Fringe World 2020: Review Tim Ferguson, Sandman and Flacco

It’s great to watch the new artists coming through, however there are some legends that you just have to see whenever they’re in town. This year I was thrilled to see the return of Tim Ferguson plus the addition of Sandman and Flacco.

Tim Ferguson, The Art of Funny

Years ago I was lucky enough to attend one of Tim Ferguson’s courses on comedy writing. His latest show, The Art of Funny, turned out to be a timely refresher on some of the elements I’d forgotten. However the show was much more than that.

Working on two levels, Ferguson set about uncovering what makes us laugh, while simultaneously making us laugh. Neat trick.

Having researched old comedians and jokes he began by warning us there was a chance this knowledge could ruin comedy for us in the future. He then explained the types of jokes including confirmation, negation, incompleteness, misinterpretation, transgressions, the paradox, perspective based, literal versus figurative and irony. Armed with this knowledge, and some insights about character, he then set the audience the task of coming up with a joke. The results were hilarious.

The evening was 50% comedy show, 50% tutorial and 100% brilliant.

And the most important lesson about comedy …

“Don’t forget to be funny.” Tim Ferguson.

Sandman and Flacco: Tribute Show (All Original Cast)

It’s a rare occasion when the pre-show blurb is such a thing of beauty that it must be read itself. So it was with this show. Judge for yourself …

Undercooked, Underdone & Under-Rehearsed Productions tentatively present a unique opportunity to experience this pre-world-premiere-premiere in intimate surrounds where failure requires no preparation. Ten years ago these two fictional characters passed away quietly, without fuss. Both were struck down with a deadly affliction known as ‘Irrelevance’. In 2020 Steve ‘The Sandman’ Abbott & Paul ‘Flacco’ Livingston return to the stage for at least sixty minutes to present songs, soliloquies of suburban subsistence and monologues of morose & manic musings. Don’t miss this rare chance to pay your respects before the scattered remains of The Sandman and Flacco in these exclusive death-warmed-up shows.

Anyone who remembers these two will get a huge thrill out of hearing long forgotten phrases like Sandman’s “I choose to start this story, now” and Flacco’s “It’s a cruel world”. The phrases alone were enough to take me back to my university days and listening to the howling laughter from the audience, most of them did too. When Sandman read a funny yet poignant letter to his mother, who’d passed with dementia, the lump in my throat threatened tears in my ears. The wine tasting element cleverly matched wines with politicians an others in the news. There was only one way to end what had been a brilliant hour, with the song, “My dear Virginia” (accompanied by Flacco on … paper drum?).