Michael Workman: War

Michael Workman has enjoyed a rather charmed career since he brought his show Humans Are Beautiful to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2011 and left with the Best Newcomer gong. His shows have won near-universal acclaim and he picked up a Barry nomination in 2013 for Ave Loretta. He’s built his reputation on being able to bridge the gap between comedy and art, employing visual media, music and spoken word (comedic and less-comedic) to aid his cause.

War is probably the least compelling offering Workman has made in the last few years, which is a strange thing to say given that it’s also one of his funniest. He’s one of those rare comics who can take fairly standard tropes (girlfriends who take up too much space in bed, annoying friends with new babies and the like) and make them feel like the freshest, funniest thing anyone’s ever heard. His ‘invisible props’ are good for a few belly laughs as well, and they poke fun quite nicely at the production values that audiences are starting to expect from even the humblest MICF shows.

What doesn’t work as well in War is the overarching narrative. Previous Workman shows (particularly the enduringly brilliant Mercy) have woven fantastical storytelling and more conventional stand-up together in a gorgeously dextrous fashion. Interspersed among War’s stand-up material is the tale of a drug-addled journalist heading to the front line to report on a bomb that will restart humankind’s dreams. It should be well within Workman’s wheelhouse, but for the first time in years, it feels forced. The comedy sparkles while the more artistic side of the show struggles to launch.

It’s an unfortunate quandary – War is likely one of the better shows available at MICF 2014, it’s just not one of Workman’s better efforts. Its relative strength can’t count for everything, though, as Workman has been on the circuit long enough to have set an expectation. War is funny and occasionally gut-punchingly honest, but it doesn’t have the effortless beauty that resonated in Workman’s previous shows.