Comedy theatre for your brain.

While the Lab Coat may be sitting back and relaxing during this year’s Melbourne Fringe, the Man behind the Lab Coat, Ben McKenzie, isn’t resting on his laurels. His new theatre company, Shaolin Punk, is presenting its first production – Ben’s first play, A Record or an OBE. See the Shaolin Punk site for details!

Several friends of Shaolin Punk also have shows in the Fringe, and in the interest of promoting the kind of theatre and comedy I like to see, here’s a short list of the things we’ll be trying to see if we have the time. Don’t forget while you’re booking tickets for these shows that it’s only a week until the opening of A Record or an OBE, so be sure to book tickets for us too!

• Every Film Ever Made – OBE co-star Robert Lloyd, Adam McKenzie and Tegan Higginbotham, better known as The Hound of the Baskervilles, return to the stage to do exactly what it says on the tin. Do you remember every movie ever made?
• How to Rig an Election – Mr. Al and Mr. Nick are back, accompanied by Bec Hill, and in this political seminar satire they’ll explain exactly how you can win an election without actually requiring a majority of votes.
• Waiting for the Great Leap Forward – from the brains behind Birdhouse, a collection of Fringe and comedy artists including Casey Bennetto of Keating! and the boys of Tripod come together to play protest songs and raise money for Asylum Seekers. One night only – this Friday! – and it should be superb.
• The House of Anomalous – a collaboration between Jamie Robertson, Jason Geary and Dom Phelan (Anomalous) which they describe as “a surreal and subversive sitcom blended using an original mix of sketch, character and narrative.”