They’re brilliant! Went to three of the four shows.
What I enjoyed most is their wit and on-the-spot improvisation and changes they made between the shows. There’s so much subtle physical comedy too (especially from Tim) — the glances and postures; the timing of each phrase. So much confidence gained from years committed to comedy. Watching two masters of the art in action who are still great friends.
Continue reading Goodies review: Cockatoo Island
Alexei Sayle was in a reflective mood at the Cockatoo Island Comedy Festival. He’s now an author but occasionally scores gigs, such as Miss Marple, which his agent said he’d got cause his new beard makes him look intellectual.
Sayle commented frankly on the comedy scene in the UK and the disparity in various people’s fortunes. “Ade Edmondson doesn’t have to work anymore cause he’s married to Jennifer Saunders. The money just streams in through the letterbox every day.” He says he “hates” Ben Elton for inviting him to his Rod Stewart musical, Tonight’s the Night, and there were three tiers/floor levels at the after-party and Sayle was placed in the middle level, “stuck with a saxophone player from the Clash in a closet”. You can’t take any anecdotes literally — he said he still gets on with Ben Elton. He exaggerates for effect and it works.
Was snoozing through a postgrad info evening at the Hilton tonight, as previous stellar alumni were prattling on about how great the uni is, when one of the presenters [I haven’t included his name here, as I might follow it up] spoke about how he’d already had a great uni degree but when he hit his mid-30s, he was working for a big institution and a stream of quantitative finance graduates started giving presentations to the company based on the latest mathematical theories. “I started feeling like an old fogey. I didn’t know what these new theories were. We couldn’t see through the bullsh*t because we couldn’t understand what they were talking about.” He added that on a global scale, “that’s why the GFC happened”.
So several years ago he went back to uni, studied and caught up. ‘”When they came in and did a presentation, I knew what they were talking about. I could point out holes in their theories. They couldn’t bullsh*t me.”
On the study front, he said postgrads should expect to spend three hours out of class studying for every one hour of time spent in class.
‘Undergraduate life was all
about recreation, fornication,
inebriation and application’
he said, warning us “it’s different for postgrads” and we’d all have to work hard and get high marks. Every speaker urged us to do the postgrad courses part-time — classes are held on weeknights and intensives on weekends.
He had a lovely deep voice. He hosted the talent program Showcase from 1965-1969. The musical director was the famous Hector Crawford. For Showcase, they travelled around the country, looking for the best acts. It was vastly different to the approach and attitude of Australian Idol! Showcase also ran again in 1974.
(I sound like I should be in the Masters Games, which are on in Sydney now. It looks like they’re all having fun. Prince Frederick got dumped in the Harbour during the yacht race. A competitor has died — in his late 40s. )
I hate it. It’s based on the traditional Aussie Vegemite but has to be kept in the fridge (unlike Vegemite, which is so full of salt it could last anywhere). Cheesybite is a mild caramel colour and lacks the saltiness and tang of Vegemite. Kraft says they made Cheesybite so you can spread it without butter. But I spread my Vegemite without butter anyway, as I usually have it on water crackers. I like it thick and plain. I prefer the biting flavour of Vegemite.
Also, Cheesybite has less vitamins, less salt and more fat. It will always be chilled because you have to keep it in the fridge. And you have to eat it within four weeks, whereas Vegemite lasts forever. Fail!
Cotton Ward 