Make ’em laugh
After months of restrictions, Tasmanians finally will be able to step out for some live comic relief when Jokers Comedy Club reopens for four weekly gigs featuring all-Tassie talent
Jokers Comedy Club producers Gavin Baskerville and Jane Christie-Johnston know the people of Tasmania could use a good laugh right now, which is why they have been working hard to get the standup venue back on its feet. Like so many live venues, Jokers Comedy Club experienced months of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic but, since restrictions began easing in Tasmania, they have been taking tentative steps towards opening up again.
A show headlined by Anthony Morgan on July 17 saw a greatly reduced audience capacity of just 30 people in the Polish Club Corner venue at New Town, but the response was so positive, the gig selling out in 24 hours, that they scheduled another four weekly shows for August 12, 19 and 26, and September 2.
And since flying interstate talent in for a gig is out of the question right now, audiences are being treated to all-Tasmanian line-ups.
But the full line-up for each show is a secret.
“Usually we try to bring in a big name act to headline each night and people will come along just to see them,” Baskerville says.
“But since we can’t do that at the moment, some of the names on the bill are less well known and we want people to simply trust us, trust that we will always give them top quality, and come along and be surprised.
“We have an amazing pool of talent in Tassie and some of these people will be the headliners of the future.”
Christie-Johnston says audiences have been stuck at home for a long time and, since many are still hesitant about being in crowds, Jokers is doing everything it can to provide a COVIDsafe environment.
“Seating is more cabaret style, seated at tables, and our room capacity has been reduced by about 70 per cent, but we want people to feel safe and to be able to move about a bit,” she says.
“Right now it is one of the few places you can get out and have a bit of fun and it’s a great opportunity for everyone — the comedians as well — to blow out the cobwebs and have a muchneeded laugh.”
Each of the current run of shows will feature five acts doing a 10-minute set each, plus an MC. Acts that have been announced include Daryl Peebles and Gillian English.
And if the formula continues to work, they hope to plan more shows in future.
“People have gotten used to watching Netflix at home and are a little reserved about laughing out loud, especially in a smaller audience, but I think the dynamic is coming back,” Baskerville says.
Doors open at 7pm, show runs approximately one hour, tickets $16.50 including booking fee.
For full details and bookings visit jokerscomedy.com.au
ALL ABOUT … BLACK AND WHITE Junko Go
Handmark Gallery Salamanca Place, Hobart Until August 17
Price range: $1900-$6500
Idid not really expect to see dark, moody works from Junko Go, but perhaps I should have. As an artist Go has been consistent in pushing at the edges of her art practice and how it works. This was in strong evidence in 2018 when she produced works that spilt over the edge of the canvas on to the gallery wall itself, and she followed that with an immense and intense mural work that played around with the famous children’s story Alice in Wonderland. In retrospect, the seeds of this new body of art could be found in that work, but the leap here is one I would not have seen coming.
Go in the past has been notable for her vibrant use of colour. Her works are exuberant, joyful, explosive and exploratory.
What’s really notable here, with Go’s use of a darker, more bruised palette, is that it is still recognisable as her work.
The mark-making stands out more than it ever has, and even the manner in which she applies her paint is recognisable.
This is the revelation of the exhibition — Go’s central ability to paint is so strong she can really manipulate it, take it to new places and, critically, ask new questions.
With this show, Go is wondering about how people see the world.
She paints a series of potential visions of the experience of life — some dark, some light and, crucially, some mixed. There are bright fields with almost sinister eruptions of blackness, and inky visions of a nightscape ruptured with incidences of colour.
She even paints black on black, and it is discernible, you just have really focus into the work to see it.
There has always been a rich thoughtful element in her art, but this is deeply investigative. It might be her most cerebral work yet.
Her latest pieces feature paintings that try to symbolically investigate human perception.
That is, the use of dark, mumbling colour is a strong statement that reflects how we often see the world as dark and even difficult, and yet there are patches of brightness to be found if we look.
Most of all, though, Go is showing that life and how we live it is not stuck in one mode, there are ups and downs; there’s complexity.
This mosaic viewpoint is gratifying in its sheer adultness — understanding that life is lots of things all at once — and finding a way to represent that is a strong achievement for an artist who has traded in whimsy.
Even more impressive, though, is that Go’s trademark whimsy is still very present, because, of course, that’s part of life as well.
Biography Friday On My Mind: The Life of George Young Jeff Apter Allen & Unwin, $30
The Young family is one of the most private in Australian music circles, so it’s ironic that so many books on its famous sons have been published. Of a dozen or more on AC/DC alone, three have been written by Wollongongbased author Jeff Apter: including one each on its founders, Angus and Malcolm Young. Now comes Apter’s latest on elder sibling George, co-founder of the Easybeats and AC/DC’s original record co-producer. Like his other music biographies, Apter’s Friday On My Mind is a workmanlike effort, albeit hampered by a lack of direct access to the family. It’s at its best when dissecting George Young’s post-Easybeats career as a producer at the so-called “House of Hits”, the Sydney studio-cum-record label with ties stretching all the way back to the band he formed with fellow immigrants Harry Vanda, Dick Diamonde and Snowy Fleet. Young died aged 70 in 2017, though it’s a measure of his family’s reticence to engage with the outside world that the cause of his death remains unknown.
The Girl in the Mirror Rose Carlyle Allen & Unwin, $30
There’s a lot of hype around this novel from Kiwi Rose Carlyle — including talk of a film deal — and let me tell you, it’s justified. Books are always better than films, in my opinion, but this is a twisty, murderous thriller is made for the big screen. Mirror images of each other, twin sisters Iris and Summer could not be more different. Cynical, insecure and floundering Iris cannot help but envy Summer’s open-hearted generosity, caring nature and endless good-fortune. Lust, greed, secrets and more stomach-turning twists than the world’s best roller-coasters, you won’t be able to stop reading this thriller until the last page — and Carlyle will keep you on your toes until the very last sentence.