Shaolin Punk

Well, the Melbourne Fringe was over, but we’d like to give a quick shout-out to Fringe Awards winners and friends of Shaolin Punk, Celia Pacquola (Best Comedy for Am I Strange?) and the Bella Union (Best Venue). Congratulations! We’d also like to wish all the best to other friends of Shaolin Punk, including Scott Gooding’s Eric, Karin Muiznieks’ Give My Regards to Broady, and the Hounds’ Last Bucket of Water.

Keep watching this space for news of upcoming Shaolin Punk exploits, including possible Comedy Festival plans.

Set List’s Melbourne Fringe season kicked off with the return to Melbourne of the folk trio Tulip, Tuberculosis & Spite. Irish-Australian Johnny Spite, tall and taciturn Michael Tuberculosis and the lovely and forward April Tulip, accompanied by the inimitable Set List band, entertained the “we don’t like football” crowd with a selection of their greatest hits including “Greenlass”, “4×4 Over the Horizon”, “My Life In Cats” and “The Ballad of Rory and Fiona”.

Of course, you and I know that Tulip, Tuberculosis & Spite never existed before the show - and never will again, seeing as they were born of the unique combination of Set List performers Ben McKenzie, Dan Walmsley and Karin Muiznieks, and the suggestions which popped out of the brains of the audience.

If you like the idea of a band who’ll write songs on the spot to suit your slightest whim, then be sure to book your tickets now for the final two nights of Set List at Fringe - jazz on October 4 and rock on October 11. See you there!

Shaolin Punk’s musical impro show Set List is now on sale through the Melbourne Fringe web site! Book your tickets now for your favourite genre - jazz, folk or rock - or come to all three. Each show is a one off, never to be repeated set list of songs in which the audience calls for the “greatest hits” of a band that never existed before the beginning of the set…

See the Set List page for more details!

It’s been a while since our last update, so we figure it’s time to fill you in on the latest doings of Shaolin Punk and its creative director, Ben McKenzie.

This Sunday saw the launch of Melbourne’s newest comedy event, the Anarchist Guild Social Committee, at the Bella Union bar at Trades Hall. The brainchild of host Nick Caddaye, the AGSC is a monthly live sketch comedy show. Shaolin Punk’s Ben McKenzie is assistant producer and also a writer/performer, alongside the main cast of Andrew McClelland, Tegan Higginbotham, Dave Bushell, Celia Pacquola, Richard McKenzie and Courteney Hocking. The first meeting of the AGSC was a huge success, so don’t miss its return on July 20!

Shaolin Punk has two new shows coming up in the next few months. First up, as part of National Science Week, Ben McKenzie premieres his new one-man comedy science lecture, A (Very) Brief History of Time, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Stephen Hawking’s influential book. Then, for the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Shaolin Punk presents Set List, an improvised musical performance devised and performed by Dan Walmsley and Karin Muiznieks and featuring Ben McKenzie. Set List will premiere in three afternoon sessions at the Bella Union bar at Trades Hall as part of the Fringe @ Trades programme. Watch this space for more details soon!

And finally, with the departure of Janelle Koenig for the UK, Ben McKenzie has taken on the role of artistic director of Melbourne improvised comedy troupe The Crew. The group’s final performance of Impro Sundae at Bar Open, before they move to another venue, is this Sunday, June 22. Don’t miss it!

At the Melbourne Fringe awards announced last night, A Record or an OBE was highly commended by the judges for the Comedy category! In addition, Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets, home to both OBE and Nicky Talacko’s excellent Cinder-effin-rella, took home the award for Best Venue! Congratulations to Zac and all the crew at Dirty Secrets; you really deserved this.

Many friends of Shaolin Punk also won awards, so congratulations to Mathew Kenneally (Best Comedy for Mathew Kenneally for Parliament), Adam J. Cass (Melbourne Dramatists Emerging Writers Award for I Love You, Bro), Vanessa Baylen (Best Special Event for Death By Chocolate) and all the other Fringe participants this year. I hope you all had a great festival!