Shaolin Punk

The Trades Radio Variety Hour, recorded live as part of Comedy @ Trades, airs its last episode tonight at 7pm on RRR - and A Record or an OBE stars Ben McKenzie and Rob Lloyd may feature as guests! Hear an excerpt from the play and be surprised by the musical tangents onto which the boys’ interview will wander with the assistance of Casey Bennetto and the Half-Assed Three - depending on which of the episodes recorded this week will go to air.

You can tune in if you’re in Melbourne on 102.7 FM, but you can also listen via streaming audio on the RRR web site.

Helen Razer in today’s Age gave A Record or an OBE three stars, describing it as “goody, goody fun” and “a must” for Goodies fans, as well as a “pacey and perfect evening”. Fellow Comedy @ Trades performer Simon Palomares also scored three stars.

A few pages earlier in the same paper (and at The Age online), you can find one of “moddish geek” (thanks Helen Razer!) Ben McKenzie’s dinosaur jokes from the Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour in the article “A man walks into a bar…ouch!” which collects 50 one-liners from across the Festival.

The opening night of Comedy @ Trades was a great success, and the packed audience attending A Record or an OBE was in fine form! And, in perhaps the first review posted for the Comedy Festival (not counting those based on previews), we already have a review from Australian Stage Online, who described OBE as “inspired Goodies silliness”.

If you’re looking for audience feedback for A Record or an OBE, look no further than the talkfringe.com page for the show. As well as a few written reviews from audience members, there are video interviews with people coming out of the show and even one with writer/producer/performer Ben McKenzie. So check it out!

Yes, the Fringe is into its final week, which means there are just six more performances of A Record or an OBE in Adelaide! Don’t miss out; after all, the Independent Weekly was kind enough to say the show is “beautifully played with lots of skilful dialogue” and recommended it to “anyone with an interest in good talent performing a well-worked script that is obviously loved by its players”. Even the Advertiser, who didn’t get the jokes, thought “the performances of the two protagonists are watertight, the passion is evident and the production is short and sweet”.

If you’re in Melbourne, then you only have a week to wait until the show opens as part of the Comedy @ Trades programme - and you can buy your tickets now!