The Chaser Report - Slappy Hour Comedy Club

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

Charles tells the story of the best ever comedy show he's ever seen that involved him getting slapped in the face. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gadigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report. I'm Charles Firth and with me today is Dom Nights. Yes, I am. Certainly, I'm back in our hometown of Sydney. Charles, you're still in Adelaide. Why, Art Earth, what can possibly be holding you in Adelaide for all these weeks?

I saw the best show I think I've ever seen. anywhere in the world i'm 47 years old it has been 47 years before i actually realized just what live performance can be dom is this so is this working into some bullshit plug for your own show no no no no this is oh god okay now i'm interested so i've been at the adelaide fringe and you know seeing a few sort of like oh yeah another stand-up oh yeah you know and actually some really bad shows so you especially it's always the no I love South Australia, love Adelaide, as we've made very clear last week in the podcast. But it is true that if you're wanting to see a terrible act,

some of the local acts that sort of turn up at the Adelaide Trinch. Oh, oh, bless it. There's some acts that, and I say this, you know, without much love forming chops, are there some acts that don't make it out of South Australia? Yes, exactly. But this is not one of them. This was from Italy, right?

It was, it's called, I don't really know how to pronounce it, but spada bing. Spada bing. Wow. Spadabing. Yeah. And it was, or like the other, the Australian, the English language title to the show is the art of hitting yourself. The art of hitting yourself. Okay.

Yeah. So it's written and performed by this guy called Anselmo Louise. I don't know where to start. I mean, you know how on TikTok. you know, the whole face slapping thing is like the latest crazy sport. I mean, the power slap league apparently at Las Vegas is huge. And it's great because, I don't know, I learned about this sport probably a couple of months ago when Hartley, my son showed me all these TikToks of people just slapping themselves.

It's horrible, it's just horrible, right? But it's now turned into a proper competitive league. And then doctors came out the other day. There was this announcement saying that it's not really a sport. All it is is giving your brain damage. It's a way of getting brain damage. But I mean, Charles, my argument about that is that anything looks good in slow motion, right? I've watched it.

The slaps do look in the way that the cheeks move sideways with the sheer blunt force of the trauma-causing thing. If you could somehow visualize the brain cells dying in real time, that would also, you know, in slow-mo, that would also be very impressive. But I reckon you could just spout. on a table, you could do a poo in slow-mo and it would look impressive. It's to do with the super slow-mo. It's got nothing to do with the slap-in. So why not find a way that doesn't cause brain damage? Although that said, Charles, I do want to see the look on the face of everyone who's in the

Power Slapped League in slow-mo in 20 years when the neurologist tells them that it's game over. I want to see the hope go out of their eyes. Well, that will be super slow-mo because they'll have to think about it a bit to process what they've just filmed it in real time and it'll slowly sink in oh that's tragic i hope they're getting paid well now this show that i saw in adelaide is what the face slapping league should be right oh okay it's got the art of the hitting yourself and what it was so i walked in and i was a little bit worried because they said oh it starts at 840 right and there was no there was an usher there's a couple of ushers

there was the box office person who was selling the tickets but there was nobody else not a single other person and i went so hang on and it was like 839 it was like so do i walk in like does the show start at 840 and he's yeah yeah yeah so walk in worried that i'm going to be the only person in the audience luckily this guy in thongs who i think might have you know been lacking in you know a home rocked up at the same time and and also came in. So there were two people two people in the audience,

quite a large venue. Like it would have fit maybe 200 people, 250 people, sort of this old converted church, right? Goodness me. Just like at the Adelaide Town Hall, basically, out the back of the Adelaide Town Hall.

And we're going, this is, and then the ushers say, because you're going, fuck, like, this is pretty intense, right? Like, if you're at a show and you're the only person in the audience, like,

It's a, it's quite, it's like, it's like going on a first date and then suddenly being married to the person, right? That's really, that's really, really intense, being in a very, very small audience, particularly if there's a lot of people on the stage. If there's more people on the stage, that in the audience, that's uniquely awkward. But no, well, no, this is a one-man show. So, but, so, but the Asch has said, you've got to sit in the front row, right? Like, there's nothing between you and this performance, anyway. And the disappointment of the performer. So, and then this guy walks out on stage and, um, and he just sprinkles talcum powder, um, all over his body and, and on the, on the, um, stage and everything like that.

And you go, and this is a bit weird. And then he just starts sort of hitting different parts of his body. And it turns out he's a classically trained percussionist, right? Oh. And, and what you quickly realize is that actually every part of your own body makes a different. has a different resonance, makes a different sound, and that by slowly combining all the different beats, especially if you're a fucking trained percussionist, you can make the most extraordinary music, right? So, like, within five minutes, both me and the one other person

in the, uh, in the venue is just absolutely captivated. Like, this is just, and you're just going, fuck, this should be, like, this should be in Vegas playing to 10,000. people not in a fucking shitty little church in Adelaide and anyway so to then luckily um three other people about halfway through about maybe 10 15 minutes into the show walk in like walk in and um and sit down like they're just late to the show right and I don't quite realize it at the time but it's the umbilical brothers oh so like Doug bain was sitting next to me. He got his started his career on

a little show called CNNNN. Yes. Yes, an amazing kind of visual effects guy, yeah. He now works with the umbilical brothers. Anyway, so the point is, what happens is this show goes on. It's fucking incredible. Like, it's like, and he just, and it

builds it up right. So he then starts pulling people from the audience. So Doug gets up on the stage and starts hitting Doug, you know, on the hands and then on the face and on the head and stuff like that and making noises out of him right and then he goes oh we need to tune the the drum we need somebody else so i get up there right and then it's clearly a three-person audience participation thing so you ask for another thing and just going thank

god other people walked in yeah you know because there wouldn't have been enough people in the audience for the audience participation moment so then dave collins from the umbys gets up and the guy says to David Collins who's like David Collins would have to be one of the best physical performers in the world but also it's the perfect person

percussive performers like he they use their voice absolutely incredibly to sort of create sound effects during their shows and he goes oh so what do you do David and he goes this the Chaser Report

Less news Less often And so it was this magical moment Where Where the leading Italian version of the Ambillical Brothers Who's very I mean it's all very highbrow It's not like

It's not like umbilical brothers Which is easily accessible It's all very like conceptual And weird And everything like that Is playing a tune And Dave is brilliant like it has to sort of play along and and mimic what the guy's doing and sort of doing it as well as the guy on say it was just the most fucking incredible show like i can't tell you like it was it was just mind-blowingly good and you just go completely unique to that moment there is no like that that show will never exist again you can't capture that on screen you can only get that sort of experience by turning up in person and

and being part of this shitty little crowd in front of this fucking amazing talented artist. So the thing to do, apparently, is to go and see a radically unpopular show that the only time this has ever happened is actually incredible. There's word of mouth generally,

presumably Adelaide doesn't have social media yet, but usually if there's an amazing show, people find out and fill it up. So what you're telling us is we should go and see a show with nobody in the audience in the hope that halfway through some of the greatest live performers in the world turn up and help

Yeah, that's an experience I'm going to be able to replicate Charles Like, you know, go to a poetry slam And suddenly Lynn Mattmore Miranda walks into the room And starts dropping your eyes And it's like, wait, great, if you're there, like, are you just trying to make us feel jealous? No, no, no.

Is that the point of this story? That there's always, in any, any performance, you don't have to have the best perform in the world. Like, there's something about life that sort of gives this frisson of possibility about what's going to happen. And you can only get that by just going along and making sure. And look, I think, I mean, he's been playing for weeks now, this Italian guy. So word of mouth has failed to materialise.

Word of mouth is failed. But I think that that's because, if you look at his marketing, material, the sort of strap line. And the thing that actually made me want to go along was be ready to get your face slapped. And it is true. Yeah, a year after Will Smith. So I think that, like, I tried to convince James Schleffel, who I'd do my show with, to come along because it was after our show. And he looked at the ride up and said, but I don't want to get a headache and instead went to the

Swaito gospel choir in front of thousands of people. Whereas you being racist wanted to see the white guy. It's true that the title of the show, I'm just looking at it here now in the Adderlyle-Lage fringe website. Sputter being all the art of hitting yourself. It doesn't bode well. Yeah. It doesn't bode well at all.

I think it probably got enormously good word of mouth, right. But then people would look up the materials and go, Oh, well, hang on, I don't want my face slapped, and then just would leave it. But also, Charles, can I quote, a hilarious journey through music and theatre, which will make you discover unexpected sound, landscapes, blending, mime, body, percussion, and singing. Yes.

That, to me, sounds excruciating based on the description. It's been lost in translation, unfortunately. It sounds like terrible student theatre, and clearly it's amazing. I mean, I want to see this now, right? Is it on elsewhere? Can we still see it? You would have loved the one.

There was a whole song that he did, or sort of like piece that he did, that was based on an allergic coughing fit. Oh, wow. So it was all the different sounds that Dom, you make when you've got our, you've got hay fever or whatever. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Gosh, imagine Craig. Imagine Craig who constantly coughs going to see that.

Like, you know, like he sort of doled it out like it was a percussion piece. And it sort of, it built to this incredible sort of cascade of quite rhythmic, you know, music, really. But the interesting thing is that psychologically, hearing someone do that makes you want to cough yourself. Oh, of course it does. So you've got to kick off and literally. And he would, like every time somebody in the audience in the five people by the stage audience would cough, he would sort of nod at them and sort of give them permission to cough. So by the end, there was sort of this sort of, you know, syncopation from the audience of people just sort of coughing, you know, as part of the performance. It was sort of, it was just fucking, I mean, yeah, look, it's not, you know, Seinfeld or Friends or, actually, I needed more up-to-date sort of thing, you know, I don't know, two and a half men.

Oh, no, wait a minute. What's this show that's on now? It's not Ted Lesso, okay? It's not a reliable half hour of schmaltzy shit. But, you know, you do get your face slap, so there's that. I mean, so, Charles, you're saying that if I had come to this performance with you, I could have slapped you in the face. No, no, no, no, no.

Oh, see, that's the thing they need. You slap yourself in the face, and he comes around and helps you slap yourself in the, like, and slap you in the face as well. So, all right, so the Chaser reports brief is to keep you up. up to speed with the news and what's happening in the world. We spent this entire episode talking about a unique, never-to-be-repeated theatrical experience on in Adelaide for, let's see how much longer it's on.

Oh, no, it's finished yesterday. By the time you hear this, it will have, it's finished. Okay, so which not only is that one thing with the Ambilica brothers, not to be repeated, the show is finished. Great, Charles. Thank you for delivering so comprehensively on the brief of the show. If you're still here, I must say Charles, he delivered the story with great passion,

really enjoyed it. Even though at times I was thinking, this is like one of those dinner parties where someone bores your head off about an experience that clearly meant a lot to them that you can't possibly share in. Nevertheless, that was very entertaining. It was the event that he's playing anywhere else, so I go see him. It was the podcast equivalent of hitting yourself in the phone. So the guys called Anselmo Luisi.

Yep. And you can. And if he does any more gigs? Well, you can see him over in Italy. Perfect. Okay. In late March. But it presumably.

You can at least check this out on YouTube somewhere and say that it's very good. Well, I don't know whether he's made it big enough. Okay, no, it's filmed it. I do agree, though, that that sort of live experience is wonderful. And that's why you should go and support comedy festivals and things like that. Just briefly, the greatest thing I ever saw, I think, the most fun thing I ever did was, have you ever seen one of those 24-hour comedy shows that Mark Watson does? It's an idea we should steal.

Yes. He's fantastic. That's a great idea. So what he does is he basically gets into a room in a comedy festival. He has a team of people around him, like people displaying things on screens and so on. And he had video chat set up before Zoom was really a thing. This is 10 years ago, maybe 20 years ago. Basically, he and the audience devised projects that emerged naturally during the course of the 24 hours.

So he sent two of the members of the audience on a date. And then three hours later, they came back. and reported on the date, which happened in real time. And at one point, he had Casey Benetto, the guy who, and Tim Minchin was around as well, and they composed songs live. Somehow the entire show devolved into a campaign to try and get John So, their then, Lord Mary Melbourne, to come down to the show by the end of the show, like by the midday on the second day.

And we didn't get him down there, but what we did do was learnt a four-part harmony song, which we recorded on his voicemail, which we all learned, which is composed in real time. So if you ever see a show like that again or see us completely stealing the idea of doing a 24-hour show, it was incredibly fun. And yeah, that can only happen in a room.

It's absolutely, I don't have a funny point to make. It's just magic. Look, I've got a good idea. What's that? That's twice as good as a 24-hour show. What's that? A 48-hour show. I think you might have done one.

No, but we should do. We should totally steal the idea. Just call it a 47-hour show, or something make it a prime number yeah yeah i don't know if he's ever done a 24 hour live podcast though oh let's do that that'll be incredibly boring yeah and very tired and i mean people can um join in from around the world via the live stream and probably won't our gear is from road we're part of the iconic class network uh we'll be back tomorrow see you for less than 24 hours thank god