LACHLAN MARR – ANGRY YOUNG MAN, April 4, 2012 *

ROBERT BURNS HOTEL, COLLINGWOOD, UNTIL APRIL 13, 2012
Reviewed by Joe Calleri on April 4, 2012
Stars: *

Lachlan’s not angry, just slightly miffed.

Comedians should, metaphorically-speaking, learn to crawl before they walk, and walk before they run. Lachlan Marr’s debut, 35-minute, one-man stand-up show, Angry Young Man, represents a potentially bad stumble on his path to being a credible stand-up performer. Marr is a really nice bloke (we chatted before his show), but he’s just too young, too middle class, too reserved, too polite to be angry about anything in life.

Sadly, he also lacks sufficient high-quality material, and the requisite comedic skill to pull off any show longer than a 10-minute skit.

The performance is a series of ill-conceived, poorly structured, unsurely delivered, mild-mannered rants or passing observations on disparate topics including family members, drug-taking, super powers, inequality around the world, the end of the world, offensive slogans on t-shirts, and smoking, to name a few.

To save himself from living a life of comedic mediocrity, Marr should work with skilled comedy mentors, and immerse himself in the routines of truly angry observational comedians including Mike Wilmot, Wil Anderson, Lewis Black, and George Carlin.

By Joe Calleri