Sentido Funf is an unassuming little bar housed on Gertrude st Collingwood, which looks as though it'd comfortably house only a dozen or so. Yet walk right through the bar and out the other side and you emerge into the highly unlikely venue for this performance - a greenhouse / aviary / druid circle tucked away out back, with wysteria clambering all around us, soft lighting, trees and ferns, and oh yes, a giant bird cage.
All of which fit Rich Brophy's requirements perfectly or he wouldn't have graced the Fringe with his presence. So we're told as he bounded onto the stage, and from this cocky entrance Rich went from strength to strength. Young, slightly unkempt but with a sharp look in his eyes, he projects confidence, but has a certain air of world-weariness about him.
Before he started he made a point of convincing the audience it's important that they laugh at things that aren't funny. Not a bad fall-back plan for a comedian to have, but it's not what you think - Rich is talking about those uncomfortable things that we know we shouldn't find funny but often do. And he made his point by getting us to laugh against our better judgement, at the image of a young child falling on their face.
Dark humour featured throughout much of the set, but more as a sort of background detail to the bold outlines of the punchlines. The devil was in the details, and often he'd drop absurd or un-PC similes into part of a larger joke - these would take a few seconds to process, then like a scorpion's tail whip round and sting at last.
But for all the barbed humour and slight evil-ness, Rich is an idealist with a 'change the world' message. Sure, number 3 on his list of things to change was his Facebook relationship status (I wondered at the time how many careers in comedy had their genesis in failed relationships), but there are some less trivial items there too. Rich is unhappy with technology, overseas perceptions of Australia, religion, house prices, and the legal status of drugs.
He's fiendishly irrevent and there is some killer content in here - I especially liked his drugs guidelines - "History of mental illness? No Acid. No job? No weed. Are you a dick? Then no coke for you! And if you can't dance...". But he is even in his sedition - nobody is safe as he goes after atheists and the religious, the young and the old alike.
The 'how would you change the world' idea was the overarching theme of the show, and the show's title came from Rich approach to solving the world's problems - to approach them with the simplicity of a child, or an idiot. Or possibly the deranged. Proposing solutions such as eat the children, employ the terrorists, and F- the polar bears, this darkly ironic comedy garnered laughs but sometimes pushed a little too far. But by challenging common wisdoms & truisms, he causes us to think anew of reasons for the beliefs we simply take for granted. Everyone feels just a mite uncomfortable, and to break the tension we laugh.
Dealing well with a particularly boisterous (drunk? mad?) irishman in the front row (and a clumsy, ice-flinging reviewer ;) Rich also handled the crowd well, and seemed at home on stage. He has just returned from a stint in the UK where he did great things at Edinburgh Fringe - I've got a feeling this gent could go far. Keep your eye on this one.
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