‘Comedy Roulette!’ // Melbourne International Comedy Festival & Spin That Wheel!

‘Comedy Roulette’ was risky.

I’ll be honest. When I saw the premise of ‘Comedy Roulette – Spin That Wheel!’ in which there’s a big wheel that randomly prompts comedians with topics to improvise on, I pretty much assumed that they would have seen the topics beforehand. When I saw that it was a computerised wheel on a screen, I even entertained the idea that they would know exactly what topics were going to come up. I don’t think that anymore. Improvisation is hard, and as fans of ‘Thank God You’re Here’ or figure skating can attest, sometimes the entertainment comes from the possibility that you might see someone falling on their arse.

‘Comedy Roulette’ is being presented as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, in the Music Room at Trades Hall. I got to see it on “Tightarse Tuesday” and if you go see it, it will be very different. While the show is hosted each time by Kru Harale and Olga Loitsenko, they are joined by a series of different guests. I get the pleasure of introducing you to the five comedians I enjoyed, as well as the hosts.

Harale and Loitsenko begin by introducing the wheel, which is supposedly voice activated. The audience had to loudly chant “Spin that wheel” in order for it to spin, a requirement that reduced by the end to one person chanting, trying really hard to keep the rest of us going. Olga Loitsenko then demonstrated with a short set and two wheel spins, one of which prompted her to involve the audience, a ruse which caused difficulty throughout the night, since they tended to overwhelm a specific audience member by asking for a very general prompt, rather than asking the whole audience for a specific prompt, such as “somebody name a type of food.”

Tag team host for the second half, Kru Harale admitted that if you came back, her set might be the same, even if nothing else was. Harale’s was the most confident presence on stage, proudly showcasing and believing in their concept.

The hosts then introduced each guest comedian. Loitsenko’s introductions were done in a way that increased the likelihood of the audience remembering their names, which is just what an up and coming comedian needs. We then got into a rhythm. Each comedian did a short set and threw in a couple of wheel spins. Some used tried and true material while others got out their phones or referred to notes on their hand to try out some new jokes. The wheel spins produced topics such as “3 things Melbourne hates about Sydney” or “What KFC really stands for”. The easiest to see had just one word in a larger font: “Sex”, which unfortunately came up twice. Once due to an unfortunate audience interaction, and both times to very young performers who weren’t prepared to respond to it.

Medical student Noah Szto was the first guest and left us genuinely concerned about the future of Australian medicine. Szto regaled us with stories of incompetent colleagues and responded to the wheel by gambling with audience members about his success. His attempts in this area demonstrated the old adage; “You win some, you lose some.”

Recent high school graduate Kushi Venkatesh made her parents’ expectations relatable to those of us who never experienced such a thing. Given her almost complete lack of response to the prompts, I’m sure she’s second guessing whether improvisation is truly a part of her skill set, but I know she won a few fans with her natural charm, and her willingness to interact with the audience, which is a form of improvisation after all.

Jordan Barr had the best of the wheel. Though I’m sure it didn’t inspire any new material that she’d work into her scripted shows, she managed to get laughs from it and keep the flow of her routine going. I would expect Barr will be invited back.

Last years RAW Comedy Winner Henry Yan was clearly trying some new material on us. He actually came out and asked several times if the jokes were “too sad?” They were sad, but more to the point they were awkward, with subject matter that even though volunteered through a microphone, feels too personal to relay. While I think several audience members would have happily offered him hugs afterwards, I’m not sure that was what Yan was going for.

Stoic Nick Sculler got a very well worked set out of the way before attacking the wheel. Though lauded for his past experience with the wheel, he struggled this time, at least managing to create humour through self-deprecation. One of the prompts though saw him being frank in a way that perhaps surprised even him. It asked about his first open mike, which he described as a disaster. I’m sure that’s a common experience for stand up comedians, but Sculler told of how he spent a period away from the stage. He returned though, and showed up to a gig where he and the others have even less control than they normally do.

With my keyboard, I can talk about what the right thing to do would be if at first you don’t succeed, but I have the knowledge that when I once tried stand up comedy on a whim, I didn’t “try, try again.” So even if I found little things to criticize, I’d say that you could do worse than to spend an evening watching young comedians on a high wire act, honing one of the most challenging aspects of their craft. And if you’re going along, have a subject in mind, just incase you’re asked. My suggestion: elbows.

‘Comedy Roulette’ performs until Sunday, 21 April 2024 at Trades Hall – Music Room. For more information visit their website.