You’re invited to the Melbourne Metropolitan Real Estate Agent of the Year Awards 2022, hosted by two of Melbourne comedy’s best, Frankie McNair and Alice Tovey, and this is an invite that you won’t want to turn down.
No two nights of this wacky show are the same, with a tight premise holding this delightful train wreck together, the show is what it says on the box; an awards night celebrating Melbourne’s finest (a questionable term in this instance) in real estate – with the nominees played by a revolving line-up guests from across the festival.
Hosts for the evening, Frankie and Alice keep the fire contained as needed, yet gently and expertly fuel the flames as their guests attempt to wreak havoc and burn the late-night Trades Hall venue to the ground. This is the kind of wild comedy that you come to the festival to experience, taking in a moment of madness as both the audience and hosts of the show absolutely lose it at the antics playing out around them. The banter between the two hosts is top notch, quick and witty jabs come bursting forth from Alice, while Frankie delivers hilariously excellent physicality to round out the joke delivery between the two.
Hitting its stride as the first guest arrives, the audience is in for a treat when Tim Clark arrives on stage in character as ‘Timmy Bags’, a slimy, chaotic, and drugged up real estate / property mogul – relatable to anyone who has ever had to tour a rental property themselves. Tim is brilliant – he’s just a ridiculous human who embodies terrible characters so incredibly well, if you’re lucky to get a guest even half as good as Tim when you head along to the show, you’re in for a treat. The next guest is the character of 'House', a loose concept dryly delivered by Emma Holland. The character doesn't exactly work well but the determination to persist with the bit makes this attempt incredibly endearing. Next to the excellent chaotic energy coming from Tim’s coked up ‘Timmy’, Emma’s ‘House’ is the moment to breathe the crowd needs.
Running a little short of the promised hour run time, I was certainly left wanting more from this ridiculously fun take on a late-night character panel show. Hopefully as the season progresses a few more games or segments are added in because it’s only fair that crowds should be given time to marinate in the chaos of this unique, terrifying, and insane awards night. One of those shows you need to catch to experience the special kind of comedy magic that only happens at festival time.
