Josh Earl won awards with his comedy show about the Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook at Fringe World last year; now comes a successful show of tales about his career as a librarian.
With his small guitar, rapid mumbling delivery and a slide show featuring his collections of ‘library closed’ signs and family photos, Earl takes his audience on a comedic journey through the Dewey Decimal System. From 023.2 (Librarians) to 920.2 (Biographies of Librarians), a diverse collection of comedy songs and reminiscences of his time amongst the shelves fills an enjoyable hour.
Earl has developed the delivery of comic asides during his songs to a fine art, as beautifully performed in a song about Skyping with his mother, and again in another song about the inadvisability of watching Inception with one’s partner. The domestic squabbles and bickering that so often overlay familial affection and attachment were portrayed in a direct, true-to-life way, leaving us in stitches. The Earl family photo album had again been raided, Earl taking advantage of stops along the Dewey path (177 – Ethics of Family Relationships and 370 – Education) to step back in time.
Evidence of his time as a librarian was scattered through the show in the form of his original library signs. Without wanting to spoil the joy, he took inspiration from Snoop Dogg, emo kids and relationship break-ups, among many other sources. He further flew the librarian flag with a dance routine that proves the sexiness of library staff, and rapid fire asides referencing other Dewey points as topics arose in other songs.
While Earl was well-prepared with slides for his show, the technical crew were not always able to keep up with the transitions – something that should improve through the run. Further, while Earl’s shows last year were sell out events, he seemed a bit lost when it turned out few in the audience had seen his earlier material, but did try to modify some of his references to running gags from the previous gig.
A fast-paced, strongly-structured show that allows the laughs to keep flowing, Josh Earl is a Librarian proves that Fringe World has comedy well covered.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Josh Earl is a Librarian
Written, composed and performed by Josh Earl
De Parel Spiegeltent, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge
18 – 23 February
Fringe World 2013
www.fringeworld.com.au
25 January – 24 February
