DAVID QUIRK - THE DAY I ATE WOMBAT

DAVID QUIRK

THE DAY I ATE WOMBAT

The Spare Room

Garden of Unearthly Delights

8:15pm til March 13

I really enjoy Melbourne comedian DAVID QUIRK. His material goes to strange and uncomfortable places and I always thoroughly the ride.

It’s a bit like going on a ghost train, where strange and creepy things jump out of the dark at you, giving you a scare. Some people love a ghost train and some people don’t.

Quirk’s show is not for the casual passer-by-might-pop-in-&-see-a-bloke-tell-jokes-&-I’ll-laugh audience. It’s not set-up + punchline = laugh. Not that the show is lacking laughs, because they are plentiful. He is a well crafted story teller who takes you through some major league weird scenarios (just what is an appropriate audience for a dacking?) some of which may confuse or offend the casual attendee. He begins the show with some heavy metal interpretive dance. THE DAY I ATE WOMABT is about growing up and wanting fit in with the cool kids (sort of). And the type of things we all do try and make that happen, and the consequences that sometimes ensue.

About ten minutes in an audience member decides to leave in a rather vocal manner. A lesser performer would have been completely thrown by such a distraction so early in a performance. Quirk handled it fantastically well. Clearly a little shaken at first, he takes a detour from his show to tell some hilarious stories about other bizarre things that have happened in previous audiences. Returning to his intended narrative, Quirk quickly regains his momentum and romps home. I have mentioned the name Bill Hicks in a previous Quirk review, and I stand by that. The material isn’t similar but the courage to pull on some big boots and stomp and kick in the darker edges of comedy certainly is. David is finding his audience and you may well find it hugely rewarding to find Quirk.

Ian Bell