REVIEW: FABIAN LAPHAM IN GOD FIGHTS THE DINOSAURS AND 9 OTHER STORIES THAT WILL AWESOME YOU IN THE FACE

2013 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL

REVIEW: FABIAN LAPHAM IN GOD FIGHTS THE DINOSAURS AND 9 OTHER STORIES THAT WILL AWESOME YOU IN THE FACE

VENUE AND DATES: NORTHCOTE TOWN HALL, UNTIL APRIL 21, 2013.

ASSESSMENT: A curious, indulgent mish-mash of music, and low-brow comedy.
 

FABIAN LAPHAM - SUPPLIED.

STAR RATING: 2 AND A HALF.
  

The lengthy, yet titillating title of Fabian Lapham’s show, abbreviated to God Fights The Dinosaurs, provides no insight into what proves to be a disappointing, self-indulgent blend of original but narratively unconnected stories, songs and music, amateurish impersonations, and low-brow, scatological humour.

Bearded, brown suit-wearing, compact front man, Lapham, sings, and plays ukulele, along with his competent, 4-piece backing band (bass, drums, guitar, ukulele), The Actual Musicians, who for some unexplained reason remain static, po-faced, and expressionless throughout the performance.

Lapham’s opening number, the up-beat “Not being cool is cooler than being cool”, is one of the night’s more successful, and enjoyable pieces.

However, Lapham’s purportedly sexy, film noir musical adaptation of Al Gore’s climate change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, while clever in concept, fails to deliver on any promise. It does, however, highlight the husky, warm-toned voice of Lapham’s side-kick, and the true star of this performance, the enigmatic, tattooed, ukulele-playing, Cynthia.

The performance is also let down badly by Lapham’s quick, unfunny one-liners, and impersonations, including Russell Crowe speaking poetry, or “Crowetry”, and rendered decidedly low-brow show by gratuitous, scatologically-laden lyrics.

The last song of the evening, “God Fights The Dinosaurs” is another silly, overly-ambitious exercise for Lapham; an epic retelling of evolution, which takes place during the Cretaceous period, and seeks to explain how God destroyed the Dinosaurs. The song tells, in part, how Popo the Velociraptor takes on God.

Expect to be mildly amused and diverted by this show, but no big, belly laughs.

BY: JOE CALLERI.

NB: REVIEW ALSO PUBLISHED ON HERALD SUN ONLINE, TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2013.