Presented by Russell Hartup
Reviewed 9 March 2016
Living in a multicultural society is a bloody wonderful thing. Enjoying the food, culture and knowledge we can gain from other peoples’ lives is brilliant. But with all this multiculturalism there are certainly some things that get caught in the crosswire.
It’s not just language barriers and cultural differences that get us caught up though. Ever heard the phrase men are from Mars women are from Venus? Yeah, ain’t that the truth? Sometimes it feels like the opposite sex is another species. There are definitely wires that get crossed when we try to communicate too.
Sometimes these crossed wires are hilarious, sometimes painful, but isn’t some of the greatest comedy laughing at someone else’s pain? Well you’re in luck. Laughing at other people’s uncomfortable confusion is the theme of comedian Russel Hartup and musician Chong Liaw’s 2016 Fringe show.
The duo have shared a long friendship, laced with this very confusion; sometimes aimed at each other, sometimes aimed at their significant others… And their tales of how this pans out are a barrel of laughs.
Funny man Russel ran us through all too many relatable crossed wire stories that left us either cringing or crying with laughter. Whilst still trying to contain ourselves Liaw would sweep in with a mesmerising guitar rift and smooth sounding voice. But after getting lost in the melody you’d realise that the nature of his self-written songs isn’t always so sweet. One things for sure though, the man can shred!
We won’t lie, them both being IT nerds (their phrasing, not ours!) left a few things caught in the cross wire with us. Online relationships and Snapchat we get… hard drives, RAM, pixels and more had us drifting in the land of the unknown. Hentai, is also something we were happy to have left unknown. Don’t Google that word at work.
Overall the pairs’ first time taking the stage together has turned into a brilliant show. There were plenty of laughs to be had. Their straight man, funny man dynamic gelled so well, where others have previously failed (Liaw could probably take on The Rock’s infamous eyebrow raise).
There’s only a short run left for this brilliant show, but rumour has it you can get half price tickets between 12pm-3pm today (Friday)! Don’t miss out on this slightly left of centre comedy!
Rating (out of 5): 3.5
Find out more here.
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