Presented by Joel Spence
Reviewed 12 March 2017
Joel Spence, better known as Cosmo the Clown, kicked off The Comedy Magic Show with some OTT slapstick that had the kids laughing immediately. And to his credit, Cosmo kept the energy levels high throughout the whole show. The light audience participation and few children selected to be “magician’s assistants” also helped to keep the mood light and fun.
The show consisted of lots of self-inflicted fake injuries, fart jokes and tricks with silk scarves. It is far more silliness than skill, but lucky for Cosmo his target audience (the three to six-year-old crowd) are big on silly. The kids loved the fun and the adults good naturedly supported what was a pretty average show in terms of actual magic tricks. The last number was a perplexing light-show and dance routine tribute to Michael Jackson. Not sure what he was trying to do with this one, but hey, the kids still dug it.
Several things were concerning— vault 2 at the Treasury is hard to find; be prepared to battle the underground tunnels and clueless staff to find your way there. Also, there were a few safety issues that were particularly troublesome given most in the audience were very young children. The faux stage curtain rail fell on the front row of the audience (luckily caught by a tall dad before it hit any kids) and for laughs, Cosmo threw a large plastic chicken into the audience narrowly missing a young girl’s head. Silliness is all well and good, but safety first, Cosmo, safety first.
Overall, Cosmo could do with polishing up his skills, focusing on doing some more accomplished magic tricks that would really delight and thinking a bit more about potential safety issues. But given that the kids seemed happy throughout, the $10 is probably a reasonable fee for a fun hour for the very young. My four-year-old declared him a “funny man” so in the end, I guess it’s best to let the children judge.
Cosmo will be performing the last of his Fringe 2017 shows next weekend.
Reviewed by Samantha Bond
Twitter: @SamStaceyBond
Rating out of 5: 3.5
Venue: Vault 2, Aadina apartment-hotel AdelaideTreasury
Season: 18-19 March 2017
Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: $10 individual, $35 Family
Bookings: https://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/cosmo-the-clown-comedy-magic-show
https://www.adelaidefringe.com.au
https://www.cosmotheclownentertainment.webs.com
https://www.facebook.com/cosmo.clown
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