After crashing his car, breaking his ankle and getting robbed all in the one afternoon, Australian comic Menchetti sets out to investigate the infamous ‘Murphy’s Law.’
He opens by explaining his reasons for conducting the research, and gives a history of Murphy himself, who ironically was killed in a fashion that fittingly followed the logic of his law (at least according to the internet, and as Menchetti points out, that means it must be true).
As the law states, ‘What can go wrong, will go wrong’ but Menchetti takes it a step further, breaking the law down into numerous sub-laws, which he then sets out to prove or disprove with a series of experiments, with props including predictive text messaging and Neighbours star Madeleine West.
Anthony Menchetti’s approach to comedy is a warm one, and even on the occasions when he calls on the audience to participate, very rarely is it in an attempt to use them as comic bait. The sense of anticipation from the crowd of an imminent ambush at the beginning of the show soon dissipates and Menchetti has them onside very early on in the act (and not just because he gives out free badges)
Interspersed with the odd musical number (Eminem’s “Stan’ and ‘Lose Yourself” both get the Menchetti treatment), Anthony Menchetti has created a quirky and humorous show that is definitely worth catching. The show has a raw unfinished feel about it, and not everything quite works as well as it maybe should, but Menchetti shows enough to suggest that we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.
3/5
Martin Dewar
