Garry Starr: Greece Lightning, Smiths Alternative, June 11

 

So it does seem like Gary Starr has been going out of his way to avoid being seen by me - I intended to catch this show in April last year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival before Covid canceled one of his performances, and last weekend's run of "Garry Starr Performs Everything" at the Q, unfortunately, coincided with me being in Sydney. But Smiths Alternative comes through with a bonus run, meaning I can finally catch up with Garry. 

And what a blessing this was. A thoroughly ridiculous take on Greek Mythology with a side order of puns, mispronunciations, classic sitcom themes, ridiculous props, audience interactions, interpretive dance, and increasing levels of nudity, this is simultaneously super-high-brow and super-low-brow, requiring both a knowledge of the classical canon and an appreciation of a good bum joke. Garry is a great comedy character, an enthusiastic idiot throwing himself wholeheartedly into whatever stupid concept rolls up next, never letting the mask of dimwitted perseverance drop, even after this show has toured all over the place for over a year - it still feels as fresh and spontaneous as if it were something pulled together yesterday. 

Damien Warren-Smith, the performer behind Garry, is a skilled improviser and shows no shame in doing the increasingly ridiculous work the show requires of him, from his opening goofy dance to carefully gathering audience participants, to his costume slipping away to reveal a g-string that is, frankly, more obscene than the full-frontal nudity we also get at the end of the show. His way of developing Garry's malapropisms, his commitment-to-a-bit and his enthusiastic building of the audience's enthusiasm til we're all willing to play along with whatever he throws our way next is a wonder to behold, simply at a level of basic performance skill, never mind the way it also manages to make you laugh continuously from beginning to end, He's a goddamn genius and we're lucky to have him. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for when he's back next.