Summer has finally been pushed aside by Autumn and by the opening night of the International Comedy Festival. The buzz from the crowd on the steps of Melbourne’s Town Hall suggests we’re finally waking from our extended siesta as we welcome back the spruikers and the blackboard with a new list of shows. My first punt was on Stephen Amos who’s made Melbourne an annual event.

In Gets Next to You, Amos tries to bring the audience ‘physically’ closer in defiance of internet social sites such as My Space and Facebook. He uses his own vulnerabilities to form a sort of fireside chat where the flames are fuelled by how much we laugh. But the paradox of having his own My Space site shines thru as he resorts to predictable gags around Aussies, race and class. These act to divide not unite.

We’re supposed to participate in one big group hug but have to watch our backs as his knife goes into unsuspecting individuals. If you’re named Tiki, Nectar or Oliver you might want to sit up the back on the night you go.

Amos was too reliant on audience participation, which became an outlet for his vitriol. When it did work we were all in it together. We felt safe again when a lady returning from the toilets was cajoled into admitting she picked her nose. A set-up in her absence.

He needed to extend his routines and genuinely beguiling stories to allow his true talent as a mimic shine through. We wanted more of those Harlem bank clerks and cave dwellers. More of his iconoclastic snobbery.  

This year Amos has moved across from the Capital Theatre and hopes to fill the Town Hall. Whilst he couldn’t meet the challenge on his first night, an unsettled crowd is really what he came up against. An open door policy meant people were still coming 40 minutes into his act. Amos was only occasionally able to slice thru the distilled air this then created. The UK’s Scotsman newspaper describes Amos as ‘infectious’ but it was he who was infected.

Flashes of brilliance did penetrate this nervous start and these were enough to turn the audience into a collective. Bonded not by our inner glow but ironically by our fear of being targeted. This show is bound to get tighter and funnier so catch it in its second week.