Well, was this a complete waste of time? Absolutely not!
It’s tricky to review a comedy stand-up show when there are only 6 audience members, but that’s the luck of the draw with the Fringe, 9pm on a Tuesday. It must be even more difficult for a comedian to work a room when there is a small audience.
Steve Chang excels in audience interaction. He had us chuckling, giggling and laughing straight away, with his warm and infectious personality. He interacted with all of us in a friendly, non- intimidating way. This improvisation was the beginning of the show, which then morphed into his planned anecdotes.
On this particular evening, Steve didn’t get much chance to share his comedic and insightful anecdotes in a planned and cohesive way as the audience members were very enthusiastic and joined in extensively and unpredictably. Most of the time this was hilarious though and Steve managed to bounce off the comments, explore them and create more of an improv show at times. Nothing seemed to faze him!
I felt the show slowed a little towards the end and lost some momentum. This could simply be a small loss in rhythm and could easily have been due to the aforementioned unpredictable and raucous audience involvement.
Steve regaled us with some of his life stories and pivotal moments, from taking the psychedelic drug, Ayahuasca in Peru to his rather unusual and quite scary encounter with a prostitute in Las Vegas. And we mustn’t forget the gay conversion camp story – that was an eye opener! At times Steve shared moments of a rather graphic sexual nature accompanied by blunt language and I’m uncertain how well that would sit with every audience. Hard to gauge in a small crowd (although the cucumber comment would probably leave everyone in stitches). Our audience though was lapping up every word and loving it! Personally I found his stories very interesting and the funniest moments for me were the slightly less R rated ones. These constituted most of the show and his warmth and cheekiness shone through.
Steve Chang is relatable and funny, with a very infectious smile. If you read my Sam About Town interview, I can also confirm, he does very much exist!
A Complete Waste of Time is playing at the
Loft at A Club Adelaide,109 – 111 Waymouth St, Adelaide, until Feb 24.
Tickets can be purchased here:
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/a-complete-waste-of-time-af2019
I live to create and I thrive on others' creativity and passion. I write, paint, design, market and engage (and drink wine). You can find more about my art and corporate communications at screamcreative.com