Boss Octopus – Again?!

Melbourne-based sketch comedy group Boss Octopus makes their Fringe debut with Again?!, a show that unfortunately lives up to its name. Again?! includes tried and tested conventions, stale running gags and flat one-liners that result in a tired program that runs along the vein of ‘it’s all been done before’.

Hailing from University of Melbourne’s annual Medical Comedy Revue, Boss Octopus have yet to leave behind their undergraduate phase. Filled with clichés and strained humour, the show is reminiscent of bad jokes found at goon-fuelled uni parties. It consists of lazy writing that reeks of dully slapping mildly amusing dialogue together.

The show starts off promisingly, as the group pledges to work together to ‘write a show for Fringe’. They begin by fitting themselves into familiar comic tropes –  Yianni Efstathiadis as the bombastic Greek man who frequently exaggerates and overacts, Heli Simpson as the lone female, Nathan Murfey as the scruffy bearded guy, Will Burrage as the one who sexualizes everything and Clifford Myers as the self-proclaimed member of ‘Hitler Youth’. The humour eventually wanes when they tediously go through mundane sketches that specifically explain said tropes.

Again?! feels very routine, as though the group is running on automatic. They make some quips about the venue, Portland Hotel, and playfully call out some male members of the audience for inappropriate behaviour. From listing genres they could possibly try to actually performing said genres, the segues are undeniably forced. The theme of ‘again’ is regrettably reinforced when they perform the exact same sketch about writer’s block three times in a row, just with a different setting. The show quickly turns sour with a painfully unfunny sketch that involves Stephen Hawking practicing ventriloquism. It is plainly lewd, blunt and distasteful. The storyline also gets hastily discarded late in the show, more as a result of convenience rather than evidence of clever writing.

With a debut show earlier this year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Boss Octopus are still pretty green. The group does show some potential; their sketch involving Cliff’s sad attempt in getting drugs got the biggest laughs of the night. In addition, with a villainous-looking moustache and a deafening voice, Yianni easily possesses the best stage presence out of all the members of the group.

Boss Octopus claims to be reminiscent of popular sketch comedy shows like A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Mitchell & Webb, but they dismiss the underlying reason why these brilliant series actually work: their sense of humour is silly and absurd, but always highly refreshing. Boss Octopus wholeheartedly enjoys the ‘anything goes’ attitude, but their persistence in employing overused gags gradually becomes mind-numbingly repetitive. Their fondness for fun and silliness ultimately turns into an insipid, relentless barrage of mindless behaviour.

Rating: 2 stars out of 5