Mark Butler – Let’s Talk About Sex: Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Mark Butler – Let’s Talk About Sex: Melbourne International Comedy Festival

After reading the title of this show I will admit I immediately decided it wasn’t for me. The thought of sitting through a mock school classroom session on sex education was not my idea of a good night out, and visions of lame anatomical puns, raucous and inappropriate outbursts and childish euphemisms alternately hovered through my mind forebodingly before I entered the doors of the Elephant & Wheelbarrow. The show included all these things, but there was also something missing which I had expected – there was not one awkward silence during the entire 60 minutes of the show.

The venue itself was a place I had not ventured before, and I doubt that it is a regular haunt for many local Melbournians. A British pub fitted out in the traditional style, it is more a home away from home for tourists and nostalgic expats than it is typical of Melbourne’s character. Once upstairs in the small setting arranged for the show, greeted by studded leather sofas, carpeted floors and the wafting smell of hot English dinners from downstairs, you would hardly know you were in Melbourne at all.

This sense of dislocation was enhanced by the ‘classroom’ setting in which Butler immersed his audience, albeit in a self-consciously amateur fashion. I also discovered that despite my expectation of a middle-aged audience, most of the crowd attending the show were in their twenties (a contrast to the clientele downstairs), the room abuzz with anticipation of the show. Although not all the seats were filled, the room did not feel empty at all, and the claustrophobic classroom atmosphere worked to enhance the audience’s sense of camaraderie, with many people eager to participate in the show, finding themselves drawn into the lewd and crude innuendoes of Butler’s lesson.

Despite that the very concept of this act would be enough to keep many at bay, suspicious of puerile humour and predictable gags, there is no denying that the audience to whom this show did appeal thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Butler invited comments from the audience and managed to elicit a round of laughs from his responses almost every time – which also makes you wonder, though, if it might have been better for Butler to use this audience interaction more to his advantage, rather than incorporating recorded audio questions that worked more to impede the rapport with his audience than to enhance it.

Butler took a risk with this show –I think it would be fair to say that any comedy act incorporating sex as its main theme leaves itself vulnerable to criticism of a ‘sex sells’ approach to easy laughs because of the inherent ability of sex as a discursive topic to cause shock and embarrassment. The audience’s discomfort would then seem key to the success of the show – yet Butler’s skill lies not in the obvious shock value of his subject, but his ability to encourage his audience to be entirely comfortable with it. Although at times taking self-deprecation a bit too far, Butler manages to maintain a difficult balance between prurience and science; his intention it seems is not necessarily just to amuse or to titillate, but also to educate.

This show won’t be for everyone, but if you like your pubs British and your jokes bawdy, then give it a whirl; who knows, you might even learn something.

Mark Butler – Let’s Talk About Sex: Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Prices:Full $20
Concession $15
Preview $10
Tightarse Tuesday $10
Adults in school uniform (door only) $10