Anyone For Tennis? Comedy, Music, Etc.

19th April 2012
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Comedy Festival 2012

I was intrigued when I saw the poster for 'Anyone for Tennis?', feted as a stand out act at last year's Edinburgh Fringe by the mighty Guardian newspaper of all people. We've sort of made the Comedy Festival an annual event in our calendar (well we've been twice which is good enough for me) and have tended to pick traditional stand up acts such as the 'slender effeminate Asian man', Lawrence Leung just last week. But I thought it would be nice to try something a bit different -these guys certainly fit that bill as they are a musical comedy act. Alison wasn't convinced and decided to wash her hair or something, but I managed to rope in my mate MJ to come along. I thought it best not to give him too much info on the evening ahead in case his hair needed a makeover too, so I simply told him the act was called 'Anyone for Tennis.' It was a little noisy when I phoned him so there was every chance he thought we were going to Rod Laver Arena for a centre court showdown. 

I loved what these two guys did. Some cracking songs, some great live gags, some brilliant video sketches and some intensely awkward audience moments, the kind where you want to burst your seams, but you're not quite sure it's allowed. For example, their stand out track was a celebration of their girls' time of the month as a sign of their own ongoing freedom. But to think that this duo were a couple of crude, foul mouthed hoons would be far from the truth. They were razor sharp. Too sharp at times for the most of the audience, which occasionally left an awkward silence hanging in the air. Which was a shame, because this was their final series of performances as a duo, and I think their originality will be missed.