The publicity for Relative Stranger, American Chanel Ali’s brave, funny and clearly cathartic Australian debut, says it all – she emerged from a “tumultuous foster care childhood”, witnessed her mother slide into schizophrenia and had a court-ordered DNA test to track down her dad. On stage, there are also stories of generations of crack users, family abuse and child support agencies. This may not seem like a recipe for a million laughs, but when delivered with Ali’s optimism, jokes, stage presence and wonderfully emotion-rich and sassy American accent, it comes together well.
Some noteworthy differences between Ali’s show and all others that this reviewer has seen during this Comedy Festival – first, she uses images, sound effects and lighting, for instance the lighting going down to echo the mood of the piece. Simple but effective. Second, in glaring difference to other shows, there is no audience interaction except for the occasional reaction to which jokes get laughs or not. Not detrimental, just noticeable.
However, something that does slightly let the show down is that the content is exclusively her life story. Many people use the stage as therapy couch (arguably everyone on stage), but comedians often intersperse their tales with unrelated anecdotes and weaving tangents, coming back to the main story at regular points to keep the audience on track. Ali’s show is, for the most part, a tale of struggle, triumph and redemption in basic chronological order, which sounds good in theory, but in practice, the content simply becomes a one-hour therapy session in public.
Read: Circus review: Circus Oz: Non Stop, Main Hall, Town Hall, MICF 2025
Having said this, Ali is funny, intelligent, strong-willed and clearly feels at home on stage. She only has a couple of shows left, so see her while you can.
Chanel Ali: Relative Stranger be performed at the Westin until 20 April 2024 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
