Wil Anderson's Wilosophy. Stand-up comedy, with Justin Hamilton, at The Playhouse, October 29-31.
It's hard to put your finger on Wil Anderson's G-spot. He claims that God has hidden it. As a warm-up (I suppose you could say foreplay) Justin Hamilton is good, yet he doesn't have Anderson's touch. Just as well. You wouldn't want the intro to outshine the main act. But Hamilton deserves credit for a professional act as well as an award for bravery.
It's the risk-taking that makes Anderson stand out. Not just by saying out loud words that confront even audience members less than half my age. Not only by satirising politicians, religious ideologues, and office workers probably like most people in the Canberra audience. Not even by accompanying his words with quite extraordinary physical actions and facial expressions.
What's exciting is how he interacts with his audience, often leading him into potential black holes which he amazingly escapes from, like a kind of mentally gymnastic Houdini. He is more than a skilled stand-up comic. He has enough art to play with the artform.
Then, in addition, there is a carefully constructed plan to each of the items of social criticism which constitute his "Wilosophy". Issues of the day are exposed as arguments, presented by characters we know from television and the press, including himself. The core of the humour is not from the occasional slapstick interjection, but from showing up public figures' lack of logic.
And, finally, Anderson brings a quality of human kindness into this critical mass, in his warm story of a Down Syndrome children's concert. If you missed him in Canberra last week, or in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Edinburgh during the last year, you can fly down south to Wrest Point Entertainment Centre in Hobart on Friday October 6 for a one-night stand. Why not?
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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