2023 has been the year of restoration, of everything feeling very much “back to normal” (however you wish to define exactly what that is!) as a result of more movie releases, more albums, more live shows and events, we have been inundated with requests to cover events and unfortunately the Melbourne International Comedy Festival came at a ridiculously busy time of the year and we didn’t get to attend anywhere near the amount of events we wanted to. Fortunately, on the last Saturday night of the festival we made room for Kitty Flanagan at the Athenaeum theatre. The famed comedian is well known for her appearances on The Project, The Weekly and recently on ABC’s Fisk, her long-standing reputation as one of the best and funniest Australian entertainers is clear when Flanagan takes the stage and the audience erupts with thunderous applause, cheers and whistles that the audience was in for a great show.
Flanagan recalls her timing of moving from Sydney to Melbourne in February 2020, right before the first of Victoria’s long lockdowns started. We can now successfully claim Kitty as a Melbournian as she now has a clear position on the Melbourne Vs Sydney debate. Fortunately we are not the pretty girl, we are the one with substance and Flanagan is here to stay.
A routine visit to the dentist for a routine teeth clean turns into a 3K filling reconstruction with several follow-up trips required. We all know the pain of going to our dentist for a simple thing and having it turn into something else. This morphs into a potential life-altering illness (don’t worry, Kitty is completely fine!) and a hilarious look at beauty standards for men and women and pubic hair (RAZZA MATTAZ!)
The second act of the show takes a lot of commentary into modern life. The discussions around the demographic for iPads, the temperature of coffee for seniors and a special guest performance with her sister Penny penning an ode to underpants is a great interlude before the final laughs of the show.
Fans of Flanagan will revel in the familiarity of her observational humour, it’s clear she has gone through a lot since moving to Melbourne and her proclamation of the city having the best public transport went down as you can imagine with local audiences. There were a few misses with NRL scandals and an odd Karl Stefanovic crack that needed some work, but the overall show was well crafted and the audience response showed just how much of an incredible entertainer Kitty Flanagan is.
You can catch Kitty Flanagan in her final performance today at the Athenaeum theatre. Grab tickets via the website here
