day. Fortunately, there’s more than enough material to go around in his live show.It is, as the wisecracking pianist wryly notes, a good time to get a large group of people together in an enclosed space. Unsurprisingly a few references to coronavirus make it into the show, but most of the laughs come from his songs and spontaneous interactions with the crowd. Cellist Richard Vaudrey is an intermittent presence throughout the night, and together the pair begin with 'Tuscan Villa', the opening track and one of the highlights from 'Symphony In J Minor'.
In quick succession, Sammy J takes aim at parenthood, parochialism and the ancient scourge of crotch sweat, tackling subjects both trivial and weighty with an equally light touch. #Auspol has come firmly in his crosshairs over the last few years, and a once obscure section of the constitution gets a going over in The Ballad of Section 44. Some of the biggest cheers of the night come for another of his ABC sketches when he briefly returns to 'Playground Politics' for 'The NBN Rollout'.
Both topical satire and evergreen comedy succeed thanks to Sammy J’s astute observations and ability to mix humour with genuine insight (plus a willingness to play with different formats). Many of his songs and sketches are just a few minutes in length, which means he can fit plenty in an hour. That it doesn’t feel like enough is a good sign.
