Dane Simpson and Isaac Compton are a great pairing – in that it feels very much like an experienced stand-up veteran (Simpson is celebrating a decade of stand-up this year, having made it to the national finals of Deadly Funny in 2015) acting as a bit of a mentor and protector to Compton, who’s much newer to the game. Their debut show Blak Holes comprises some straightforward gags, comic songs (with Compton singing and playing guitar) and a couple of sketches.
Compton’s previous experience has been in other forms of performance – content creation for social media/hosting events/music etc, the latter skill he puts to splendid use in some of those songs he shares, such as ‘Pauline’ (to the tune of ‘Jolene’ naturally).
If you’re one of the many thousands who follow him on Instagram or TikTok, you’ll be aware of his wicked sense of humour, gleeful style and exuberant moves. With stand-up being a little less familiar format for him though, it may take a while for all that to translate in the flesh and for the nerves to dissipate. He says so himself, revealing just how many toilet breaks it’s taken him to get that stomach settled. TMI? Possibly, but it does endear him to the sympathetic crowd.
And it’s hard not to be carried along by the enthusiasm and warm-hearted appeal of both performers – when Simpson’s material isn’t quite as strong as it could be, he delivers it with such an infectious giggle, it suddenly seems much funnier than it may have done in the cold light of day.
Both performers have reality TV experience – and seem to expect that the majority of their audience are coming along because of it. Simpson shares some of the droll experiences he had on The Amazing Race Australia, competing alongside his septuagenarian dad Bow. They came last, he says, but it was clearly an attention-grabbing appearance, thanks to Simpson Senior. Compton, meanwhile, won a quarter of a million dollars on the Channel Nine show The Summit. It clearly hasn’t gone to his head…
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The best bits of the show are when they use comedy and satire to chuck some political zingers our way. And hats off to them for this. Surely there’d be many of us who, if we’d been on the other end of the Voice to Parliament referendum result, would still be in too much pain to bounce back with a show like this and the ability to find any humour in it.
Tickets: $22-$30
Blak Holes will be performed in The Greek, Paw Paw Jump, Russell Street, until 20 April 2025 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
